iLCA4SSbD aims to accelerate the industrial uptake of Lifecycle Assessment (LCA) in the Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) Framework.

It will do so by developing a user-friendly digital platform that supports integrated LCA (iLCA) and provides access to state-of-the-art life cycle sustainability assessment methods, tools, and datasets.

The iLCA platform will be established as a 3-tiered approach, fully aligned with the European Commission's SSbD framework. Each tier corresponds to an integrated methodology (supported by a toolbox) for safety, environmental, social and economic impact assessment at different stages of the innovation process, requiring a different level of data and expertise.

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Integration of Life Cycle Assessment methodologies for Safe and Sustainable by Design

Methodology

iLCA4SSbD will use state of the arts methods to develop the iLCA platform, which will simplify inlcuding SSbD in LCA analysis.

The schematic image shows how the platform will combine a top-down and bottom-up approach, 3 tiers of SSbD and a 5-step stage gate process with the insights from industry case studies.

AI-powered tools

To support data gap filling and cost-effective assessments, Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be employed, and toolboxes of simplified methods and tools will be developed.

These encompass:

  • Environmental LCA

  • Social LCA

  • Life Cycle Costing

  • Cost-benefit Analysis

  • Portfolio Sustainability Assessment

  • Circularity Analysis

  • Absolute Environmental Sustainability Assessment based on Planetary Boundaries

iLCA4SSbD’s
Case Studies

The iLCA platform and the methods and tools will be demonstrated through five case studies in the energy, biobased, chemicals, aeronautics, and smart textiles sectors.

The focus will be on critical raw materials and emerging alternatives to substances of concern. The generated LCA datasets will be made available in an Open & FAIR database and uploaded to the European Platform on LCA (EPLCA) in Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) format.

This will generate new scientific evidence on the sustainability of chemicals, materials and products, which will be transferred as recommendations to public authorities to support them in the implementation of key EU policies and regulations.

Battery recycling
in the automotive and e-mobility sectors

Bio-based renewable raw materials for ethanol production
like corn-derived ethanol

Surfactants
in the architectural paints sector

Composites intermediate products
for aviation jet engine blocker doors

Electrodes & flexible electronics for smart textiles
like wearable biomedical bras for health monitoring

Partners

These are the members of the iLCA4SSbD project team:

  • SSbD Consulting Europe SL (SSbD-CE), Spain

  • European Research Services GmbH (ERS), Germany

  • East European Research and Innovation Enterprise (EMERGE), Bulgaria

  • Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu (RIVM), Netherlands

  • Temas Solutions GmbH (TEMASOL), Switzerland

  • Fundación Gaiker (GAIKER), Spain

  • Yordas GmbH (YORDAS), Germany

  • Fundación Centro de Tecnologías de Interacción Visual y Comunicaciones Vicomtech (VICOMTECH), Spain

  • Fundación Tekniker (TEKNIKER), Spain

  • EDC Chemical Consulting (EDC), Germany

  • Inkode Società Cooperativa (INKODE), Italy

  • Stiftelsen NILU (NILU), Norway

  • BioNanoNet Forschungsgesellschaft mbH (BNN), Austria

  • Syensqo Specialty Operations France (SYENSQO), France

  • BASF SE (BASF), Germany

  • Centre Technique Industriel de la Plasturgie et des Composites (IPC), France

  • Sustainable Portfolio Compass – Consulting (SPC), Belgium

  • Avanzare (AVAN), Spain

  • EireComposites Teoranta (EIRE), Ireland

Co-creation

Key actors from industry (incl. SMEs), regulation, policy, consultancy, academia and the civil society will be involved in co-creation of the iLCA approach to ensure integration of safety and sustainability trade-offs in SSbD decision-making.

Interested in getting involved?

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