Life Cycle Analysis of Material Efficiency Strategies for Network Goods

Abstract

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is the internationally adopted tool to assess environmental footprint. However, as highlighted by Billstein et al. [3] and Arushanyan [4] carrying out an LCA for ICT equipment is a challenging task due, to the amount of data that should be collected to achieve accurate results. This paper describes how documents such as full materials declarations can be used to solve this issue. Furthermore, the circular economy concept is introduced by analyzing alternative business models and the ITU-T L.1023 on circular economy scoring. Even if LCA was considered as a criterion in the L.1023 the link is not always straightforward between these two methods. Hence, this paper investigates how LCA results can be linked to the L.1023 criteria and proposes new criteria, for instance on recycled metals content and modularity.