Introduction of Life Cycle Assessment into Companies

Abstract

Life cycle assessment（LCA）is utilized as a voluntary environmental management tool in industries, rather than enforced by the Japanese government. And then, still a number of companies have not introduced LCA into their business activities yet. The object of this commentary is to clarify key points of LCA introduction into company’s business activities. The article discusses 7 aspects;（1）goal definition,（2）introduction procedure and company’s structure,（3）timing of LCA implementation,（4）setting system boundary,（5）data collection from suppliers,（6）communication of LCA result and（7）reliability, workload and cost. In each aspect, general key points are addressed, but a product characteristic and business custom is varied in industries. An appropriate usage of LCA must be also varied. It is hoped that a user-friendly and cost-effective LCA application methodology in industries is sophisticated.