Agile LCA, or, How Communities Can Influence What Happens Downstream

The role of Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) in measuring impact of consumer behavior is problematic due to its reliance on very extensive amounts of data.  However, there may be a more efficient and meaningful way to understand the impact of a product though structured engagement of the community of producers and consumers in a transparent and objective dialog about the product.

In a 2006 article , Reid Lifset of Yale University cites problems with LCA stemming from "the tension between speed, cost and intelligibility on the one hand and comprehensiveness and rigor on the other."  For supply chain managers and consumers alike, the full analysis of any product or brand is inevitably too expensive, complex and time consuming to undertake.  This situation has led to the proposal of SLCA (Steamlined LCA) in which 80% of the insights obtained through LCA can be realized with perhaps 20% of the cost and effort.

The article appears in a Special Issue of the International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment honoring Helias Udo de Haes, one of the key figures in Environmental Sciences, and a pioneer of  Life Cycle Analysis.  Haes himself has noted the difficulty associated with the extensive data collection and imperfect data classification that is characteristic of LCA, thereby contributing to the perception that formal LCA is largely an academic discipline that will likely never find its way into mainstream economic activity.

This is not to say that LCA does not have a role in the economy. Value in partial or S LCA can be realized by producers who look for relevance to their business in the body of work that led to ISO 14040 and related methodology.  But that value could be superseded by a more agile method that relies on a community of motivated collaborators focused on revealing the most significant factors relating to  environmental and social impact.

Another shortcoming of current LCA practice, which was not cited in the article, is that it does not  directly involve end consumers.  The consumer's personal experience and observations about the product are not accounted for, yet for the class of products purchased, transported, operated, stored, and used up by consumers, such data can be very useful in a broader analysis of product impact.

Accepting that the single largest driver of product design is that of consumer demand, then product impact analysis should be focused on a desire of the consumer to understand the impact of their consumer behavior. This is not a universal desire of consumers, but it certainly exists within a growing class of conscious consumers who are woefully underserved in this respect.  I estimate that this desire is sufficient to be a strong economic force once it is tapped effectively.

In this context, a collective impact analysis, even if it's only a partial inventory of impacts compiled by observant consumers, may be enough to change downstream consumer behavior in such a way as to influence the producer toward a more  sustainable design.   A basic MIPS analysis, for example, would be useful to discerning consumers who want to understand impact of their purchases.

Further, in the present economic view of worker as consumer, a meaningful, if less rigorous, analysis might be possible if performed by the consuming public. Mechanisms have been proposed for enabling consumers to share their knowledge of a product's impact. In cases where the consumers are themselves the producers, this model can lead to very specific and accurate data about a product's impact.

Related approaches are coming online as we speak: 

• The Environmentally Preferred Product Purchasing Tool, a project by Earthster.org, was announced just last week.  It focuses on professional buyers' need to understand impacts in the management of their supply chains.  The tool allows for the buyers themselves to add their own data to the profile of a product.
• The Reveal rating system is a system currently under development to codify the impact analysis in a consumer useful way.

Approaches like these, combined with consumer driven analysis in a participatory network forum could lead to improved awareness of product impact at the point of purchase, ultimately influencing producers much more efficiently than proper LCA.

What is the business model behind such a community driven consumer resource?  How can investment be attracted to the development of this model?

Comments

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