Purpose: The international standards ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 do not specify a single method for the performance of life cycle impact assessment (LCIA). As a result, many different LCIA methods have been developed and the choice between them is not always obvious. Therefore, the main aim of this research is to systematically compare the most commonly used multi-impact LCIA methods worldwide to support practitioners in confronting the question of how the choice of LCIA method affects the LCA results. Methods: Four LCIA methods: ReCiPe 2016, ILCD 2011, CML-IA baseline and IMPACT 2002+ at the midpoint level were applied to compare the environmental profiles of the electricity consumption mix in the EU-27, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, taking into account the electricity consumption mix in individual countries. The results of the impact categories were converted into common metrics using unit conversion factors to allow the comparison of the results in absolute values across LCIA methods. Results and discussion: In the LCA study, four common LCIA methods were compared across 12 defined midpoint areas of impacts. Results were consistent for climate change and ozone depletion, with the exception of the ReCiPe 2016 method, and acidification and eutrophication, with the exception of the IMPACT 2002+ method. Significant disparities were noted for ozone formation/respiratory organics, particulate matter/respiratory inorganics ecotoxicity and water consumption. The rankings of environmental profiles remained largely consistent across LCIA methods, with only a few exceptions concerning the following midpoint areas of impacts: ozone formation/respiratory organics, ecotoxicity and resource scarcity (minerals). Contribution analysis highlighted the crucial role of only a few key substances in each area. Conclusions: The methodological choices during LCIA have significant implications for the characterisation results in absolute values, but lead, in most cases, to comparable conclusions on the ranking of environmental profiles of the electricity consumption mix in the EU-27, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. This results from large methodological discrepancies between LCIA methods, concerning, among others, the geographical differentiation (either the European or global context), the scope of the impact categories grouped into the same midpoint area of impacts (for instance eutrophication) and the contribution of specific environmental flows to a given result of the impact category. Consequently, the findings of this research underpin the importance of careful selection of the LCIA method and impact categories, following the goal and scope definition and unique attributes of each method.

This paper evaluates the eco-efficiency performance of agriculture at the sector level using the joint application of life cycle assessment (LCA) and data envelopment analysis (DEA) techniques. The research has been performed for the agricultural production of the 28 member states of the European Union (the EU-28). The foundation for the calculation of the eco-efficiency performance was a statistically selected set of impact categories derived from the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) phase as input values and economic indicators, with the gross domestic product (GDP) of their agriculture as the output value. The results of the analysis showed that the agricultural sectors of 10 member states of the European Union (i.e., Belgium, Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Romania, and Sweden) are relatively eco-efficient. The remaining 18 member states of the EU-28 have eco-inefficient agricultural sectors, though to a varying extent. This means that their agricultural sectors consume too many natural resources (in particular, energy), use too much fertilizer, and produce considerable amounts of airborne emissions in relation to the current level of GDP per hectare. These insights into the eco-efficiency performance of agriculture in the EU-28 may contribute to the adoption of better management techniques and more effective agricultural policies.

This paper examines the application of life cycle assessment (LCA) as an approach to foster the product and process oriented eco- innovation of enterprises, using the fruit and vegetable processing plant as an example. LCA, which is traditionally used to assess the impacts of a single product system on the environment, was applied in the enterprise context. This was made possible by forming an indicator describing the environmental profile of an enterprise, which is calculated by the sum of the multiplication of the environmental impact assessment (LCIA) results for individual unit processes within a particular impact category and their weights reflecting the structure of production in an enterprise. In order to distinguish and indicate the direction in which an enterprise should undertake its eco-innovative actions (implementing eco-innovations within the product or production process) the LCIA results are presented individually for products and production processes. The research was conducted in full compliance with the LCA methodology. LCA proved that the analysed enterprise has the largest negative impacts on the environment in the following impact categories: marine eco-toxicity, freshwater eco-toxicity, freshwater eutrophication, human toxicity and natural land transformation. They result primarily from the consumption of thermal and electric energy in the production processes. Therefore, to improve energy efficiency, the enterprise should take eco-innovative actions in the processes applied.

Manufacturing offers substantial opportunities for economic growth after COVID-19, as long as it delivers competitively priced goods while simultaneously reducing pressure on the environment. In this study, we present the methodological feasibility of the joint application of life cycle assessment (LCA) and data envelopment analysis (DEA) for assessing eco-efficiency at the sector level. We employ this methodology to assess the environmental profiles of manufacturing in Poland in relation to their gross value added, and subsequently calculate the improvement targets for the eco-inefficient manufacturing industries. The study reveals that only the chemical industry is relatively eco-efficient, whereas the remaining industries have considerable room for improvement due to their very low eco-efficiency, and thus should follow the best practices established by the chemical industry. Although there are always individual paths for manufacturing industries to achieve the decoupling of economic growth from environmental pressure, activities such as the transformation of manufacturing methods to be less energy and material intensive and/or to be low-emission, the reincorporation of waste into the manufacturing processes, and the implementation of environmental management systems should become common targets of manufacturing in Poland.

The study examines the concept of decentralised composting of bio-waste as an alternative approach to current waste management practices, using the Łódź Agglomeration (Poland) as an exemplary case study. Consequently, the aim of the presented research is to compare and discuss the sustainability of the functioning biowaste management system (status quo) against an alternative solution based on decentralised composting. Combined application of process-based life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) was selected as the methodology to compare the sustainability framework for the waste management practices under analysis. The study has made it clear that decentralised composting of bio-waste offers broader environmental, economic and social benefits, albeit with the level of that benefit being very much correlated with the type of local government area (commune or in Polish gmina). Regardless of the impact category, rural and urban–rural gminas achieved the greatest savings, reaching >90%, and thus are seen to offer the greatest potential for decentralised composting to be put into effect, on the basis of household/backyard composting. In consequence, decentralised composting can constitute a fundamental form of bio-waste management in 20 out of the 28 gminas of the Łódź Agglomeration. The results obtained from the research facilitate the implementation and wider utilisation of decentralised composting, as an important element of the transition to a circular economy, where bio-waste is concerned.