Sustainability and circularity assessment

The research group for sustainability and circularity assessment supports your developments with life cycle assessments (LCA), life cycle cost analyses (LCC) and the development of recycling concepts for products, processes and materials. Our goal is to identify potential improvements at each stage of the life cycle, to close information gaps and thus ensure a reliable assessment (e.g. from the recycling stage).

Our services  Projects  Publications

Life cycle assessment – LCA according to ISO 14040/14044:

• Comparative life cycle assessments: evaluation of the potential environmental impacts of a defined product system throughout its life cycle.
  Examples: packaging materials, biomaterials, lightweight structures, chemical and mechanical recycling, energy requirements of processes.
• LCA CO₂ screening (as part of a life cycle assessment): simplified assessment of the potential greenhouse gas emissions of a defined product system along its life cycle, to estimate potential emission reductions and identify drivers and potentials for further improvements.

Life cycle costing - LCC

Evaluation of the costs associated with the life cycle of a defined product system from the perspective of a stakeholder within the value chain.

Eco-efficiency analysis

Combined evaluation of LCA and LCC results for a defined product system with the aim of identifying the most (eco-)efficient alternative.

Sustainability management

The expertise of the research group is incorporated into Fraunhofer ICT's sustainability management. The group is responsible for preparing the Fraunhofer ICT sustainability report, and contributes to sustainability measures within the institute. The Fraunhofer Climate Officer for Fraunhofer ICT is based in the group, and its researchers are active in the Fraunhofer Sustainability Network. (https://www.ict.fraunhofer.de/en/nachhaltigkeit.html)

Circularity concepts for better/more reliable/more accurate LCA results

Sustainable economics also means the responsible management of our planet’s limited resources. The market- and product-dependent development of material recycling concepts form a cornerstone of this work. These concepts rely on both physical recycling and the establishment of recycling processes, as well as reliable holistic assessments (LCA/LCC).

Life cycle gap analysis - LCGA

This is a method for the targeted evaluation of the LCA and/or LCC results of a defined product system with reference to circular economy aspects. The aim is to identify potential improvements without disregarding adverse interactions (so-called trade-offs) within the overall calculation.

Better assessment of the use phase through the application of environmental simulation data in the life cycle assessment

This involves an experimental measurement of the change in material properties due to environmental influences. On this basis, predictions can be formulated for the material behavior during the use phase and the expected service life.

Resource-efficient processes and management

The aim is resource conservation through an overarching and integrative view of the use of different resources, as well as a consideration of circular economics.

• Collection of primary data and creation of individualized data sets 
  
• Life cycle assessment in the development phase to facilitate decision making
  
• Comparative life cycle assessments
  
• Product-specific CE and recycling concepts
  
• Eco-design and resource efficiency strategies
  
• Support in setting and evaluating potential environmental targets (hotspots for improvement, SDGs, corporate goals, etc.)

Would you like to know

• ... how life-cycle assessments are carried out?
  
• ... what we mean by terms such as functional unit (fU) or product environmental footprint (PEF) method?
• ... how to evaluate your materials, products and processes according to Scope 3 and thus fulfill sustainability reporting obligations?
• ... how to define system boundaries, what to consider when collecting data, and how to interpret the calculated results?
  

We offer training tailored to your industry and application in accordance with the framework provided by the ISO 14040 series of standards, the EU Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) and the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). You will receive the necessary background information on the four phases of life-cycle assessment, evaluation methods, software and database solutions. We are happy to address your specific questions in connection with your products, materials and processes.

The training courses are aimed at anyone who wants to gain a basic understanding of LCA, including for example development engineers, product managers or plant managers.