LCA4Regions: application of life cycle methodologies for regional sustainability in Europe

Even as regions become important players in the attainment of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), effective action is often handicapped by the absence of an integrated life cycle approach to the various interconnected issues that regions confront. This study investigates the uptake and application of life cycle thinking by seven European sub-national regions, describing the use by their selected regional institutions of certain life cycle methodologies already in common use to enhance their sustainability initiatives. The EU Interreg project ‘LCA4Regions’ brought together seven regions from Finland, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, and Spain, respectively, to share their experience with various life cycle tools to enhance resource efficiency, circular economy, and waste management. Through engagement with stakeholders, a set of ‘Good Practice’ case studies were compiled showing various life cycle-based activities in the regions, and the underlying issues being addressed. Over 100 examples were identified of the life cycle-based initiatives of various sorts that were profitably employed by these regions. Overall, however, public institutions struggle to apply life cycle approaches systematically across their entire organisations, often limiting initiatives to isolated actions of restricted scope. Institutions mostly address SDGs individually rather than as an interdependent set, and there is a reluctance to take all parts of the supply chain into account. The lack of familiarity by regional officials with LCA procedures is exacerbated by the rigid structure and language of LCA that is not especially adapted for use by public administrations, thereby creating a gulf between research-oriented LCA and potential regional clients. Nonetheless, the LCA4Regions study shows an encouraging example of an increasing use of life cycle thinking for regional development in some parts of Europe. Further research is needed to understand the uptake of LCA and LCM in other European regions, and around the globe more generally.