Territorial Life Cycle Assessment

Initially designed to assess the environmental performance of a product or a service, the methodological framework of LCA has been adapted to be applied to territories. Territories cover a wide range of sub-national systems such as cities, metropolitan areas, agricultural areas, or regions. Territorial LCA approaches have two main goals: (i) providing an environmental diagnosis and (ii) comparing the performances of land planning scenarios. This chapter describes the main principles of territorial LCA approaches according to the four LCA phases, and by differentiating two approaches: (i) type A that focuses on a territorial anchored activity and (ii) type B that adopts a cross-sectoral approach. One of the main adaptations relies on the handling of multifunctionality and the computation of an eco-efficiency ratio. Then, an extensive overview of territorial LCA applications is provided. Finally, combinations with other tools such as metabolism studies, geographic information system (GIS), or economic modelling are discussed.