Critical review of methods and models for biodiversity impact assessment and their applicability in the LCA context

Global biodiversity is in rapid decline and halting biodiversity loss is one of the most important challenges humanity must tackle now and in the immediate future. It is therefore of paramount importance that scientifically robust methods are developed to capture impacts on biodiversity from a value-chain perspective. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology allows to quantify the impact of products and organisations throughout their whole life cycle. This article aims to critically analyse all methods for biodiversity impact assessment in LCA and beyond, and to select those that may be most suitable for application in a LCA context. 55 methods were reviewed and 18 were selected for a detailed analysis based on availability of documentation, domain of application, geographical scope, potential to be used in LCA and added value. The analysis addressed their goal and scope, data use and needs, and impact assessment characteristics, reveiling strengths and weaknesses of the methods. There is currently no method that takes into account all five main drivers of biodiversity loss. For the future development of biodiversity impact assessment, it is required to improve the coverage of drivers of biodiversity loss, increase ecosystem and taxonomic coverage, include the assessment of ecosystem services, and develop robust indicators that allow for complementary analysis of more essential biodiversity aspects.

DAMIANI Mattia;  SINKKO Taija;  CALDEIRA Carla;  TOSCHES Davide;  ROBUCHON Marine;  SALA Serenella; 

2023-05-22

ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC

JRC131413

0195-9255 (online),   

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195925523001002,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC131413,   

10.1016/j.eiar.2023.107134 (online),