SETAC Europe 25th Life Cycle Assessment Symposium Is Bound to Dazzle LCA Enthusiasts
Liselotte Schebek and Almut Güldemund, SETAC Europe 25th LCA Symposium Local Organizing Committee
The SETAC Europe 25th Life Cycle Assessment Symposium, which will take place from 12–14 October as a fully virtual event, is approaching quickly and is bound to dazzle life cycle assessment enthusiasts with the overarching theme, “The Role of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in Raw Material Sustainability, Circularity and Criticality.”
Register by 15 September and save with early bird rates.
Environmental problems such as climate change, water scarcity, environmental pollution, land use change and biodiversity loss are a consequence of the current mainly fossil-based and linear economic system and challenge societies to transition towards more sustainability. An important lever for this change is a sustainable resource base and the highly effective utilization of raw materials.
Therefore, the symposium focuses on the role of LCA to support a transition towards a more sustainable and circular economy regarding the consumption of raw materials by putting spotlights on the topics of resource efficiency, bio-based and renewable raw materials, critical raw materials and circularity. The symposium is an opportunity to present and discuss LCA case studies and methodological studies in the field of sustainability assessment of raw material consumption.
The program features daily opening keynotes, five presentation sessions, three poster sessions and daily workshops. We are pleased to welcome Karel Van Acker, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven; Liselotte Schebek, Technical University Darmstadt; and Hans-Jürgen Garvens, UBA, German Environment Agency, as the speakers for our three opening keynotes. These three experts will talk about the role of LCA in different contexts, such as within a circular economy or in a transition pathway context. The keynotes introduce the day’s topics and give an overview of the respective research areas, thus building a bridge between the day’s presentation sessions.
The presentation sessions will cover the most important economic sectors and interest areas associated with the consumption of raw materials. Each presentation session will be introduced and complemented by a session keynote from regarded specialists from both industry and research institutions.
The session “Energy Technologies and Energy System” will be introduced by a keynote of Falko Parthey, Siemens Energy, and will discuss the implications of changing material demand from a low-carbon energy and mobility sector in terms of criticality and environmental impact. The session “Resource Efficiency in Production” will cover the topics of process efficiency, material recycling and sustainable product design and will be opened by Mario Schmidt, Pforzheim University. “Circular Economy and Challenges in LCA” will kick start with a keynote from Michele De Rosa and deals with LCA case studies on innovative recycling technologies and its limitations as well as methodological advancements of integrating digitalization and big data into the modeling of recycling processes. Vanessa Zeller, Technical University Darmstadt, will present a keynote to the session “Bioeconomy.” This session reflects on methodological issues such as the consideration of land use changes, biodiversity impacts, carbon dioxide reuse and carbon storage in LCA by using case studies on biobased products as examples. Finally, the session “Transition Pathways” will be introduced with a keynote by Henning Wilts, Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy, which discusses the role of LCA in the conceptualization, management and communication of defossilization pathways.
In addition to the daily opening keynotes and the sessions, LCA experts from the scientific community will offer workshops to encourage active discussion and participation, thus intensifying scientific exchange.
LCA devotees who are interested in still being part of the program’s symposium are encouraged to submit an abstract as the submission for poster presentations is still open until 16 August. Furthermore, registration for the symposium is now open and participants can benefit from early bird rates until 15 September. Presenters are asked to register by 22 August. We are very much looking forward to exchanging ideas and exploring synergies with the participants of the symposium.
Important Dates
- 16 August: Abstract deadline for poster presentations
- 22 August (9:00am): Registration deadline for presenters and session chairs
- 15 September: Early bird registration deadline
Author’s contact information: Liselotte Schebek, l.schebek@iwar.tu-darmstadt.de