Linking data and model outputs with local demand for resources and local emissions - An application to the Life Cycle Indicators framework

Reducing the environmental impacts of EU production and consumption is one of the main goals of the Roadmap to a resource efficient Europe (EC, 2011a). . Additionally, the need of integrating life cycle thinking in environmental and resource policies is increasingly mentioned as strategic asset for comprehensively capture environmental dimension of sustainability. Such ambitious objectives require the development of a common, internally consistent framework for integrated sustainability assessment of European Union policies. This framework should accommodate not only a spectrum of sustainability indicators, but also should demonstrate the capacity to assess each indicator against defined sustainability thresholds and targets. This document defines the framework for the integration of the Life Cycle Indicators (EC, 2012a, 2012b, 2012c) with dynamic models, both spatially resolved and not, to the purpose of contributing to the development of an Integrated Sustainability Assessment Platform (ISAP). Three main elements can be potentially linked together in the framework of the LC Indicators: a macroeconomic model, the Land Use Modelling Platform (LUMP) (EC, 2013c) and the life cycle impact assessment methods (EC, 2012d). A description of the main elements of this framework is provided as well as discussed. As example of the potential link and mutual benefit between LCA and LUMP, the last section of the document is dedicated to the refinement of an impact assessment model (Pfister et al., 2009) for the assessment of water scarcity, on the basis of the outputs of the LUMP.JRC.H.8-Sustainability Assessmen