World's Largest Life Cycle Assessment Database Goes Live

Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has been developing a database for Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), which quantifies a product's impact on the environment throughout its life cycle. The Ministry began operating the database on a trial basis in August 2003.

All the data surveyed are classified into categories of mining, materials, parts, assembly, usage, disposal and recycling. Inventory data (detailed statements) are created from information provided by the industrial associations related to each of the processes. The amount of CO2 emissions at each step are also given.

The database is an outcome of the "Five-year LCA Project," a collaboration between the government, industry and academia which began in 1998. The project's goals include building a body of public data that can be used for LCA studies at universities and businesses, and which can also serve as a basis for promoting production and consumption activities that take into account the burden on the environment, e.g. LCA-oriented product manufacturing and green procurement.

The data will be available to companies affiliated with the industrial associations that contribute to data collection and to personal users, who can subscribe via the home page of the Japan Environmental Management Association for Industry (JEMAI). A total of 56 industrial associations cooperated in creating the database, including the Japan Gas Association, the Petroleum Association of Japan, the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan, and the Japan Iron and Steel Federation.


Posted: 2003/09/27 11:51:50 AM
Japanese version