Environmental hotspot analysis

Nicholas M. Holden

Chapter 62 in Elgar Encyclopedia of Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment, 2026, pp 223-226 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Hotspot analysis is usually undertaken as part of the interpretation stage of a life cycle assessment (LCA), for model evaluation, to identify significant issues, and to form the basis for drawing conclusions and recommendations. There is no one ‘correct’ or ‘best’ approach to hotspot analysis because it is dependent on the goal statement, which guides the practitioner toward the most appropriate methods in order to be able to draw conclusions and make recommendations that satisfy the goal of the study. Hotspot analysis has also been extended to the idea of going ‘beyond LCA’ to encompass waste, ethics, and governance. The entry describes an eight-step process for conducting a hotspot analysis and also the various aspects of a model that can be used as the basis for the analysis (life cycle stage, location, organizational control, type of activity, process, impact type, and elementary flow).

Keywords: Goal, Impact, Interpretation, Evaluation, Significant issue; ‘Beyond LCA’ (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035309887
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