The Commodity Life Cycle Costing Indicator. An Economic Measure of Natural Resource Use in the Life Cycle

Giulio Mela (), Maria Leonor Carvalho, Andrea Temporelli and Pierpaolo Girardi
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Maria Leonor Carvalho: Ricerca sul Sistema Energetico (RSE), 20134 Milan, Italy
Andrea Temporelli: Ricerca sul Sistema Energetico (RSE), 20134 Milan, Italy
Pierpaolo Girardi: Ricerca sul Sistema Energetico (RSE), 20134 Milan, Italy

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 9, 1-20

Abstract: This study defines a methodology for the development of an economic indicator of natural resource use to be applied in the framework of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology to integrate the assessment of the environmental performances of products or processes during their life-cycle. The indicator developed-called Commodity Life Cycle Costing (or C-LCC)-is based on market prices, therefore incorporating information from both the demand and supply sides. Monte Carlo analysis is used to take price volatility into account. Alternative versions of the indicator, based on open-source data or calculated considering European Union’s critical raw materials only, are also developed. The study also provides a comparison between the C-LCC indicator and ReCiPe’s Mineral and Fossil Resource Depletion indicators and applies the proposed methodology to several types of batteries for stationary energy storage.

Keywords: resource use; scarcity; commodity prices; LCA; LCC; life-cycle; circular economy; stationary energy storage (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:9:p:4870-:d:543955

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