Life Cycle Assessment
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
LCA is a well-established tool that enables organisations to quantify the environmental impacts of their products or services throughout their life cycle, from the sourcing of raw materials, through the manufacture and distribution of products and on to their use and ultimate disposal. It is highly effective in the support of strategy development, performance improvement and commercial advantage.
We use LCA to advise clients on the environmental performance of their products and on ways to improve a product’s environmental burden, either via supply chain or distribution modifications or process modifications. Crucially, we also understand how to identify and communicate the commercial value that such improvements can deliver.
Case Study
Product value chain assessment - global consumer packaged goods company
PwC identified critical sustainability risks and opportunities across the value chain of two of our client’s key global brands. The analysis included quantification of the environmental impact across the value chain using life cycle analysis techniques, measuring indicators such as carbon, green house gases and water. The risks included the long-term implications of issues such as climate change, water scarcity and population growth on the security of their raw material supply chain. The analysis was used to facilitate a three-day summit for the client’s global procurement teams, aimed at re-focusing the organisation’s long-term strategic sourcing priorities, taking into account longer-term sustainability trends.
Sustainable packaging
Under constant pressure from government, the media, customers and consumers, the packaging industry is increasingly being forced to consider how its products can be made more sustainable. Faced with pressing issues of overcapacity, low prices and high raw material costs, sustainable packaging is a primary concern for packaging senior executives.
Although there is agreement about the growing importance of sustainability as an issue, there remains a great deal of frustration in the industry at the ‘disproportionate’ focus placed on packaging and confusion about what sustainable packaging actually means. We help clients understand the environmental impact of their packaging products and advises on how to make them more sustainable. We also help clients consider the wider value chain and ensure that discussions around sustainability with stakeholders are based on a shared understanding of clear technical and economic issues.
Case study
Greenhouse gas emission reduction - Walmart
By the end of 2015, Walmart plans to eliminate 20 million metric tons of GHG emissions from its global supply chain, the companies in which are thought to be responsible for 90 percent of the retailer’s total emissions. PwC is part of a team formed by Walmart to advise the company on its complex GHG reduction programme and perform testing procedures to assess its suppliers’ compliance with the defined procedures.
