We are pleased to invite you to the 35th discussion forum on Life Cycle Assessment on June 5, 2008.

This Discussion Forum will address new scientific developments and methodological issues focusing on the evaluation of water use and water resource depletion in the framework of LCA and related environmental assessment methods. The meeting will provide an overview on the current state-of-the-art and, from the perspective of business and authorities, identify the needs for mapping the water consumption and evaluating the associated environmental impacts of global operations and product value chains. Oral presentations will be dedicated to water assessment tools, schemes to integrate water resource flows in the life cycle inventory, and new concepts and approaches for modeling the impact pathways and mechanisms of water use and water resource depletion.
The specific goals of the conference will concentrate on:

• Improving the linkage between LCI and LCIA with respect to water resource extraction and consumption;
• Providing guidance for reporting water extraction and use in corporate eco-balances, environmental reports, and in life cycle inventories;
• Enhancing the understanding of the impact assessment of water use;
• Fostering the discussion on methodological challenges and practical implementation of the assessment concepts developed.

The intended audience encompasses researchers, database developers, consultants and practitioners from industry working in the field of environmental assessments. The discussion forum will have a scientific and methodological focus. Although only few ready-to-use methods for assessing water consumption have been published so far, also practical and operational evaluation schemes for business and industry will be presented.

We are looking forward to seeing you in Zurich,
Annette Köhler, Stephan Pfister, and Rolf Frischknecht

Download:    DF35_program_v20080425.pdf