Biogenic Carbon in LCA Standards and Practice

The Imperial Network of Excellence in Sustainability through Life Cycle Approaches will host Dr Lewis McDonald, who will deliver a talk on biogenic carbon in LCA standards and practices.

Abstract:

Biomass is an important carbon pool, yet LCA standards lack consensus on how it should be handled. This has led to the development of multiple approaches to account for biogenic carbon across all aspects of LCA. Divergent practices in LCA standards arise across four broad categories:

1. Definition – Different definitions of what is and isn’t included as biogenic carbon across the standards. All agree that carbon uptake in plants and animals is biogenic, but each has their own inclusions or exclusions.
2. Uptake and release – While the uptake of CO2 as a negative flow and emission as a positive flow (often referred to as -1/+1 approach) is used, implementations of it comes with different rules pertaining to the handling of carbon stored within the assessed time horizon.
3. Storage – Differing definitions and time horizons for carbon to be considered stored, although 100 years is most used. Some include temporary storage within the time horizon, and others do not.
4. System boundaries – There is no consensus on whether biogenic carbon should be included in cradle to gate studies. The rationale of those that do not allow inclusion is that the carbon flux is not balanced until the end of life and uptake should be omitted to preserve mass balance.

The UNEP/LCI funded Biogenic Carbon Project seeks to reach consensus on this topic through engagement with a diverse range of global stakeholders.

Bio:

Lewis is a research associate at the University of Bath, working on the development of LCA for circular practices, biogenic carbon and as part of the Cellular Agriculture Manufacturing (CARMA) Hub. They completed their undergraduate studies in Civil and Environmental Engineering in 2018 followed by their PhD in developing supplementary cementitious materials from cement kiln flue gas in 2022, both at the University of Aberdeen. Since then, Lewis has worked on IDRIC funded projects related to carbon capture using bio-based capture mediums and LCA. Lewis’s research interests include LCA, CCU, industrial decarbonisation and biogenic carbon.

Information for attendance

Registration is required. Register your interest in attending this seminar. The seminar will be hosted on Microsoft Teams and the link will be emailed to all registered attendees.