LCA Surveys

Abstract

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A study has been performed on Danish industry's experiences with LCA. Twenty-six enterprises from different sectors conpleted a questionnaire. The enterprises are still in an adoption and learning phase, and experiences with full-blown LCA's are sparse. Expectations of future market pressure to supply more environmentally friendly products is the most important incentive for the enterprises to engage in LCA activities. This pressure, however, has not yet emerged and the enterprises have not achieved the expected competitive advantages. LCA work has revealed new environmental aspects of the products with subsequent new priorities in the environmental efforts. Only a few enterprises have built up in-house LCA competence, whereas consultants are heavily involved in LCA work. In large enterprises, LCA work is predominantly carried out by environmental staff members, but the product development staff is also involved. The nature of the co-operation and distribution of roles between these two actors is not clear, and should therefore be studied further.