12 LCA (2) 2007     LCM, sometimes also termed Product Stewardship, is an approach to integrate sustainability into day-to-day as well as strategic decision-making. The LCM2007 Conference aims to facilitate exchange of experience and know-how between researchers, academics, and professionals from industrial enterprises and public institutions working on the application and implementation of life cycle approaches for sustainability as well as on the development of associated tools and methods. Application-oriented and scientific LCM approaches will be presented and discussed. -- On the occasion of this Conference, a Special Issue of Int J LCA (Vol. 12, No. 1, 2007) will be presented (contents see p. 140). The papers provide application-oriented and scientific LCA/LCM approaches as well and keep the balance between needs for practitioners and needs for researchers. The paper on pp. 7–17 (see p. 140), for example, is of high practical relevance, in particular for industrial LCA researchers and practitioners. It discusses an old controversy within the LCA community and shows in which cases capital goods must not be neglected. The purpose of the study on pp. 18–27 is to quantify the environmental impact of selected service industry companies, and to identify the processes with the highest environmental contribution. The review on pp. 65–78 is the result of a literature search on the various allocation schemes that are used to create life cycle inventories, with a focus on industrial processes. The results are grouped by 'general guidelines' and 'industry-specific' applications. The LCM orientation of the four further articles is obvious. -- This Special Issues appears in August and can be ordered immediately. -- Cover design: Edwin Grondinger, abavo GmbH, Nebelhornstraße 8, 86807 Buchloe, Germany (edwin.grondinger@abavo.de; http://www.abavo.de)

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