Development of endpoint-type methodology of LCIA in Japan

LCIA (life-cycle impact assessment) aims to examine the production system from an environmental perspective using characterization factors and a weighting approach. An impact assessment system based on end-point damage has been grabbing attention internationally to improve the transparency and the reliability of LCIA in recent years. The damages of category end-points by the emission of substances have to be quantified in order to construct this system, because these assessments are the fundamentals of the methodology. It is important to involve the latest and most detailed knowledge based on natural science in the assessment of the end-point level. The results of the damage functions are then integrated into the level of safeguards, subject to a single index based on a social science such as economics. These researches, however, are not enough at present, although the requirements are quite high. From this background, in 1998 we started to develop an end-point-type LCIA methodology to improve the quality of LCIA in Japan, through discussions in the Impact Assessment Committee under the LCA (Life-Cycle Assessment) National Project of Japan. This paper provides the concept of our system and presents development situations with a case study.