Accelerate the uptake of life-cycle assessment (LCA) for Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) chemicals and materials and resulting products (RIA)

Expected Outcome:Projects are expected to contribute to the following outcomes:

• Support the implementation of EU strategies such as the proposed Eco-design for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR)[1], the EU Ecolabel[2], the Green Claims Directive proposal[3], the One-Substance-One-Assessment package[4], the Batteries Regulation[5], the Critical Raw Materials Act[6] and the Net Zero Industry Act[7] with scientific evidence on sustainability throughout the entire life cycle of chemicals and materials,;
• Reduce significantly the cost to apply LCA at company level, including for SMEs, compared to current costs;
• Allow an efficient and simplified LCA application at early stage of design and facilitate decision making for companies and policy makers by providing user-friendly and cost-effective tools, methods and data;
• Provide advanced, reliable and predictive life cycle models and impact assessment methods, allowing for a satisfactory measurement of planetary boundaries;

Scope:Proposals should identify and fill the gaps in LCA tools, methods and data used for improving the environmental sustainability and efficiency of chemicals, materials and resulting products, taking also into account the criticality of raw materials. The Environmental Footprint (EF) methods should in particular be built on. All stages from raw material extraction to end-of-life disposal of products should be included. Data-driven decisions and actions for a greener and more sustainable future should be enabled, while respecting planetary boundaries. The tools should be in compliance with the Safe and Sustainable by Design[8] framework, hence to be considered as a reference in the proposal.

Multidisciplinary research activities should address all the following:

• Develop advanced, user-friendly LCA tools and methodologies that allow for a comprehensive assessment of the environmental sustainability of the entire lifecycle of chemicals, materials and resulting products whilst considering planetary boundaries;
• Develop LCA datasets, in particular building on the EC PEF methods, from design to end-of-life of at least three relevant chemicals or materials and a selection of their resulting products. The selected substances should be emerging alternatives to substances of concern (as defined in the ESPR proposal) and should have a high socio-economic value;
• Develop solutions to fill in the identified data and assessment gaps and to estimate LCA uncertainty, using advanced digital technologies, modelling, machine learning and artificial intelligence;
• Feed relevant sustainability databases managed by the European Institutions and Agencies, such as the European Platform on LCA[9] (EPLCA), with FAIR[10] data and ensure new tools developed are findable by stakeholders.
• Provide guidance for LCA modelling of circularity scenarios for chemicals, materials and resulting products, in alignment with EC PEF methods and the SSbD framework;
• Ensure that the developed tools, methods and datasets are cost-effective and user-friendly in order to increase uptake and use in industry;
• Develop guidelines and user-friendly solutions to enable a seamless integration of the new LCA approaches with existing safety assessment tools and methods (notably the EC PEF method) to ensure a holistic SSbD assessment from the early innovation phases;
• Engage with the wider stakeholder community, especially with SMEs, to promote a harmonised use of the proposed tools and methodologies;
• Perform training and knowledge transfer activities to promote LCA and SSbD knowledge as well as life cycle thinking within the R&I ecosystem;
• Projects should contribute to yearly policy briefs and technical discussions, for example under the Eco-design for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR)[1] or with the EF Technical Advisory Board;
• Proposals should leverage the experience of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) researchers in refining models related to child labour, employment conditions, and other socio-economic factors within LCA;
• The improved/advanced tools and methods should consider evaluating the economic and social dimension of sustainability at product level based on a functional unit.

Proposals should indicate to which chapters of the Strategic Research and Innovation Plan for chemicals and materials[12] they will contribute.

International collaboration is encouraged.

Projects should build on, or seek collaboration with, existing projects and develop synergies with other relevant European, national or regional initiatives, funding programmes and platforms. Specifically, projects should collaborate with the Partnership on Assessment of Risks from Chemicals[13] (PARC) and ensure complementarity with the SSbD toolbox[14] and also engage with the IRISS project[15] on the different value chains. Additionally, projects are encouraged to build on the results obtained by the ORIENTING[16] project funded under the CE-NMBP-42-2020[17] topic which has aimed to operationalise methodologies for LCA and to propose options to further advance the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF). Proposals should allocate the necessary resources for the above activities. Where relevant, proposers are encouraged to take advantage of and connecting to European research infrastructures and services.

Synergies with Horizon Europe missions as relevant are encouraged.

[1] Proposal for Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation

[2] EU Ecolabel

[3] Green Claims Directive proposal

[4] ‘One substance, one assessment' chemicals assessment reform

[5] Batteries Regulation

[6] European Critical Raw Materials Act

[7] Net-Zero Industry Act

[8] See documents defining the SSbD framework on: https://ec.europa.eu/info/research-and-innovation/research-area/industrial-research-and-innovation/key-enabling-technologies/advanced-materials-and-chemicals_en

[9] European Platform on LCA | EPLCA

[10] Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable

[11] Proposal for Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation

[12] Strategic Research and Innovation Plan for safe and sustainable Chemicals and Materials | Research and Innovation

[13] Partnership for the Assessment of Risks from Chemicals | Parc

[14] Safe and sustainable by design toolbox | Parc

[15] About IRISS

[16] Orienting EU Project

[17] Materials life cycle sustainability analysis