T10 AM LCA and Business Benefits
Tuesday, 15 November 2005: 8:00 AM - 11:40 AM in 341-342

(RUS-1122-068569) Developing LCA Based Product Profiles for Communication with Stakeholders.

Russell, A.¹, Pepper , G.², Shoop , M.³, Adams, W.⁴, ¹ Borax, Valencia, CA² Borax, Valencia, CA³ KUCC, Murray, UT⁴ Rio Tinto, Murray, UT

ABSTRACT- Rio Tinto Borax (RTB) and Kennecott Utah Copper Corporation (KUCC), members of the Rio Tinto Group of companies, have integrated strategic sustainable development practices into their everyday business activities. As part of these efforts, the companies have completed leading practice ISO 14040 ff compliant cradle-to-gate LCA studies of their products. The details and findings of these studies are used by both companies to assess process design changes, to report externally on various aspects and to communicate with customers and other stakeholders. To effectively communicate this LCA data and information with external stakeholders, the companies required a format that clearly communicated key decisions made during the studies, such as boundary conditions, allocation methods, and limitations. Additionally, the format needs to be used for multiple products and be easily modified depending on the recipient. As a result, both KUCC and RTB have developed LCA based product profiles for dissemination in various formats. The profiles were developed after surveying leading corporate practice on communication of LCA as well as current ISO 14062 Type III Environmental Product Declaration schemes in Europe and Asia. This presentation will review both companies product profile formats and discuss the drivers, business benefits and key learnings of such a customized approach.

Key words: Metal