2. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT
In the domain of environmental sciences, impacts are NEGATIVE impacts…
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IMPACTS
Life Cycle Assessment
DEPENDENCIES
Ecosystem Services Assessment
Figures: Natural Capital Protocol Liu and Bakshi (2019), in: J. Ind. Ecol.
Zhang et al. (2010), in: Environ. Sci. Technol.
3. 3
LCA-ES based “mitigation hierarchy”
Rugani B. & Allocco M. (2022). A Standards Application Protocol to establish environmental footprint neutrality based on combined LCA-ES assessment procedures. In:
Proceedings of the 4th ESP Europe Conference, Heraklion (GR) 10-14 October 2022
ENVIRONMENT
AL
BENEFIT
S
Compensation of
environmental
impacts
Quantification of
environmental
impacts
LCA
Ecosystem
services
assessment
LIFE
CYCLE
ASSESSMENT
ECOSYSTEM
SERVICE
ASSESSMENT
Beneficial impact
(ES supply)
Detrimental impact
(ES demand)
>
NET
GAIN
AVOID
MINIMIZE
RESTORE
OFFSET
4. ECOSYSTEM SERVICES AND BIODIVERISTY
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Le Provost et al (2022), in: Nature Ecology & Evolution
5. Data collection is fundamental
• Life cycle inventory and ES databases
• Remote sensing data
(landscape connectivity, biomass, pollutant
emissions, species identification)
• Ground sensors
(air pollutants, meteorological data)
• Biodiversity sensors
(photo-traps, bio-acoustics, combined with AI
recognition methods)
• Impact characterization methods and models
This can be very time consuming, but…
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