What happens when Norway’s leading centre for life cycle assessment meets a rapidly changing market? The research institute NORSUS applies LCA methodology across a broad range of industries – from construction and infrastructure to food, textiles and transport.
Les også: Resources, consumption and the future of sustainability – insights from NORSUS and LCA.no
A research environment at the forefront
– NORSUS is a research institute and Norway’s foremost environment for applied sustainability research, says Ellen-Marie Forsberg, CEO of NORSUS.
– Our core expertise is life cycle assessments – primarily environmental, but also social and economic. We work to make sustainability assessments more holistic, and see ourselves as a bridge between the research frontier and industry. Simply put: we translate international research into knowledge that can actually be used in practice.
From theory to decision support across sectors
Life cycle assessment (LCA) is no longer confined to R&D departments or sustainability teams. Today, the methodology is actively used as decision support across entire value chains and industries. Kari-Anne Lyng, Head of Research at NORSUS, explains how LCA has become a practical tool for both private and public sectors.
– We apply LCA in everything from construction and infrastructure to food, textiles and transport. Our clients range from industrial giants like Hydro and Elkem to municipalities, waste companies and small start-ups. It’s all about equipping organisations with the knowledge base to make more sustainable choices – whether that’s for procurement, product development or strategic decisions, she says.
Lyng also notes that many of their projects involve partners with ambitious environmental and sustainability goals.
– We often work with those who want to be ahead of the curve – and who see LCA as a tool for documenting, improving, and communicating their sustainability performance, she adds.
Social and economic assessments on the rise
Life cycle assessments are no longer just about the environment. In recent years, both the social and economic dimensions have gained attention – in research and in practice. This means that LCA is increasingly used to assess not only how a product or service affects the climate and nature, but also how it impacts people and society.
– Social LCA (S-LCA) is an exciting, although still relatively new, field, says Lyng.
– We assess entire value chains and aim to identify the most relevant social indicators – such as working conditions, human rights and local communities. The goal is to quantify and visualise social consequences in the same way we do with environmental impact. But the methodology is still under development and not as well established as the environmental side.
Forsberg elaborates:
– When we combine environmental, social and economic life cycle assessments, we refer to it as Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment – or LCSA. This significantly increases complexity, but at the same time provides a more comprehensive and realistic picture of sustainability. The world is complex – and our tools must reflect that, she says.
Sustainability and politics
While many businesses want to stay ahead of the curve, in practice it’s often external pressure that places sustainability higher on the agenda. The conversation increasingly centres around regulatory drivers, and Terese Troy Prebensen, CFO at LCA.no, puts it plainly:
– Many acts only when the pressure is high enough. It’s about making complex sustainability requirements practical and useful for everyone, she says.
This is particularly true in light of new and tightened requirements from the EU. Forsberg points out that both the ESPR (Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation) and CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) will have significant implications for how companies must document and report sustainability moving forward.
– We’re in a situation where the demands for sustainability documentation will increase considerably – especially within public and professional procurement. This means that organisations must have access to methods and data that can measure not only CO₂ emissions, but also other environmental and social impacts, she explains.
Forsberg emphasises that European environmental legislation is not just about climate – but about the entire concept of sustainability, including nature, social factors, and economic accountability.
– This gives the LCA field an even more important role, and we must ensure that our analyses reflect this complexity, she concludes.