Title: Life Cycle Assessment practices: benchmarking selected European automobile manufacturers

Authors: Jean-Jacques Chanaron

Addresses: GATE-CNRS and GEM, BP 127, 38003 Grenoble Cedex 01, France

Abstract: With the rise of environmental concerns in the general public, re-appropriated by influential politicians, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has become a widely used set of tools for the management of all impacts on environment by industrial products. LCA is carried out at the very early stages of product research, development and design. This is particularly true in the automobile industry where vehicle manufacturers Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) are launching several new or re-vamped models each year. The automobile industry is therefore a very emblematic sector for best practices of LCA. The paper is based on available literature and interviews with top LCA professionals in Germany-based OEMs.

Keywords: automobile industry; best practices; life cycle assessment; LCA; automotive OEMs; Germany; benchmarking; Europe.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPLM.2007.016293

International Journal of Product Lifecycle Management, 2007 Vol.2 No.3, pp.290 - 311

Published online: 15 Dec 2007 *

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