Extended actor based LCA – a method that include external actors

Paper in proceeding, 2015

The broader field of LCA, industrial ecology is dominated by a normative approach to the modelling of flows of energy and materials in the industrial system. To include social aspects have led researchers use an agent based modelling based on a micro perspective (Axtell et al 2002). A different approach is the descriptive approach to include actors. Examples for that can be found in the field of supply chain management, or in social shaping perspective based on Actor Network Theory, or in organisational perspective based on Actor Network Theory, more specifically the theory of action nets (Baumann 2004). Here we present a new actor based LCA method using a descriptive approach of the product chain. The recognition that LCA can help actors see the indirect consequences of their actions are long established. We have started to study the direct consequences of actors on organic milk and dairy products (Berlin et al 2008), and indirect consequences of actors in the building chain (Brunklaus et al 2010), and we continued to study the direct and indirect consequences of actors in organic food chains such as egg, pork, and cucumber. Here we also present an extension of the actor based LCA method to analyse actors external to the product chain, which include an analysis of agencies and policy actors, industrial organisations and market actors, as well as NGOs based on innovation analysis. An initial study combines a study on innovation analysis on organic milk (Jacobsson 2006) and actor based LCA on organic milk (Berlin et al 2008). With this combination we can explain agents and roles, and their effect on the product chain. We can analytically link internal and external actors to analyse barriers and opportunities in the product chain. Future studies will analyse each actor and effect in relation to LCA.