Life Cycle and Supply Chain Sustainability Assessment

The field of industrial ecology includes advanced tools and methods to assist practitioners seeking to redesign and realign industrial systems and activities to be more ecologically and socially sound. Central within the field of industrial ecology is life cycle assessment (LCA), which involves systems analysis of the full range of environmental impacts, product life cycles, and supply chains. Social impacts are also being addressed in life cycles and supply chains, leading to the definition of life cycle sustainability assessment. This course enables participants to develop a hands-on, in-depth understanding of the frameworks, principles, tools, and applications of life cycle assessment. As part of the course, students learn to use and apply professional software tools and databases that address sustainability-relevant impacts in global supply chains. We also review the state of life cycle practice and current initiatives involving companies, governments, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). We ground the entire course on the goal of making human activities, from the personal to the global, truly sustainable.