ABSTRACT
Life cycle assessment allows us to track the environmental impact of these products services throughout their life (from cradle to grave) and identify areas of environmental damage. In so doing we are then able to redesign products and production and distribution methods which will reduce environmental damage. This methodology therefore represents a very powerful tool in the strategies available to businesses to improve their environmental performance. The principals of life cycle assessment are not new. In the 1970s, fuel cycle studies were common amongst very high energy users who wanted to minimize energy consumption. Life cycle assessment brings with it a number of advantages often overlooked by traditional environmental auditing methodologies. The concentration on the product, rather than the system, facilitates direct measurement of environmental impact. Being directly linked to products also means that environmental strategy can be linked into the marketing system and therefore marketing and environmental strategy become intertwined.
