Ecosystem Services in Life Cycle Assessment: A novel conceptual framework for soil

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Ecosystem Services Assessment
• Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)

Background:

• Ecosystem Services (ES) are crucial for human well-being, but their integration into Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) faces limitations.
• Soil provides diverse ES, yet current LCA methods inadequately capture these benefits.
• Existing ES impact modeling in LCA lacks comprehensive evaluation of ecosystem benefits.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the evolution of ES assessment in LCA and current biophysical methods.
• To compare the ES cascade model with LCA for land use impacts.
• To propose an improved conceptual framework for soil-ES assessment in LCA.

Main Methods:

• Literature review on ES assessment in LCA.
• Comparative analysis of the ES cascade model and LCA environmental mechanisms.
• Development of a novel conceptual framework for soil-ES assessment.

Main Results:

• The ES cascade model is a valuable framework for operationalizing ES assessment and should be integrated with LCA.
• A new conceptual framework for soil-ES assessment is proposed, linking soil processes, functions, services, benefits, and values.
• Alignment of the cascade model steps with LCA terminology for midpoint and endpoint modeling.

Conclusions:

• Integrating the ES cascade model into LCA offers a more robust approach to evaluating soil's contribution to human well-being.
• The proposed framework facilitates a more comprehensive assessment of soil ecosystem services within LCA studies.
• Future research should develop indicators for measuring ES supply, human benefits, and their values.