LCA harmonization for the last mile delivery sec

All products and services generate environmental impacts during their lifetime. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is the most widely accepted and comprehensive methodology to estimate environmental impacts from materials extraction to end-of-life. LCA results allow products or services to be compared, and conclusions drawn, to inform evidence-based decision-making in companies and governments. The LCA method is standardised by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) through the ISO 14040 44. One significant characteristic of the standards is their nonspecific approach. As they were developed to fit a wide range of products and systems, the flexibility users encounter when conducting an LCA often leads to results with low comparability levels. This is even more evident in the service sector due to its intangible characteristics. One example is the service provided during the final stage of delivery of goods purchased online. Known as last- mile delivery, the service can be provided from numerous vehicles ranging in capacity from big trucks to small drones. The lack of a specialiszed framework to assess the environmental impacts of the available systems can lead to the exclusion of relevant inputs such as weather conditions and vehicle lifespan. Several LCAs have been conducted to investigate the environmental impacts of drone delivery in the last- mile sector. The discussions predominantly revolve around the impacts in of substituting fossil fuel alternatives for electrical options. However, it is currently not possible to conclude if one method generates less negative environmental impact than the other due to a the great diversity of functional units used in each assessment. Another consequence observed is that vehicles with very low negative environmental impacts such as bicycles have not being been included in assessments in which they are the most common modes of transportation, as in the case of food delivery systems. This is potentially problematic when LCA is used as a decision support in policy domain or funding programmes as the assessments would still be ISO compliant. As the transportation sector is by far the largest source of energy-related CO2 emissions in Ireland, responsible for over 40% of energy relatedenergy-related CO2 emissions in 2019, it is pivotal to develop a new focused framework to harmonize LCA results. The system boundary harmonization has the potential to prevent bogus outcomes when conducting LCA in the transportation sector and avoid greenwashing. This work has reviewed selected publications to compare the numerous functional units selected for last- mile delivery LCA and analyse the elements of the goal and scope phase that lead into to the inclusion or exclusion of the inputs selected. The result shows what are the main elements considered during the design phase of the functional unit of the assessments and their consequences for the LCA results obtained. Lastly, recommendations for selected topic were developed to harmonize last mile delivery LCA.