Life cycle assessment in multinational companies: analysis of guidelines for the packaging sector

Multinational companies are increasingly investing in the assessment of environmental impacts of product life cycles using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method. Alongside well-established standards that guide its application, new guidelines have emerged that specify some methodological aspects influenced by subjectivity (such as the choice of system boundaries) that can bias product comparisons and affect data consistency. In this context, companies have increasingly to deal with the requests of B2B customers who may require LCA analyses for the same product to comply with different documents, thus generating confusion. This study compares three LCA guidelines used in the packaging industry, a sector particularly concerned with environmental issues, to highlight their differences and similarities, and to provide the foundation for a management system that optimizes internal LCA analysis processes to efficiently respond to different requirements.