UPDATE

Dear Friends of LCM,

LCM 2021 is less than two weeks away, and we cannot wait to welcome all stakeholders of environmental, economic and social sustainability at the virtual conference. So far, more than 550 participants have registered and the number is growing every day. To all those who have not yet registered – we have extended the deadline for registration to September 2. The impressive conference program with great keynote speeches, various parallel sessions, workshops and much more can be explored on the website: www.lcm2021.org

There, you will also find all information about the pre-conference week, which already starts on September 1. Look forward to even more relevant content and information around the topic of life cycle management.

Festo Host-Session

We would like to highlight a program item on Wednesday, September 8: the Host-Session from Festo entitled "Sustainable production - actively shaping the eco-logical transformation with Industrie 4.0. A panel discussion organized by Plattform Industrie 4.0".

In its 2030 Vision for Industrie 4.0, Germany’s Plattform Industrie 4.0 identifies sustainability as a key field of action. This works in two directions: Sustainability is being embedded in the digital transformation of industry (Industrie 4.0), and, secondly, Industrie 4.0 helps to drive forward the implementation of international sustainability goals. Thus, future competitive production is sustainable and digital.

Aligned with its cross-sector network character, the panel discussion of Plattform Industrie 4.0 will combine perspectives from industry, research and sustainability expertise on day three of the LCM. Key questions will be:

• What are future paths towards a digital, networked and sustainable manufacturing industry of the future?
• What are the hurdles and what innovation is needed?
• What role do circularity and business models play in this transformation?

Plattform Industrie 4.0 and the moderator of the panel, Janina Henning (Community Manager Sustainability), are looking forward to welcoming Dr.-Ing. Johannes van der Beek (MOSCA), Prof. Dr. Dirk Messner (UBA), Lisa-Alexandra Unkelhäuser (Bosch Climate Solutions), Dr. Carsten Polenz (SAP), Prof. Dr. Frank Piller (RWTH Aachen University) and Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Liselotte Schebek (TU Darmstadt / Fraunhofer IWKS).

In preparation for the Fraunhofer IBP Host-Session on “Rethinking LCA for Product Stewardship and Corporate Sustainability” at the LCM2021, we would like to learn more about the state and progress of implementation in your company. Take this quick anonymous survey if you work in a sustainability-related role in industry or consulting, and make sure your experience, challenges and goals are properly reflected in our session.

Find out what Peter Saling, Director Sustainability Methods, BASF, has to say about the partnership with LCM 2021.

At BASF, we strongly believe in methods to quantify sustainability performance. LCM is, therefore, a keystone event. We enjoy the exchange with the LCA community at LCM – sharing our approaches and case studies, providing and receiving feedback, and discussing new ways to look at LCA. I am very much looking forward to this year’s event where we will have the opportunity to present our innovative digital solution and methodology for the calculation of Product Carbon Footprints.

Achieving net zero CO2 emissions by 2050 is a huge challenge. For the steering of decarbonization, product carbon footprints help to get transparency. Our extensive LCA experiences enabled us to design a new approach for the calculation of carbon footprints. Based on such methodology, BASF has developed a high-performance digital solution to calculate the product carbon footprint for tens of thousands of products “in one go,” leveraging primary company data. BASF has also taken the initiative to share such a solution with the market as a way to foster standardization and to enhance the quality of carbon footprint data in the industry. At LCM, we will discuss the opportunities of this new approach in a session in the pre-conference program.

To learn from the community has always been incredibly inspiring for me and helped to develop our sustainability methodology further. One of my highlights has been the introduction of the SEEbalance® method in 2005, which is a powerful LCA method. It takes into account all three dimensions of sustainability – economy, ecology and society – and, since its update in 2017, allows for an improved assessment of social aspects. SEEbalance® reflects the SDGs and can support decision-makers in identifying the sustainability benefits and trade-offs along the value chain.

Additionally, a nice aspect of LCM is that our colleagues from BASF South America have joined LCM in recent years. Fundação Espaço ECO is a spin-off sustainability consultancy in Brazil. They are doing impressive work and we complement each other nicely at LCM. This year, they will contribute again with cutting-edge analyses. You find more information in our digital booth.

A key driver in industry and society is sustainability. Creating value for the environment, society and business with more sustainable products, solutions and technologies is a challenge today, but even more in the future. For this, we are increasing the relevance of sustainability in our steering processes and business models. This establishes us as a key partner supporting our customers and the society, opens up new growth areas and secures long-term success. To achieve these goals, we collaborate with stakeholders on different levels, push forward the development of meaningful sustainability assessment methods and the development of harmonized standards.

Last but not least, in addition to the online platform, there will be an LCM 2021 conference app that provides all participants with additional information and features such as latest news, connecting/interacting with other participants, images/videos and more. Further information will follow soon.

Matthias Fischer
Host and scientific chair of the conference

To discuss sponsorship and advertising opportunities, please click here.

The conference is hosted by the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP, Department Life Cycle Engineering (GaBi). The University of Stuttgart will support the conference organization as academic co-chair and the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB) plus Festo as industrial co-chairs.

 If this newsletter is not displayed correctly, please click here.