Workshop “What guidance tools are needed for a more sustainable materials research?”

The aim of this workshop is to bring together in a single discussion all the R&D players who have or need to use Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tools to guide their research into projects aimed at reducing society’s impact on the environment.

When research and/or development projects are launched, there is a growing demand to be able to assess the environmental impact of new technical solutions in advance. Although LCA tools appear to be relevant for measuring the impacts of processes or systems that are well known and controlled, they nevertheless provide values with uncertainties that depend heavily on the accuracy of the input data.

Thus, in the very early stages of research and development when no precise data is yet available concerning processes and materials, it seems very complicated, in the first instance, to use LCA tools as an element of decision-making or strategic orientation.

This is why we want to bring together all the members of the scientific communities in the engineering professions and the human and social sciences to discuss needs, consider ways of improving assessment tools, and propose new methodologies for anticipating the environmental and societal impacts of planned technological advances.

Programme

Introduction

• Stéphane Delalande, Professor at the Cnam – Holder of the Advanced Materials and Innovative Processes Chair at the Cnam:
• Christian Serre, CNRS Research Director, IMAP laboratory (ENS, ESPCI, CNRS)

What is LCA?

• Baptiste Laubie, Senior Lecturer, University of Lorraine, CNRS, LRGP

LCA in industry

• Jean-Jacques Flat, Biomaterials Program Manager, ARKEMA
• Trino Beltran, Senior Building Consultant (RIB Software) and co-founder of AEXDO

How can we think further ahead?

• Julien Garcia, IFP Energies Nouvelles
• Yves Jegourel, Professor at the Cnam, holder of the chair in economics of raw materials and sustainable transitions.
• Fabrice Rossignol, CNRS Research Director, IRCER laboratory, University of Limoges.

Round-table: LCA, a criterion for choosing upstream subjects?