Life cycle assessment (LCA) has become a major approach to evaluate product- and sector-level environmental sustainability. However, current practices of LCA are dominated by conventional models such as process-based LCA. These models are retrospective in nature, focus narrowly on product supply chain, and rest on some restrictive assumptions like linearity. Thus, they may not capture the complexity of socioeconomic systems and fall short of decision support. A good example is early bioenergy LCAs, which failed to account for a critical impact of bioenergy expansion (i.e., indirect land use change) owing to the inherent limitations of the conventional LCA models. Such limitations have been increasingly recognized in the LCA community, prompting researchers to develop novel models or incorporate other models, such as system dynamics, into the LCA framework to improve its modeling of our socioeconomic system and to better understand the environmental consequences of decision making. The nature of LCA modeling is changing, and the aim of this Virtual Special Issue (VSI) is to push forward and strengthen the waves of change. Specifically, the VSI invites original research articles of energy and agroecosystem that incorporate the following models into the LCA framework: System dynamics (SD); Partial equilibrium analysis (PEA), Computable general equilibrium (CGE); Agent-based modelling (ABM); Linear and non-linear optimization; Econometric models; And other types of advanced modelling for energy systems and agroecosystem not. The VSI also invites critical reviews of: Advanced LCA modelling, such as integration of SD and LCA; LCA applications in energy and agroecosystems from a modeling perspective (e.g., consequential versus attributional); Advances in economics or other social disciplines that provide insights for the future development of LCA methodologies.
The VSI welcomes original research articles and review articles that address questions directly linked to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and meet the RSER scope. Note that per RSER guidelines, “Case studies and new technology analyses must have a significant review element, which may take the form of a critique, comparison, or analysis”. For example, a case study submitted to this VSI that integrates SD and LCA can have a section that reviews past work on how SD has been applied in LCA studies.