The database contains information about 17 jurisdictions of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) using and promoting life cycle approaches in their public policies. The database results from a political science research project on the environmental state and life cycle analysis.
The project identifies and classifies policy instruments that incorporate LCA for each jurisdiction: informational measures, legislative and regulatory frameworks, procurement policies, financial support, administrative practices, and strategic guidance. The database allows the user to retrieve information by jurisdiction, by instrument or by category of instrument (nodality, authority, treasure, organization). The included jurisdictions are Australia, California, Canada, Denmark, the European Union, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Quebec, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.
The database allows for mapping the use of LCA within the OECD. It shows how LCA has penetrated the realm of public policy and decision-making of all jurisdictions. But there is variation in the ways it is used and in scope. Next steps of the project seek to understand the variation between states. Data collection: We sampled data are from 14 states, considering that states structure social and economic interactions, have the (coercive) power to legislate and implement legislation, and dispose of substantial administrative and economic resources. Data from 1 supranational and 2 subnational jurisdictions have been added due to their more progressive environmental policy approaches in Europe and North America.
Data are drawn from official government sites. There is no definite timeline, but most data cover the past 10 years. Initial and intermediary steps of the data collection have been discussed with experts from CIRAIG and validated by 11 international LCA experts. Moreover, data have been validated by an online survey in 2019. Due to the exploratory nature of the research, the data is not exhaustive.
