A Methodology for Simplified LCAs of Electronic Products

Conducting a thorough life cycle assessment (LCA) of a complex electronic product requires thousands of working hours. The amount of existing LCA data is huge and evaluating and choosing a best fit for materials and components in an electronic product is difficult. Additionally, collecting high quality up-to-date supplier data is very challenging. There is a growing interest from various stakeholders to develop a new simplified LCA methodology. In response to these complexities, this paper presents a simplified LCA methodology building on current best practices and data. It is suitable also for non-LCA experts as it transparently shows how results are calculated based on emission factors. The methodology is presented with average data largely based on industry organization and company data for year 2020 and onwards, covering most of the electronic materials and manufacturing industry globally in terms of revenues and other key physical parameters. This data can be refreshed using same or similar data sources to keep up with the rapid development of electronics. Originally, the methodology was developed for network equipment and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions but have been extended to cover more ICT equipment including user devices, as well as other impact categories. The methodology is demonstrated through a detailed yet simplified LCA of a smartphone and mobile network that resulted in about 30 kg CO
2
e per subscription and year. The two major GHG emission contributors relate to the mobile networks in the use stage using a global electricity mix and the electronics production in the smartphone.