ETSI – TS 103 199 – Life Cycle Assessment of ICT

ETSI – TS 103 199 – Life Cycle Assessment of ICT Dr. Anders S.G. Andrae

Introduction – Problems addressed • ISO 14040, ISO 14044 and the ILCD Handbook are recognized as normative LCA knowledge documents for “any” application • Based on the ISO standards, numerous LCA results for ICT with different quality and inconsistent result presentations have been provided – EU requirement on improvement • Standardization of LCA of ICT IS DEFINATELY NEEDED! • ETSI has responded to the gap • Work started in 2008-2009 and will finish in 2011 • The ETSI standard for ICT LCA is intended to be more specific than ISO 14040/ISO 14044, but less specific than, e.g., Japanese Product Category Rules for, e.g., notebooks © 2011 – Proprietary and Information of ETSI

Features of the new ETSI LCA standard Based on ISO 14040, ISO 14044 and the ILCD Handbook Lifetimes – Defined Functional units (f.u.) – Basic f.u. defined System boundaries – Life Cycle Stages and Unit Processes Identified and Classified as Mandatory or Optional -The level of detail is relativelely high  good guidance for users Rules for Cut–off if they cannot be avoided Data quality evalution – Qualitative requirements defined for all life cycle stages and unit processes Allocation methods – Specified. E.g., 50/50 allocation prefereed between Raw Matr. Aquisition and Metal recycling. Detailed reporting instructions (diagrams, tables) ...will help, e.g., 3rd party reviewers 4 © 2011 – Proprietary and Information of ETSI

General requirements - Life cycle stages A. Equipment Raw material acquisition which is composed by Raw material extraction (A1) Raw material processing (A2) B. Production which is composed by ICT Equipment production (B1) Support Equipment production (B2) C. Use which is composed by ICT Equipment Use (C1) Support Equipment Use (C2) Operator activities (C3) Service Provider Activities (C4) D. Equipment End of Life Treatment Re–use (D1) ICT specific EoLT (D2) Other EoLT (D3) 7 categories of Re-occuring Generic Unit Processes, e.g., Transportation, Energy supply 5 © 2011 – Proprietary and Information of ETSI

General requirements - Lifetime Lifetime is (always) critical for the interpretation of the results of (ICT) LCAs Operating lifetime: The duration of the actual use period (consisting of both active and non–active periods) for the first user. Storage time is not included in operating lifetime. Operating lifetime shall always be reported and be based on available information on actual product use. 6 © 2011 – Proprietary and Information of ETSI

Goal&Scope Definition - Intro Any ICT Equipment which can be part of a Network delivering voice and/or data lies within the scope of the ETSI LCA standard. 7 © 2011 – Proprietary and Information of ETSI

Goal&Scope Definition – Functional Unit The number of users/subscribers supported shall be specified and the traffic profile shall be considered where applicable. MANDATORY BASIC FUNCTIONAL UNITS Annual ICT Equipment use (per one year of ICT Equipment use) or Total ICT Equipment use per lifetime of ICT Equipment. Annual Network use Annual Service use. 8 © 2011 – Proprietary and Information of ETSI

Goal&Scope Definition – System Boundaries • A: EQUIPMENT RAW MATERIAL ACQUISITION • A1. Raw material extraction • A2. Raw material processing G1. TRANSPORTS&TRAVEL • B: PRODUCTION • B1. ICT Equipment production • B1.1 Parts production • B1.2 Assembly • B1.3 ICT manufacturer support activities • B2. Support Equipment production • B2.1 Support Equipment manufacturing • B2.2 Site construction G2. ELECTRICITY SUPPLY G3. FUEL SUPPLY G4. OTHER ENERGY SUPPLY G5. RAW MATERIAL AQUISTION G5.1. Raw material extraction G5.2. Raw material processing • C: USE • C1. ICT Equipment use • C2. Support Equipment use • C3. Operator activities • C4. Service provider activities G6. END-OF-LIFE TREATMENT G6.1 EHW treatment G6.2 Other waste treatment • D: EQUIPMENT END-OF-LIFE TREATMENT • D1. Re–use of ICT Equipment • D2. ICT specific EoLT • D2.1 Disassembly/Dismantling/Shredding • D2.2 Recycling • D3. Other EoLT G7. RAW MATERIAL RECYCLING System boundary 9 © 2011 – Proprietary and Information of ETSI

Goal&Scope Definition – Support activities The term Support activities refers to, e.g., offices including ICT use for marketing, sales and R&D, and also to business travel, commuting and service vehicles. Support activities are optional to include but should be included where possible. The extent in which Support activities and other Optional activities are included for different parts of the life cycle shall be clearly described in the study report. 12 © 2011 – Proprietary and Information of ETSI

Goal&Scope Definition – Raw Material Acquisition • A1. Raw material extraction B. PRODUCTION A2. Raw material processing G7. RAW MATERIAL RECYCLING System boundary 13 © 2011 – Proprietary and Information of ETSI

Goal&Scope Definition – Use • C1. ICT Equipment use D. EoLT • C2. Support Equipment Use • C3. Operator activities • C4. Service provider activities B.PRODUCTION System boundary 15 © 2011 – Proprietary and Information of ETSI

Goal&Scope Definition – End-of-Life D1 Re–use of ICT Equipment D2 ICT specific EoLT D2.1 Storage/Disassembly/Dismantling/Shredding D2.2 Recycling D2.2.1 Battery recycling ICT specific metal/mechanical parts/fractions EoLT D2.2.2 PCBA recycling D2.2.3 Cable recycling D2.2.4 Mechanics recycling D2.2.5 Other ICT recycling G7. RAW MATERIAL RECYCLING • D3. Other EoLT System boundary C. USE 16 © 2011 – Proprietary and Information of ETSI

Goal&Scope Definition – Networks System Boundaries • For the Network under study applicable types of nodes and infrastructure, as well as amounts of these, shall be defined. • Functional Block diagrams (HW and SW) essential for showing study scope • The impact from software development shall be included. • The Network shall be defined in terms of ICT equipment, Support Equipment and infrastructure. • Operator activities (mainly installation, maintenance and de-installation) shall always be included 17 © 2011 – Proprietary and Information of ETSI

Goal&Scope Definition – Services System Boundaries • In order to calculate the impact of a Service, it is necessary to first assess the Network • Most often (i.e., in a multi–service situation) an allocation of an appropriate amount of the Network impact to the Service under study is needed • Service software development, Service use of consumables, Service sales and logistics infrastructure, Service associated travels and transports • Data centers are key • Service provider activities • Positive and negative impacts 18 © 2011 – Proprietary and Information of ETSI

Goal&Scope Definition – Cut-off rules • Cut–offs shall be avoided as far as possible! • Table 1 constitute a significant share for typical product systems in ICT LCAs • The intention is that all Mandatory life cycle stages/unit processes of Table 1 shall be included • Model unavailable data based on known data • Mandatory to: • motivate clearly eventual cut–offs of mandatory life cycle stages/unit processes from Table 1 • describe clearly the cut–off criteria used within a study • consider unit processes/flows that have been cut–off for the sensitivity analysis. 19 © 2011 – Proprietary and Information of ETSI

Goal&Scope Definition – Data quality requirements • Generic data: Data from any relevant data source which need not be specific for ICT applications and processes. Generic data is always secondary. • Specific data: Data emerging from, in this case, ICT specific applications and processes. This data could be either primary or secondary. • Primary data:Data collected/estimated/measured by a researcher, specifically for the LCA project; for example, pilot studies or customer or producer surveys. • Secondary data: Data that has been collected for another purpose, but can be analyzed again in a subsequent study; for example, LCA estimates by academia, government, or industry organizations. 20 © 2011 – Proprietary and Information of ETSI

Life Cycle Inventory – Data collection • The LCA practitioner shall report for which processes transports/energy supplies have been added separately and for which they are “hidden”. • For many products (especially end–user equipment), periods of idling and power off are important to model the usage profile and shall be considered. 23 © 2011 – Proprietary and Information of ETSI

Life Cycle Inventory - Allocation rules • Generic processes (G1–G7) shall be allocated as a whole to the life cycle stage in which they are used • Support activities… • Facilities… • Transports shall be allocated based on chargeable weight • Recycling: The 50/50 method shall be used to allocate use of recycled Raw Material between A1-A2 and D. • If used LCI data (e.g., for gold production) do not reveal the scrap% of metal, the 100/0 method is allowed. No metal recycling in EoLT allowed with 100/0. 24 © 2011 – Proprietary and Information of ETSI

Life Cycle Inventory - Allocation rules for Equipment data to Networks • End–user equipment (e.g., PCs, smart phones) which is accessing more than one Network (e.g. 3G, WLAN) shall be allocated to these Networks based on use time • Impact from shared Network resources (e.g., transmission equipment, core nodes and data centers) shall be allocated to an access network based on data traffic 27 © 2011 – Proprietary and Information of ETSI

Life Cycle Inventory - Allocation rules for Network data to Services • Data for End–users– and home/CPE equipment: • to be allocated based on active use time of the Service • Data for transport equipment: • to be allocated based on data traffic • The data center(s), where the Service is operated, as well as the Service provider activities shall be allocated based on number of subscriptions and Service users 28 © 2011 – Proprietary and Information of ETSI

Life Cycle Impact Assessment The baseline model of 100 years of the IPCC (GWP100) LCIA method is mandatory (shall) as mid–point impact assessment indicator for climate change. For other mid-points Impact Assessment Categories than Climate Change and Ozone Depletion there are several Category indicators developed. If these mid–points are included in the study scope the ILCD Handbook shall be followed as close as possible. Also for best End-point assessment practise the ILCD Handbook for LCIA shall be consulted. 29 © 2011 – Proprietary and Information of ETSI

Life Cycle Interpretation - how robust are the results and conclusions? The challenge of the completeness check is to overcome the paradox of evaluating the degree of completeness of the product system when not knowing 100% of it. If two or more ICT Equipment, Networks or Services LCA results do not differ significantly there is a risk of erroneous interpretations. The significance is determined for instance by magnitude in difference, modeling assumptions, and LCA software program calculation algorithm. 30 © 2011 – Proprietary and Information of ETSI

Comparative LCA between ICT and business as usual (BAU) systems - reduction potential LCAs with the same goal&scope, system boundaries and functional unit need to be performed for both the ICT Service and the BAU Service it replaces Especially as identical as possible system boundaries for the Raw Material Acquisition and Production Phases. For the BAU Service the associated environmental impacts shall be estimated according to travel and infrastructure first order effects. The first order effects are those directly attributable to the Services. The reduction potential is the second order effect. Rebound effects are outside the scope. 31 © 2011 – Proprietary and Information of ETSI

Reporting Common ways of reporting  increase transparency and a proper basis for interpretation of results. The following shall be transparently reported and motivated: • Operating lifetime • Cut–off • Allocations • Data sources 33 © 2011 – Proprietary and Information of ETSI

ETSI – TS 103 199 – Life Cycle Assessment of ICT