Politicians, activists, and researchers are striving towards a more sustainable economy. A comprehensive way to analyse the environmental sustainability of systems are methods based on life cycle assessment (LCA). At the 74th Discussion Forum on Life Cycle Assessment (DF LCA) held on June 29, 2020, the role of different life cycle–based approaches for generating scientific knowledge about a sustainable economy were discussed within the LCA community. These life cycle–based approaches were applied and further developed within the various research projects of the Swiss National Research Programme “Sustainable Economy: resource-friendly, future-oriented, innovative” (NRP 73). This programme includes 29 research projects and generates scientific knowledge for the transition towards a sustainable economy, discovers untapped resource efficiency potential and contributes to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations (Betz et al. 2020). At the LCA Discussion Forum, twelve researchers presented their methodological LCA approaches within their NRP73 projects. Sixty participants from academia, consultancy, industry, and public authorities engaged in the interactive conference. Bastien Girod, President of the Commission for Environment, Energy and Spatial Planning of the Swiss National Council, opened the day with a keynote on the role of LCA and rebound effects for a net zero carbon economy. The forum consisted of four thematic sessions that covered the topics of the different research projects where life cycle–based approaches were used. These topics were circular and sharing economy (1), public and private consumption (2), food production and consumption (3), and sustainable cities (4). For each topic, the methods presented were evaluated based on how they could contribute to a sustainable economy by addressing three overarching issues: 1. How can decision-makers use life cycle–based approaches to boost sustainable decisions? 2. Which life cycle–based approaches are best suited to reveal opportunities and risks for sustainability within the different economic sectors? 3. Which instruments are most useful for combining environmental, economic, and societal aims? These issues were additionally discussed in bilateral sessions, where experts exchanged their knowledge in discussion groups of two and shared their insights using an online tool. These insights are presented in the last chapter.
