Linkage of Impact Pathways to Cultural Perspectives to Account for Multiple Aspects of Mineral Resource Use in Life Cycle Assessment

Abstract

Important advances have been made to define the multiple impact pathways relating mineral resource use to the area of protection (AoP) natural resources in life cycle assessment (LCA). Yet, the link between stakeholders' interests and the aspects relevant to resource use as addressed by existing impact assessment methods has so far only marginally been explored. This article proposes to go beyond the case-specific determination of stakeholders' interests (and the associated selection of impact assessment method) by defining multiple groups of different values based on cultural perspectives, in order to determine the corresponding relevant impact pathways and assessment methods. Relying on the Cultural Theory and related potential development scenarios, we identify socio-economic objectives and resource management strategies that fit the egalitarian, individualist and hierarchist perspectives. Our analysis reveals that different aspects of resource use may be most relevant to assess for each perspective since they pursue different socio-economic objectives. Egalitarians are expected to prioritize the long-term availability of geological stocks for future generations by keeping extraction flows to a minimum to reach global sufficiency, and individualists, to safeguard their short-term accessibility to resources by managing their supply risk. Hierarchists are likely to aim to maximize the value obtained from resources globally, and could thus focus on addressing dissipative flows. Building on this analysis, we provide a proposal for a more holistic assessment of the impact pathways linked to mineral resource use using existing LCIA methods, and identify ways forward for method developments to come.