Organized by

The Institute of Life Cycle Assessment, Japan

Co-organized by

Global COE program
"Center for Education and Research of Symbiotic, Safe and Secure System Design"
Keio University

Ecomaterials Forum

Supported by

Commemorative Organization for the Japan World Exposition'70

Life Cycle Assessment Society of Japan(JLCA)

Sessions

Special sessions

The special sessions are proposed to discuss the following particular themes.

  1. Sustainability Index and Case Study
  2. Recent Progress in Material Flow Analysis and Sustainable Resource Management
  3. Renewable Energy for Sustainable Development
  4. Water Footprint
  5. Sustainable agriculture and food toward globalizing Asia
  6. Environmental Management Accounting
  7. Sustainable Nutrient Management
  8. Materials technology for resource sustainability

General Sessions

  • G1 Input-output analysis
  • G2 Impact assessment, risk assessment and interpretation
  • G3 Footprint methodology
  • G4 Sustainable Management
  • G5 Design and management for the environment
  • G6 International cooperation and LCA database
  • G7 Sociology, psychology and education
  • G8 New challenges in management of supply chain
  • G9 Waste management and recycling

Topics of General Sessions

Special sessions

Title 1. Sustainability Index and Case Study
Organizers Minako HARA
Shun KAWAKUBO
Keywords Social LCA, Urban Infrastructure, Sustainability Index, Sustainability Assessment, Socio-economic Impact Assessment, Sustainable Building Environment
Aim Sustainability has been one of the environmental key concepts since publication of "The Limits to Growth". However, there is still no clear consensus on the definition of the term "sustainability". Therefore, this session aims to reconsider what sustainability is and to discuss how to measure it, from not only the environmental aspect but also from multiple aspects such as social, economic, regional, global viewpoints. The session will also present case studies on sustainability measurement of products/services, companies, social infrastructure, cities, and so on.

Page Top

Title 2. Recent Progress in Material Flow Analysis and Sustainable Resource Management
Organizers Yasunari MATSUNO
Kenichi NAKAJIMA
Keywords Material Flow Analysis (MFA), Material Stock Accounting, Mineral Economics, Recycling, Sustainable Resource Management
Aim Demand for materials has dramatically increased in the world in the last century and will further grow in the future. So, sustainable resource management has become a top concern. This session offers an opportunity to discuss recent progresses in Material Flow Analysis (MFA), Mining and Materials Engineering for sustainable resource management, e.g. methodological developments, applications, etc. Topics from Mineral Economics, Environmental Studies and other related fields are also welcome. Presentations including Resource Productivity Analysis, Material Flow and Stock accounting, and LCA are of particular interest.

Page Top

Title 3. Renewable Energy for Sustainable Development
Organizer Kiyoshi DOWAKI
Keywords Comprehensive Thinking of Energy and Resource, Effective Uses of Renewable Energy, Advanced Technologies for CO2 mitigation, Applicable Examples, Scenario Analysis
Aim From the viewpoints of the abatement of energy supply risk and/or the protection of global warming, the practice uses of renewable energy resources would be significantly expected. For instance, photovoltaic, wind or biomass resources are promising as a candidate of alternative energy. However, it is known that there are barriers such as technological aspects and/or a cost problem in the promotion of target system. For finding the solutions, the creation of new idea/ concept or the optimization should be necessary through the wider discussion using LCA thinking. In this session, we would like to do active discussions on the topics from the technological stage to the social acceptability.

Page Top

Title 4. Water Footprint
Organizer Masaharu MOTOSHITA
Annette KOEHLER
Norihiro ITSUBO
Sebastien HUMBERT
Keywords Water Footprint, Water Consumption, Inventory Analysis, Impact Assessment
Aim Water footprint can be a notable tool for water resource management of products, processes and organizations through life cycle by accounting the amount of consumptive water use and evaluating impacts consequent to water use/consumption. In order to make water footprint more sophisticated, the common procedure (Standard and Guideline), methodology and database for accounting (inventory analysis), impact assessment indices/models and case studies of water footprints for products, processes and organizations will play a significant role. This session aims to share a knowledge of state-of-the-art activities related to these important topics and discuss for further advances in this field.

Page Top

Title 5. Sustainable agriculture and food toward globalizing Asia
Organizers Kiyotada HAYASHI
Kazuyo MATSUBAE
Keywords Sustainable and Organic Agriculture, Food Labeling, Food Supply Chain, Land Use Change, Poverty and Aging
Aim Agricultural and food systems in Asia are now increasing their presence. Global food demand necessitates the intensification of agricultural production in Asia; at the same time, the emerging population needs huge food imports. However, research on these issues from the life cycle perspective is limited. This session tries to discuss the following topics: (1) the establishment of sustainable agri-food production and distribution systems in Asia, (2) the design of effective and efficient policy framework to establish these systems, and (3) the setup of sustainable food supply chains while paying attention to land use controversies and poverty alleviation.

Page Top

Title 6. Environmental Management Accounting
Organizers

Michiyasu NAKAJIMA

Norihiro ITSUBO

Keywords Material Flow Cost Accounting, Environmental Accounting, Life Cycle Costing, External Cost
Aim Environmental management accounting (EMA) is a management tool for organizations to do sustainable management in business. For example, material flow cost accounting (MFCA, ISO14051) is one of the most useful and popular EMA tools. MFCA can show an organization the material and energy inefficiencies in business process. The organization can improve the inefficiency with economic incentives by MFCA information. MFCA has been introduced in supply chain. Recently EMA tools have begun to be used as practical management to achieve both of environmental protections and economic benefits. This session will focus on the present performances and the future development of EMA.

Page Top

Title 7. Sustainable Nutrient Management
Organizers Kazuyo MATSUBAE
Rokuta INABA
Keywords Nutrient Management, Phosphorus, Resource Governance, Recycle, Recovery
Aim Nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorous, are key parts of food security and sustainable development. However, excess use and inefficient practices lead to nutrient overenrichment and degradation of the environment. This session will bring together to discuss the food production and consumption chain concerned about the role of agricultural nutrient resource availability and accessibility in global food security. Following topics are welcomed,
*Global phosphate and potassium rock production and reserves,
*N, P and K use efficiency in mining, agriculture, food processing,
*Nutrient recovery and reuse,
*Sustainable nutrient resource strategies and global governance
*Overabundance / underabundance of nutrients.

Page Top

Title 8. Materials technology for resource sustainability
Organizers Hideki KAKISAWA
Kenichi NAKAJIMA
Keywords Ecomaterials, Eco-design, TMR, Recycling, Resource Sustainability
Aim Acquisition of maximum effectiveness and minimum usage of the limited resources on earth is the key for resource sustainability. For this issue materials science and engineering has been the fundamental of any eco-innovative technologies. The environmental burden of a material has been often discussed in terms of total material requirement (TMR), which indicates the accumulated volume of materials extracted from nature to obtain that material. The session focuses on the material design and technologies for sustainable usage of resources, specifically reducing TMR. Discussions to be made in the session include:
• Substitution of common elements for rare metals
• Effective utilization of rare earth elements
• Technologies for reducing material usage and consumption
• Recycling technologies
• Environmental conscious materials
• Analyses of TMR.

Page Top

Topics of General Sessions

General Sessions at the conference invite contributions that address the following Topics (please refer to the related keywords):

A. Methodologies for Ecobalance

  1. Inventory Analysis
  2. Impact Assessment
  3. Life Cycle Interpretation
  4. Uncertainty Analysis
  5. Risk Assessment
  6. Sustainability Assessment
  7. Material Flow Analysis / Stock Accounts
  8. Substance Flow Analysis
  9. Input-output Analysis
  10. Life Cycle Costing
  11. Cost Benefit Analysis
  12. Material Flow Cost Accounting
  13. Environmental Accounting
  14. Environmental Management Accounting
  15. External Cost
  16. Eco-efficiency / Environmental Index
  17. Eco-label / Environmental Footprint
  18. Life Cycle Management
  19. Design for Environment
  20. Eco-design
  21. Environmental Education
  22. Environmental Psychology / Sociology
  23. International and National Standards
  24. Carbon Footprint / Offset
  25. Water Footprint
  26. Database / Software
  27. Others

Page Top

B. Implementation of Eco-innovation

  1. Information and Communication Technologies
  2. City Planning and Building
  3. Transport
  4. Biomass
  5. Energy Technology
  6. Agriculture and Food
  7. Manufacturing
  8. Resource / Mining
  9. Urban Mining
  10. Materials
  11. Chemicals
  12. Recycling and Waste Management
  13. Services
  14. Green Job / Green Servicizing
  15. Industrial Symbiosis / Ecoindustrial Development
  16. Supply Chain / Logistics
  17. Lifestyle
  18. Consumption
  19. Policy / Regulation
  20. Emission Trading
  21. Biodiversity
  22. Others
  23. None (Only Methodology)

Page Top