Using non-local databases for the environmental assessment of industrial activities: The case of Latin America

Abstract

Nine non-local databases were evaluated with respect to their suitability for the environmental assessment of industrial activities in Latin America. Three assessment methods were considered, namely Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and air emission inventories. The analysis focused on data availability in the databases and the applicability of their international data to Latin American industry. The study showed that the European EMEP/EEA Guidebook and the U.S. EPA AP-42 database are the most suitable ones for air emission inventories, whereas the LCI database Ecoinvent is the most suitable one for LCA and EIA. Due to the data coverage in the databases, air emission inventories are easier to develop than LCA or EIA, which require more comprehensive information. One strategy to overcome the limitations of non-local databases for Latin American industry is the combination of validated data from international databases with newly developed local datasets.

Introduction

Environmental loads associated with industrial activities are, for instance, the consumption of natural resources and energy, as well as the generation of wastes, wastewater and emissions. These loads can be assessed using different methods depending on the specific objectives and policy context of the study concerned (Finnveden and Asa, 2005, Krivtsov et al., 2004, Ruddy and Hilty, 2008). Assessment methods include, for instance, air emission inventories (Power and Baldasano, 1998, EMEP/EEA, 2009), Environmental Impact Assessment (World Bank. Environmental assessment sourcebook, 1996, Morris and Therivel, 1998) and Life Cycle Assessment (ISO, 2006, Rebitzer et al., 2004).

The information needed for these assessment methods can be obtained in three ways. It can be directly measured, calculated e.g. based on individual mass balances or estimated with the help of consumption- and emission factors developed mainly with measuring data intended to be representative. Consumption factors express the amount of materials and energy consumed by an activity per amount of final product, whereas emission factors express the amount of pollutant emitted by an activity per amount of final product generated or energy consumed. Environmental databases containing emission- and consumption factors (hereafter called “environmental databases”¹) are available that can be used in various environmental assessment methods. Some of the databases have been developed based on country-specific data, whereas others are based on more general data, such as regional or world-wide averages.

In Latin America researchers and governmental bodies are currently undertaking efforts to collect environmental data from industry, for instance, on emissions to air and water. Furthermore, some few datasets have been developed for LCA.² However, comprehensive local environmental databases are still lacking by and large. One of the main reasons for this situation is the deficiency in data and in data collection by industry in Latin America. For instance, the monitoring of air, water and toxic emissions at industrial facilities is imperfect and monitoring equipment is often obsolete; furthermore, the data collection and measurement methodology are questionable, and there is usually a lack of trained personnel on industrial sites (World Bank, 2005).

Due to the present lack of comprehensive local databases, analysts in Latin America are forced to use databases from other — mainly industrialized — countries. However, industry in industrialized countries is expected to be different from that in Latin America regarding technology levels and environmental performance. Thus, the application of such non-local databases bears the risk of providing inaccurate results, basically by underestimating emissions and resource consumption for Latin American industrial activities (Dessus et al., 1994, Jenkins, 2000., Aguayo et al., 2001). Surprisingly, the limitations of using non-local databases in assessing local industry are often not taken into account in local studies. Furthermore, the above mentioned studies do not analyze systematically the environmental situation of industry in the different Latin American countries. As a consequence, an assessment of the suitability of non-local databases for industrial environmental assessment in Latin American countries is lacking.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the suitability of selected non-local databases for the environmental assessment of industrial activities in Latin American countries.³ As environmental assessment can be performed with approaches implying different data requirements, the suitability of the databases was evaluated for three assessment methods, namely Life Cycle Assessment, Environmental Impact Assessment and air emission inventories.

We intended to provide government agencies and research bodies in Latin America with a critical view of some of the databases currently used to obtain environmental information. This is relevant because such information is used for developing policy measures to tackle the severe environmental problems related to industrial activities in the region. Further, the evaluation of the suitability of non-local databases described in this article can also feed into discussions about a possible need to develop local environmental databases for Latin American industrial activities.

Complementing this study we have also conducted a second one on the same topic; the second one specifically evaluates the applicability of a European database to LCA of a Brazilian fertilizer (Ossés de Eicker et al. under review). Both studies complement each other, since the one here discusses the issue in general, and the other provides a specific example.