Conference Agenda

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) plays a key role in evaluating companies' environmental impacts. However, its integration with regulatory requirements—particularly in the agri-food and bioeconomy sectors—remains a significant challenge. Regarding biodiversity, for example, while current methodologies consider direct uses such as land occupation and transformation, as well as indirect drivers (climate, ecotoxicity, eutrophication, etc.), they still struggle to capture the full range of pressures exerted on terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems. Phenomena such as habitat fragmentation, complex pollution, resource overexploitation, and the alteration of ecological functions require more refined and tailored methodological approaches.

With the accelerating loss of biodiversity and new regulatory requirements—particularly the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD)—it is becoming essential to refine impact models, develop appropriate metrics, establish reference frameworks, and ensure that LCA meets corporate expectations for reporting and decision-making.

This session will explore "Methodologies, Metrics, and Alignment with Regulatory Expectations: From Agri-Food to a Sustainable Bioeconomy and its Transformations", focusing on methodological advancements to better integrate biodiversity impacts, particularly in the bioeconomy and agri-food sectors. It will address: (1) methodological progress in representing terrestrial, freshwater, and marine biodiversity impacts in LCA, (2) available metrics for quantifying these impacts and their relevance for businesses, (3) the alignment between LCA results and CSRD requirements for structured and actionable reporting, and (4) the challenges and opportunities related to applying these approaches in corporate strategies.

Aimed at LCA practitioners and corporate decision-makers, this session will emphasise practical solutions and development perspectives for an LCA that fully integrates biodiversity considerations. Beyond biodiversity, it will also examine the links between LCA and regulatory challenges, advancing sustainable practices in the bioeconomy and agri-food sectors.