Markus Berger

TL;DR: This method represents the state of the art of the current knowledge on how to assess potential impacts from water use in LCA, assessing both human and ecosystem users’ potential deprivation, at the midpoint level, and provides a consensus-based methodology for the calculation of a water scarcity footprint as per ISO 14046.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors reviewed a multitude of methods and indicators for freshwater use potentially applicable in life cycle assessment and identified the key elements to build a scientific consensus for operational characterization methods for LCA.

TL;DR: An overview of a broad range of methods developed to enable accounting and impact assessment of water use can be found in this article, where a critical review revealed that methodological scopes differ regarding types of water usage accounted for, inclusion of local water scarcity, as well as differentiation between watercourses and quality aspects.

TL;DR: The role and goal of LCA and ISO-compatible water footprinting are explained and there is potential to use synergies in research for the two approaches and the need for proper declaration of the methods applied is highlighted.

TL;DR: The water accounting and vulnerability evaluation (WAVE) model is introduced, which can help to interpret volumetric water footprint figures and, thus, promotes a sustainable use of global freshwater resources.