LCA-uddannelse
Summary and conclusions
Approach
The survey
Dialogue Meeting
Supply
situation concerning education and further training
Experience with
education and further training
LCA competence
Suggestions for future
activities
The
further work with analysing and developing education and further training
This report describes a survey of existing programmes and future requirements in Denmark in the field of LCA education. The term "LCA education" covers both education and further training within Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), application of Life Cycle Assessment, and application of life cycle thinking. The investigation was carried out by the Institute for Product Development at the Technical University of Denmark for the Danish Environmental Protection Agency in winter 2001/2002.
The overall goals of the project were:
 | To determine the status of LCA education, including both those who offer education and/or training (providers) and those who receive education and/or training (recipients) |
| To the identify needs and requirements not met by existing educational offers within the area, as well as |
| To develop suggestions on how these needs and requirements could be fulfilled along with suggestions on how, in general, perception of and motivation for LCA education can be improved in order to encourage increased application of LCA along with knowledge exchange among users of LCA and interested parties. |
In addition, the project group included the following goal:
| To establish a dialogue on status description, identification of requirements, and suggestions for future educational activities among parties interested in education and further training on LCA in Denmark. |
In order to achieve the goals set for the project, an approach was chosen where both quantitative and qualitative facts and records were collected. The quantitative data was gathered by means of a survey, while the qualitative data was established in the course of a dialogue meeting to which interested individuals, selected from those who had returned the questionnaire, were invited. See the "site map" of the project on the next page (in Danish).
Figure 1.2
a "site map" of the project
In the course of the investigation of status and requirements, two questionnaires were developed:
one
for providers, i.e. those who offer LCA education, and
the
other for recipients of LCA education, covering both current as well as
potential recipients.
Both questionnaires were made available on the Internet in order to facilitate on-line answering of the questions. The Internet address and a short description of the project goals were sent by surface mail to about 840 addressees in Denmark. The addressees included individuals in companies, universities, architectural and design schools, business schools, engineering colleges, technical information centres, consultancies, and other private organisations offering education and training in the field. About 60% of the companies participating in this survey are small and medium-sized companies (SME’s).
The questionnaire had the following sections:
For providers:
| General information |
| Organization of teaching |
| Contents of the education or programme |
| Participants |
| Material and equipment |
| Economy |
| Evaluation |
| Requirements and plans for the future |
The questionnaire for providers was returned by 20 institutions, describing 47 educational programmes.
For recipients:
| General information |
| Overall situation |
| Experience with life cycle thinking and LCA |
| Competence and education |
| Requirements and plans for the future |
The questionnaire for recipients of education was filled by 57 recipients, covering 41 companies and 16 consultancies. The companies range from small and medium-sized companies to large companies working in a wide range of sectors (hereafter collectively called "companies"). The 16 consultancies also include a number of sector organisations, supervisory authorities, and public service organisations (hereafter collectively called "consultancies").
Besides the members of the project group, 20 individuals participated in the dialogue meeting, representing universities, companies, authorities, technological information centres, and consultancies. For the dialogue meeting, participants were clustered into 4 cross-disciplinary groups before the preliminary results of the survey were presented. The groups were then asked to discuss and present their understanding of needs for future educational initiatives in the field of LCA and life cycle thinking.
Supply situation concerning education and further training
The survey covers 20 providers of education and further training, divided as follows
9
consultancies with 19 programmes for further training
8
public educational institutions with 20 programmes for education and 4
programmes for further training
3
public-service consultancies with 4 programmes for further training.
The target group for educational programmes are students on both short and regular further education programmes, primarily engineering students of various disciplines. However, teaching within LCA and life cycle thinking also takes place in education programmes for designers, architects, and production technicians.
The target group for further training programmes are in most cases companies, and participants are mostly employees from the Ministry of the Environment, but there are also programmes for authorities and for the unemployed.
All offers from educational institutions, including education and further training, have been attended by about 3,000 participants since 1992. Public consultants have taught about 200 participants and consulting companies about 500.
In about 2/3 of the educational offers and about 1/3 of the offers for further training, practical experience with LCA and life cycle thinking is also presented by guest lecturers from industry, consultancies, authorities, and sector organisations. The majority of offers for both education and further training use concrete product/company cases in teaching.
About 1/3 of the educational offers have LCA as the main topic, while 2/3 have other main topics such as environmental management, sustainability, the natural environment, and the working environment.
Among the offers for further training, however, about 2/3 have LCA as the main topic. The EDIP method is the most commonly employed method in both education and further training. In about a third of the offers for both education and further training, the ISO 14040 series is also used.
Both education and further training mainly convey qualifications on a "knowing-about" level in the form of basic principles of LCA and the applications of LCA. Up to a quarter of both types of offers convey qualifications on a "being-able-to" level e.g. in the form that students learn how to conduct a simplified LCA by themselves. The fewest offers convey qualifications on a "mastering" level in the form that students learn how to conduct and review an LCA on a high level (about 15% of educational offers and 5% of offers for further training).
Experience with education and further training
About 70% of the companies and 85% of the consultancies that participated in the survey have experience with LCA. 85% of the companies and all of the consultancies have experience with applying life cycle thinking.
About half of the companies have less than 3-years’ experience with applying LCA and life cycle thinking. As regards the consultancies, about 75% have more than 3-years’ experience in the fields.
The majority of companies and consultancies with experience with LCA have experience with EDIP, while about half of all have experience with simplified methods such as life cycle check, screening, and the MECO principle. Besides LCA PC-tools, which are the most common type of tool, paper-based systems and checklists are utilised as well.
Competence building today takes place in companies mostly in the form of "learning by doing", by giving selected employees the opportunity to get familiar with the field and by letting selected employees attend external courses. Approximately the same distribution is seen among consultancies because only hiring new employees with the required competence is more common here than letting employees attend courses. Competence building in companies has increased during the last couple of years, and more than a third took place in 2001 alone.
More than 85% of all companies intend to increase their activities for competence building or intend to continue at the present level. This is evenly distributed among the companies stating they have experience in the field. Among those stating they do not have experience with LCA, about 50% intend to get started with competence building. The preferred means to strengthen competence in the future is to send employees on external courses, while internal courses led by own employees are also attractive, especially for manufacturing companies with a certain degree of experience in applying LCA.
Comparing existing competences of recipients with the competences they express a need for, companies seem to require strengthening of their competence in the areas "LCA methodology", "calculation tools", "involving different departments and groups of employees in LCA work", and "application within the scope of environmental management". Consultancies seem to require strengthening of their competence in the areas "calculation tools", and "involving different departments and groups of employees in LCA work". Concerning future further training in applying LCA, highest demand is for "application related to product development and product documentation", which half of the recipients state, followed by "planning in relation to environmental management and process optimisation".
Suggestions for future activities
The survey among providers and recipients of education has indicated a number of ideas and requirements that can be incorporated in the further development of education in the field. A number of ideas and suggestions were also presented at the dialogue meeting, which was held with the participation of central recipients and providers of education in LCA and life cycle thinking.
A number of providers of education state educational requirements in the questionnaire, which are not covered today, such as:
| Simplified LCA |
| Application of LCA in product development and design |
| Application of LCA and life cycle thinking in relation to planning of environmental and working environmental work in companies and product chains |
Also a number of providers of further training point out educational requirements, which are not covered today, such as:
| Simplified, more target-oriented LCAs (products, economic sectors) as well as education of consultants in simplified methods, such as life cycle check |
| Application of LCA and life cycle thinking in product development and design |
| Application of LCA and life cycle thinking in relation to processes of change in companies, products and the public sector |
| Application of LCA in relation to Environmental Product Declarations |
| Assessment of chemicals and detailed use of PC-tools |
The intentions of several providers to develop training in application of LCA and life cycle thinking in product development match with the desire, expressed especially by experienced companies, to receive training in this field. Furthermore, there is conformity between, on the one hand, intentions of some institutions to develop training in the application of LCA and life cycle thinking in relation to processes of change in companies and product chains and, on the other hand, the requirement, stated especially by consultancies, for further development of competence in involving different departments and groups of employees in LCA work.
Finally, longer courses of further training, e.g. over a couple of weeks, are suggested, as well as offers for further training via the Internet and at work.
In the answers to the questionnaire, providers of education also indicated requirements for new and improved educational material, such as:
| Improved EDIP PC-tool |
| Translation of the EDIP book on Design for Environment |
| A method that gives a better overview than the Life cycle check |
| Additional material on environment and product development |
| Material, which is better accessible than e.g. the EDIP books |
| Material on the relationship between the different available methods |
| Pedagogically and visually improved material for designers |
| A number of concrete examples for use in training, preferably in the form of a larger collection of examples |
Providers of further training point out needs for, among other things:
| Interactive exercises |
| Material on assessment of chemicals |
| Material on environmental assessment of materials and alternatives |
| Tools and methods for product developers that can be used by environmental non-specialists |
| Application of life cycle thinking in processes of change |
In the course of the dialogue meeting, proposals were put forth regarding
| Development of a database on finished and available LCAs |
| Development of a cross-institutional course that lets participants experience working with LCA and life cycle thinking in a multi-disciplinary environment – "Educational institutions’ joint LCA course" |
| Development of a network for teachers as a forum to exchange experience, course-related ideas and material across educational institutions |
| Development of networks involving teachers and companies and other parties that use LCA, where problematic issues from daily practice can be integrated in teaching and results can subsequently be used in environmental work in companies, public regulation etc. |
| Introduction of product-environmental thinking as early as upper-secondary school |
| Establishment of an online catalogue covering programmes for further training, located for instance on the Danish Environmental Protection Agency website. |
At the dialogue meeting, representatives from the authorities expressed an intention to "turn the pyramid upside down" and to focus more on the "thick layer" of small and medium-sized companies and their specific conditions. At the dialogue meeting, good experience was emphasized with competence building by means of networks, where participants attend a joint training course on the basis of their own cases.
The further work with analysing and developing education and further training
The presented mapping has drawn a picture of a comprehensive supply of education and further training in the field of life cycle-related work. On the recipients’ side, the mapping shows a growing interest among students for programmes from educational institutions and among Danish companies and consultants for further training. There is a need for improved dissemination of information about existing courses in life cycle-related work, e.g. through a central catalogue of existing offers of education and further training. Also, co-ordinated activity and financing can be required, in order to make sure that the best of the existing offers for further training can be continued.
The survey also pointed out a need for further training, which is not covered by existing offers. The replies from providers and recipients agree in many areas regarding the development of teaching in the future - for instance in relation to the need for more application-oriented teaching in LCA, where especially the product-development needs are vital for both providers and recipients.
This survey did not allow for deeper insight into specific patterns of application of LCA and life cycle thinking in companies and into the issue where competence is actually built-up using different strategies for competence building. Another survey is required to find out to which degree different strategies for competence building actually result in increased competence to reduce environmental impacts and resource consumption in a life cycle perspective. The level of education of new graduates is generally considered comparably low – especially by companies - and the further development of teaching at educational institutions calls for a more systematic and concrete response from employers.
A number of requests for new teaching materials and an overview of existing educational offers, reports and methods indicate a need for intensified cooperation between teachers (comprising educational institutions and consultants) on teaching in the future. This could be organised in a network for teachers and recipients – e.g. related to a future LCA knowledge centre. In addition, such a network could perform tasks related to recurring, follow-up investigations such as those conducted during this project, in the form of the questionnaire and the dialogue meeting. A database of LCA reports should be established and maintained by one of the universities in order to make the database publicly accessible and to ensure access to a number of specific examples for use in teaching.
Further dissemination of LCA and life cycle thinking in companies seems to be best motivated through regulatory requirements and market requirements. Motivation through regulatory requirements can be strengthened by a higher degree of integration of product aspects into the dialogue between supervisory and certification authorities and companies, for which as yet there are only sporadic examples in counties and municipalities. Activities of further training aimed at public-sector purchasers could spread experience with green public purchasing as an element in strengthening demand for more environmentally improved products and services. Market requirements for green products can also be influenced positively through education on environment, consumption, and sustainable development in primary and secondary education, as well as through education in strategies for dialogue and dynamic processes in product chains in further education programmes and further training.