TripleLink
Integration of Circularity & Criticality IndicatorsAbout the project
Aim: TripleLink aims to develop relevant indicators to measure the circularity of products that will be integrated in three commercial software packages, among them openLCA. Furthermore, it is planned to integrate recommended indicators for abiotic resource and criticality in openLCA and databases that are available in openLCA. In order to leverage the opportunities, openLCA will be combined with other software tools available for product system evaluation, such as HSC Chemistry.
Background: Currently, the Material Circularity Indicator (MCI) is the most used KPI for measuring how restorative the flows of a product system are. It has been a great step forward but still does not sufficiently consider the thermodynamic limits of the recycling of products. Besides, impact assessment indicators which refer to the Area of Protection “natural resources” usually don´t include criteria to assess criticality of raw materials. TripleLink therefore aims to address these issues by developing meaningful resource indicators that measure criticality and circularity of product systems, and by providing these indicators in an integrated software architecture, consisting of renowned software.
GreenDelta in the project
GreenDelta is co-leader of the project and responsible for the technical implementation of the developed indicators in openLCA as well as the technical integration with HSC Chemistry. Additionally, GreenDelta leads the work on the Go-to-Market strategy and investigates the needs of potential users of the software solution.
Highlight outcomes of the project:
Databases to assess circularity:
Circularity Package for openLCA
Circularity Food Package for openLCA
Research paper:
Cilleruelo Palomero, J., Ciroth, A., Freboeuf, L., Sonnemann, G., (2024): Integrating circularity into Life Cycle Assessment: Circularity with a life-cycle perspective. Journal of Cleaner Environmental Systems. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cesys.2024.100175.
Links and resources
Project duration: 2020 – 2022
This research has received funding from the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union.
