Empirical comparison of process and economic input-output life cycle assessment in service industries

The study fills a gap in existing literature by comparing process-based and EIO-based life cycle assessment (LCA) methods empirically in service industries. Despite the numerous methodological differences, the methods were found mostly to produce the same environmentally significant processes for the case organization: the use of electricity in the premises, the construction of the premises, the business travel by cars, the heating of the premises, and the business flights. However, the process-based LCA could not be used to assess the environmental impacts of purchased services properly. The study also recognized most of the theoretical differences listed in the literature, and found the ones related to the cut-offs in purchased services, the price inhomogeneity, and the industry-atypical electricity production have the greatest influence on results.