Intertwining ecosystem services with life cycle assessment: Recommendation for paradigm shift

The last decade of scientific literature testifies an increasing interest in including ecosystem services (ES) accounting in life cycle assessment (LCA). Existing inventory models and impact assessment methods intertwining ES with LCA, however, display some methodological caveats such as limited coverage of the analyzed ES flows as well as a fragmented use of integrated frameworks in conventional LCA practices. This chapter provides an overview of the approaches found in LCA to account for ES. It also attempts to extend the current life cycle impact assessment paradigm, customized for the evaluation of detrimental impacts on ES, with an ES assessment approach that considers their beneficial contribution to the ecosystem and human well-being. Accordingly, nature-based solutions applied in urban contexts show unprecedented opportunities to test and foster the incorporation of ES knowledge both at the inventory and impact assessment stages in terms of positive externalities. It is envisaged that future ES assessments will be able to include applicable information concerning both supply and demand of ES, so that future LCA practices can become a full-fledged decision support tool for sustainable management of natural capital.