Assessing the sustainability of bio-based materials in construction: a literature review of the life-cycle assessment results

The construction industry is undergoing a transformation towards sustainability, driven by growing concerns about greenhouse gas emissions. One promising innovation in this context is bio-based materials. These materials have been shown to have specific properties that make them suitable for practical applications. As a result, many stakeholders in the construction industry are exploring the possibility of replacing the traditional and environmentally harmful materials such as concrete, steel, and polymers, with bio-based materials. However, despite their favorable properties, these materials have limited use in practical applications. One of the barriers to their uptake is the lack of shared knowledge on the real sustainability impact resulting from the use of these materials. In addition, research results on this topic are rather scattered. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to synthesize the results of existing studies, while applying life-cycle assessment methodologies to bio-based materials in construction in the European context. Overall, bio-based materials have a lower environmental impact than traditional materials, especially in the production phase. However, in addition to production, other criteria should be considered in the assessment, in particular the required function, for which the material will be used, and the lifetime of the building. This underlines the importance of using different LCAs methods and implementing a case by case approach, in order to reduce the environmental impact of the building sector