Life cycle assessment of buildings: methodological development and future perspectives

This section analyses the diffusion of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in construction sector and the ongoing methodological developments, related to the application in various voluntary (e.g. Green Building Rating Systems) and mandatory (e.g. national legislation on building permits) framework. The investigation was carried out considering the international context, but with a specific focus on European policies. In particular, the paths carried out to try to harmonize the procedures and the need to develop tools (methodological guidelines, contextualized reference databases, recognized software, and benchmarks/targets) that allow the comparability of the studies are highlighted.