Full text
Methodological framework: Prospective Environmental Impact Assessment Framework Description: The prospective life cycle assessment (pLCA) conducted in this study was implemented using the premise tool, which enables the integration of life cycle inventory data with long-term projections from Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs). This approach allows for the construction of future-oriented background systems that consistently reflect anticipated technological and policy developments. The premise tool, developed in Python, connects the ecoinvent database with scenario data from IAMs to generate modified inventories representing future energy, industrial, and resource systems. It does so by updating the ecoinvent database according to model projections of: • Energy policy trajectories, • Technological efficiency improvements, • Market share evolutions, and • The introduction of emerging technologies and processes. Through this integration, premise supports the evaluation of environmental impacts associated with future energy systems and facilitates the comparison of alternative decarbonization and policy pathways. It includes predefined IAM scenarios (e.g., REMIND, IMAGE) and also allows users to construct custom scenarios tailored to specific analytical goals. Although premise is developed on the Brightway framework for life cycle modeling, its output datasets can be readily used in several major LCA platforms, including Activity Browser, SimaPro, OpenLCA, or directly within Python-based workflows. This flexibility ensures a high degree of transparency and reproducibility across modeling environments. For full methodological details, refer to:
Sacchi, R., Terlouw, T., Siala, K., & Bauer, C. (2022). PRospective EnvironMental Impact AsSEssment (premise): Integrating IAM Scenarios into LCA Background Databases. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 160, 112311. Further documentation, source code, and installation instructions for premise are available at: https://github.com/polca/premise
