MATERIAL SUPPLIERS AND INDUSTRIAL METABOLISM

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is not sufficiently tailored to the analys is of strategic environmental problems of material suppliers. Sustaina ble development calls for a reduction by a factor of 10 to 20 in the m aterial intensity of the economy, a situation which leads to dramatic shifts in markets for raw materials. Furthermore, a material supplier might have major improvement options in the material's numerous downst ream uses. LCAs, however, can't cover these two aspects. An adapted fo rm of Substance Flow Analysis (SFA) may be an answer. This approach de fines a system in relation to the flow of a specific material through society. All environmental interventions related to the material are i nventoried. An emission evaluation indicates the dominant environmenta l bottlenecks, given the current market volume of each application of the material. This helps to identify improvement options and strategic choices in market portfolios. Scenario analysis on potential measures can further indicate changes of material flows - and thus markers - i n the system. The approach is illustrated with a case study on chlorin e.