Special issue (IJLCA) – Prospective Life Cycle Assessment: Recent Advancements and Future Directions

The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment (IJLCA) is accepting papers to be featured in the special issue “Prospective Life Cycle Assessment: Recent Advancements and Future Directions”, edited by Anne van den Oever (Vrije Universiteit Brussel), Rickard Arvidsson (Chalmers University of Technology), and Nils Thonemann (Leiden University).

Prospective LCA is gaining increasing importance as a tool to assess the environmental impacts of emerging technologies at early stages of development, thereby supporting sustainable design, policy, and investment decisions. This special issue aims to advance both methodology and practice, addressing the challenges of assessing future-oriented systems.

Welcomed contributions may refer to one of these forms:

Methodological developments (e.g., new approaches for upscaling, data acquisition, or impact assessment).
Case studies applying prospective LCA to emerging technologies and illustrating practical insights.
Reviews that synthesize the state of the art and identify opportunities for future research.
Critical perspectives that reflect on limitations, uncertainties, and pathways for improvement.

Key topics include:

Acquisition of relevant and future-representative data (e.g., background systems, new technologies).
Development of prospective life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) methods.
Scaling and system-level applications of prospective LCA, including feedback loops and interactions.
Interpretation and communication of results, especially in multi-stakeholder and policy-relevant contexts.

Researchers, practitioners, and policymakers are invited to contribute and help shape the future of prospective LCA.

For submission details, please visit the Special Issue webpage.

Submission deadline: 30 November 2025