The combined use of life cycle assessment and data envelopment analysis to analyse the environmental efficiency of multi-unit systems

The combination of life cycle assessment (LCA) and data envelopment analysis (DEA) methodologies has been employed over the past years to assess the eco-efficiency of a wide spectrum of production systems. This chapter presents a critical review on current practices of the joint application of LCA + DEA, as well as point towards the methodological challenges and opportunities for the future. Considering the growth of the method in the past decade, it is plausible to assume that an increasing number of studies will continue to appear in the literature. The development of guidance or standardisation reports would constitute a step forward in terms of providing advice on how recurrent methodological issues (e.g. uncertainty, selection of impacts categories or DEA models, etc.) should be addressed in LCA + DEA.