Estimating pesticide emissions for life cycle assessment of agricultural products

As the first country in Europe Denmark almost 2 years ago established an official center for Life Cycle Assessments and life cycle approaches as an element of the national IPP (Integrated Product Policy). The Danish EPA lends financial support to this important initiative, the aim of which is to: 1. promote the use of Life Cycle Assessment and other product-oriented environmental tools in companies, 2. support companies and other in using environmental assessment of products and services, 3. ensure that the effort in the LCA area is based on a solid and scientific basis, and 4. maintain the well-established co-operation between all important actors in the LCA field in Denmark. LCA Center Denmark was presented at the SETAC Europe conference in Hamburg in 2003 where it had just been launched. This presentation will follow up on the progress and activities of the center and report from an independent evaluation finished in September 2004. Important learnings for all who are engaged in dissemination of life cycle thinking in industry will be presented.