Life cycle assessment research and application in Nigeria

Abstract Purpose Life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology is becoming increasingly popular in developing countries, however, challenges such as lack of local data, spatial and temporal differentiation of impact categories, and uncertainty in the data and impact assessment methods remain. In this comprehensive review, we systematically conduct a literature review of LCA research in Nigeria, including a thorough assessment of the LCA studies according to ISO 14040 and 14044 standards. Methods A total of 30 peered reviewed and conference papers on LCA papers Nigeria as the study area of authors affiliated to institutions in the country were assessed. The assessment focused on functional unit, system boundary, data quality, allocation, impact assessment methods, database and LCA software used and interpretation methods. Results and discussion The results of the review showed that LCA is still in its infancy in Nigeria with 30 papers on the subject matter published between 2010–2023. These peer reviewed publications came from universities and research institutions, none from companies or government. In terms of the methodological choices, different functional units, system boundaries, impact assessment methods, allocation, data choices, databases and software were used. The Ecoinvent database is one of the most widely used for background data for potential environmental impacts while SimaPro and GaBi are the softwares of choice for most of the studies. Climate Change was the most assessed impact category at the midpoint level for life cycle impact assessment (LCIA). To ensure that uncertainties in LCA results are reduced, studies should ensure transparency in inventories, consider all the life cycle stages, use primary data and adapt local characterisation factors. Local impacts such as gas flaring, biodiversity, oil spills, soil erosion, and desertification should be the focus of LCA method developers in Nigeria as they are the prevailing environmental challenges affecting different parts of the country. Conclusions and recommendations Different methodological choices are used by researchers, they highlight a challenge that was noticeable in all the papers – a general lack of primary data. The studies are not equally distributed amongst the sectors of the economy. Most of them are concentrated in the agriculture, energy and transportation sectors. Based on our findings, the authors recommend the development of an LCI database for Nigeria and Nigeria-specific impact pathways, normalisation and weighting factors to enhance the reproducibility of the results. This study lays the foundation for the development of an integrated master plan for the development of LCA in Nigeria, with the potential to significantly contribute to improving environmental assessment and sustainable development.