A global consensus life cycle impact assessment method - GLAM: impacts on ecosystem quality

The aim of this paper is to report and document the models integrated into the ecosystem quality part of the first life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) version of the GLAM (Global Guidance for Life Cycle Impact Assessment Indicators and Methods) project. The focus is on endpoint models, and all included models provide characterization factors related to the loss of species richness, indicated in potentially disappeared fraction of species (PDF·yr). In the scoping phase eight impact categories have been identified as being of relevance and provided recent methodological developments that were mature enough to be included in the consensus model within GLAM. These include ecotoxicity, land use, water consumption, eutrophication (individually for marine and freshwater ecosystems), aquatic microplastic pollution, terrestrial acidification and climate change (individual models for terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems). Apart from harmonizing and developing these models, aspects of vulnerability have been included by further developing and applying the global extinction probability (GEP) concept. The eight impact categories provide in total more than 500 000 characterization factors (CFs) at country and global scale for the GLAM research version 1.1.2025.11, representing potential global species loss. Five of the impact categories (land use, water consumption, marine and freshwater eutrophication and terrestrial acidification) provide values at country levels as well as global averages. The other three (ecotoxicity, climate change and aquatic microplastics pollution) provide global CFs only. Climate change and marine eutrophication provide average CFs only, terrestrial acidification only marginal while all the others provide average and marginal CFs. The covered impact categories for the first time consistently represent potential global species losses in terms of PDF.

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Journal
The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment
Published
2026-09-24
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-026-02748-4
Primary Topic
Environmental Impact and Sustainability
Type
article
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article

A global consensus life cycle impact assessment method - GLAM: impacts on ecosystem quality

Rosalie van Zelm, Martin Dorber, Francesca Rosa, Stephan Pfister et al.
The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment
Environmental Impact and Sustainability
article

A global consensus life cycle impact assessment method - GLAM: impacts on ecosystem quality

Rosalie van Zelm, Martin Dorber, Francesca Rosa, Stephan Pfister, Ottar Michelsen, Chloe Stanford-Clark, Éléonore Pierrat, Jinhui Zhou, Andreas Link, Arnaud Hélias, Leo Posthuma, Ian Vázquez‐Rowe, Carla Hajjar, Valerio Barbarossa, Andrew D. Henderson, Francesca Verones, Mélanie Douziech, Laura Scherer, Mikołaj Owsianiak, Laura Golsteijn, Nadim Saadi, Montse Núñez, Koen Kuipers, Elena Corella-Puertas, Alexandra Marques, Marion Lebrun, Anne-Marie Boulay
article en

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to report and document the models integrated into the ecosystem quality part of the first life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) version of the GLAM (Global Guidance for Life Cycle Impact Assessment Indicators and Methods) project. The focus is on endpoint models, and all included models provide characterization factors related to the loss of species richness, indicated in potentially disappeared fraction of species (PDF·yr). In the scoping phase eight impact categories have been identified as being of relevance and provided recent methodological developments that were mature enough to be included in the consensus model within GLAM. These include ecotoxicity, land use, water consumption, eutrophication (individually for marine and freshwater ecosystems), aquatic microplastic pollution, terrestrial acidification and climate change (individual models for terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems). Apart from harmonizing and developing these models, aspects of vulnerability have been included by further developing and applying the global extinction probability (GEP) concept. The eight impact categories provide in total more than 500 000 characterization factors (CFs) at country and global scale for the GLAM research version 1.1.2025.11, representing potential global species loss. Five of the impact categories (land use, water consumption, marine and freshwater eutrophication and terrestrial acidification) provide values at country levels as well as global averages. The other three (ecotoxicity, climate change and aquatic microplastics pollution) provide global CFs only. Climate change and marine eutrophication provide average CFs only, terrestrial acidification only marginal while all the others provide average and marginal CFs. The covered impact categories for the first time consistently represent potential global species losses in terms of PDF.

The International Journal of Life Cycle AssessmentVol. 31(10)
Leiden University (NL), Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (NL), Radboud University Nijmegen (NL), Université de Montpellier (FR), Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NO), Institut Agro Montpellier (FR), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (FR), ETH Zurich (CH), Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (FR), Institute for Biomedical Engineering (CH), Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology (ES), National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (NL), Agroscope (CH), Stadtwerke Straubing (Germany) (DE), Technologies & méthodes pour les agricultures de demain (FR), Polytechnique Montréal (CA), Technische Universität Berlin (DE), Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PE), École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris (FR), Technical University of Denmark (DK), École de Technologie Supérieure (CA)
Openalex Percentile: Top 19%
Environmental Impact and Sustainability
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