In line with the latest European guidelines for the sector, Italferr's design takes into account the entire product life cycle, following the Life Cycle Thinking approach. In particular, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a methodology that allows the identification, description and quantification of the environmental impacts associated with a product, process or service throughout all stages of its life cycle.
In the case of infrastructure design, the LCA study is a quantitative and operational method useful for “photographing” the environmental footprint of the intervention under study and, with an appropriate choice and calculation of the various impact indicators, can be a valuable tool to support decision-making in the various stages of the design, construction and management process, facilitating the identification of solutions and strategies with a lower impact. For this reason, Italferr also carries out LCA assessments for research and development purposes, applying them to innovative solutions in the field of materials and technologies.
TO LEARN MORE
LCA IN SUSTAINABILITY REPORTS
Italferr, in line with the requirements of Article 11 of Annex I.7 of the new Public Contracts Code, estimates the environmental and energy impacts associated with the life cycle of the infrastructure project during the PFTE phase. The scope of analysis used is cradle-to-grave: it includes an assessment of the impacts associated with the material procurement and construction phases and, with appropriate assumptions, also with the use, maintenance and end-of-life phases.
GUIDELINES FOR THE APPLICATION OF THE LCA METHODOLOGY TO RAILWAY INFRASTRUCTURES
In line with the objectives of standards UNI EN ISO 14040 and 14044, Italferr has defined in a specific Guideline the methodological approach for developing a life cycle assessment of railway infrastructure in order to guide design choices aimed at ensuring a more profitable balance between structure and environment.
SUSTAINABILITY AND DIGITAL INNOVATION
In the BIM LCA 2.0 project, Italferr is developing a tool that integrates the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology into its Information Management system, with the aim of making the assessment of the potential environmental impacts generated by an infrastructure project more efficient and digital.