Sustainable Life Cycle Assessment: Methods, Applications and Future Trends
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 April 2026 | Viewed by 192
Special Issue Editors
Interests: life cycle assessment; circular economy; sustainable process design; waste-to-energy technologies; environmental systems analysis
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Sustainable development increasingly relies on scientifically rigorous approaches to assess environmental impacts across product life cycles. Life cycle assessment (LCA) has become a foundational tool in evaluating sustainability metrics in industries such as energy, agriculture, waste management, and manufacturing. However, emerging challenges such as data limitations, dynamic modeling, and integration with circular economy frameworks necessitate advancement in LCA methodologies.
This Special Issue, ‘Sustainable Life Cycle Assessment: Methods, Applications and Future Trends’, aims to explore innovative LCA methods, diverse applications in industrial and policy contexts, and future trends, including digitalization and real-time environmental monitoring. Contributions may address sector-specific studies, methodological improvements, or strategic integrations like LCA in policymaking.
We invite original research articles and critical reviews spanning methodological, applied, and strategic aspects of sustainable LCA. Researchers, practitioners, and policymakers are encouraged to share work driving the next generation of sustainability assessments.
Suggested themes include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Novel methodological frameworks in LCA
- LCA in waste valorization and circular economy
- Life Cycle Thinking in policymaking
- AI integrated vs non-integrated LCA
- Digital tools for real-time or dynamic LCA assessments
We look forward to your valuable contributions.
Dr. Sharath K Ankathi
Dr. Utkarsh Shailesh Chaudhari
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- sustainable life cycle assessment
- circular economy
- waste-to-energy
- environmental systems analysis
- industrial sustainability
- AI and digital LCA tools
- resource optimization
- sustainable process design
- recovery and reprocessing of waste tailings
- critical materials manufacturing
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.
