Environmental Assessment, Life Cycle Analysis and Sustainability

Dear Colleagues,

The need to build environmental considerations into decision-making, is no longer a bold proposition, but a basic necessity. To that end, Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) plays constantly an increasing role in environmental impact assessment corresponding to the growing need of achieving the short- as well as long-term aims of sustainable development. Either as a practical toolbox or as a conceptual framework, LCA constitutes a transparent and reliable way to assess the environmental impacts of products, systems or services from cradle to grave in order to pave the way towards sustainable development. Nowadays, the transition to sustainable lifestyles, products and services is very high on the political both internationally and at EU level. Therefore, the promotion of LCA as integral part of the environmental assessment tool-kit as well as of the policy development processes strengthens the transition to harmonized methodologies among different stakeholders, enhances the evolvement of efficient methods for impact assessment and facilitates communication and exchanges on life-cycle data.

This Special Issue aspires to present a selection of original and innovative papers highlighting the most challenging aspects relating to the comprehensive integration of the life cycle thinking in business and in policy making. Problems, challenges, perspectives and opportunities with respect to the different applications of the LCA will shed light on the dynamic and forward-looking nature of this tool especially in the light of the sustainable development goals and priorities. Successful paradigms of LCA methodology application on specific case studies are also welcomed. Papers on the aforementioned, as well as other relevant topics, selected for this Special Issue will be subject to a rigorous peer-review process with the aim of rapid and wide dissemination of research results, developments, and applications.

Dr. George Banias
Dr. Sotiris Patsios
Dr. Konstantinos Kontogiannopoulos
Dr. Kleoniki Pouikli
Collection 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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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.