# Towards a comprehensive assessment of research environmental impacts: From mono to multi-criteria

Philippe Loubet, Anthony Benoist, Jérôme Mariette, André Estevez-Torres

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Philippe Loubet, Anthony Benoist, Jérôme Mariette, André Estevez-Torres. Towards a comprehensive assessment of research environmental impacts: From mono to multi-criteria. Colloque Labos 1point5 "Empreinte environnementale et soutenabilité des activités de recherche", Labos 1point5, Nov 2024, Paris, France. 2 p. hal-05182605

HAL Id: hal-05182605

https://hal.science/hal-05182605v1

Submitted on 23 Jul 2025

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# Towards a comprehensive assessment of research environmental impacts: from mono to multi-criteria

Philippe Loubetª, Anthony Benoistᵇ, Jérôme Marietteᶜ, André Estevez-Torresᵈ

ªBordeaux INP, ᵇCIRAD Saint-Denis de La Réunion, ᶜINRAE Toulouse, ᵈCNRS Lille

GES 1point5 and most studies that assess the environmental impacts of research primarily focus on climate change, putting aside other environmental issues. This is particularly concerning given that six out of nine planetary boundaries have already been crossed. Recognizing the need for a more comprehensive approach, life cycle assessment (LCA) emerges as the standard methodology to evaluate a broad spectrum of environmental impacts across the life-cycle of products and services. However, few organization-wide multi-impact LCAs have been applied to research units or universities.

Here, we developed impact factors (IFs) for assessing the environmental impacts of most of the modules of GES 1point5. For energy, transportation, buildings, and food, IFs were calculated based on two process-based LCA databases: ecoinvent 3.9.1,¹ and Agribalyse 3.1.1. For purchases, IFs were based on the multi-regional environmentally extended input-output-based-LCA database Exiobase 3.² Impacts were assessed using the Impact World + 2.0.1 LCIA method,³ which provides evaluations at both the midpoint (environmental pressures including climate change) and endpoint (potential damages on biodiversity and human health) levels, covering a wide range of impacts including acidification, climate change, (eco)toxicity, eutrophication, particulate matter formation, or land/resource use. These IFs were then applied to the GES 1p5 inventory containing activity data from 291 laboratories for the years 2019-2021.

Figure 1 displays multi-impact calculations for the purchase's module per research staff. First, we show that climate change impacts calculated with Exiobase 3 are in good agreement with those currently estimated by GES 1point5⁴ (Fig. 1A). We then show that particulate matter formation is a major contributor to human health damage, causing on average three times more damage than climate change (Fig. 1B). Finally, our analysis reveals that land occupation is the largest contributor to ecosystem damage (Fig. 1C).

<figure><img src="image_2.png" /><figcaption>Figure 1. Environmental impacts of purchases from 291 research units in France, covering climate change impact at the midpoint level (A), and most contributive categories to human health (B) and to ecosystem damage (C) at the endpoint level.</figcaption></figure>

We thus demonstrate that research activities have significant impacts besides climate change. Our methodology is ready to compare impacts for different GES1point5 modules, which will be presented at the conference. In addition, a multi-regional assessment of impacts, and the challenges of implementing this new approach within GES1point5, will also be addressed.
In conclusion, this work paves the way for a more comprehensive assessment of the environmental impacts of research, enabling the identification of potential burden-shifting when designing mitigation strategies.

1. Wernet, G. et al. The ecoinvent database version 3 (part I): overview and methodology. *Int. J. Life Cycle Assess.* **21**, 1218–1230 (2016).

2. Stadler, K. et al. EXIOBASE 3: Developing a Time Series of Detailed Environmentally Extended Multi-Regional Input-Output Tables. *J. Ind. Ecol.* **22**, 502–515 (2018).

3. Bulle, C. et al. IMPACT World+: a globally regionalized life cycle impact assessment method. *Int. J. Life Cycle Assess.* **24**, 1653–1674 (2019).

4. De Paepe, M., Jeanneau, L., Mariette, J., Aumont, O. & Estevez-Torres, A. Purchases dominate the carbon footprint of research laboratories. 2023.04.04.535626 section: New Results (2023) doi:10.1101/2023.04.04.535626.