Transitioning to a circular economy (CE) for plastics requires robust analytical frameworks to assess the environmental impacts of material, process, and policy innovations. The PlastLIFE framework, developed for Finland, combines life cycle assessment (LCA), material flow analysis (MFA), and scenario modeling to evaluate the national climate impacts of the plastic system on an annual basis. It captures emissions from raw material extraction to end-of-life management, considering both domestic activities and embedded emissions in imports and exports.
The framework supports both ex-ante (design) and ex post (monitoring) assessments, enabling stakeholders to evaluate trade-offs, track progress, and inform adaptive CE policies.
Results highlight material production as the dominant emissions source, followed by end-of-life incineration. Comparisons with a 2019 baseline reveal increased emissions in 2021, at tributed to broader scope, changes in waste flows, and methodological differences.
While the framework provides a comprehensive and flexible tool for climate impact assessment, it faces limitations related to data quality and comparability, system boundaries, and modeling simplifications.
Future development aims to enhance coverage of underrepresented life cycle stages and improve data resolution, reinforcing its value in guiding Finland’s transition to a low-carbon, circular plastics economy.
This is an output of the PlastLIFE project.
The PlastLIFE project is co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the authors only and do not neccerily reflect those of the European Union or CINEA. Neither the European Union or the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
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Contacts
Helena Dahlbo
Senior researcher, Finnish Environment Institute (Syke)
firstname.lastname@syke.fi
