Wool in Life Cycle Assessments and Design Tools - SIFO

11. Conclusions on LCA as tool for evaluating fibersLCA is complex and complicated, and that results are depending on a huge amount of differentfactors and uncertainties. LCA can be manipulated within acceptable methodological limits to give awanted result. You get what you pay for.If the purpose is to compare results with other similar products then the result depends on whetheryou actually are comparing apples with cars or apples with apples, both in terms of the sameframework for the analysis and how you look at and weigh the results.Several impacts are normally not covered by an LCA, like social aspects, working environment, localpollution, noise etc. Mainly because it is too cost and time intensive to conduct.The MadeBy Benchmark tool is an example of how chaotic this all might get if not understood, usedand communicated correctly. The benchmark is misguiding the user even if the intention may havebeen good. Is it lack of good advice? Is it lack of understanding the complexity? Or is this a case ofwolf in sheep clothes, trying to manipulate the communication of the results to their advantage?So far no LCA on global wool has been performed that is publically available. Choosing a one globalwool study is like the difference between a full color palette, and mixing all colors in the palette soeverything gets shitty brownish.The DEFRA Study argues that “it is important that the LCA literature concentrates less on thespecifics of production in a specific location and by a specific approach, but contributes more widelyto generic assessments of the environmental impacts of different textile fibers while highlighting thesources of variability that help identify where reduced environmental impacts can be achieved”.It does not argue why or address the difficulties in assessing agricultural activities.17