Natural biotic resources in LCA: Towards an impact assessment model for sustainable supply chain management

Natural resources, both biotic and abiotic, represent fundamental economy- and life-support elements for human societies all over the world. However, since the demand for finite abiotic resources continues to increase, the existing production and consumption patterns in developed and developing countries are raising concerns about their sustainability. Therefore, a transition towards a bio-based economy, called “bio-economy”, is necessary in order to face this alarming situation. This transition requires a robust and comprehensive model of impact assessment to be developed for natural biotic resources, as their sustainable use underpins equitable and sustainable societies. The aim of this study is thus to provide key elements of the ongoing discussion on the environmental and socio-economic relevance of natural biotic resources, improving natural resource accounting and resource impact assessment. Based on the evidence in literature, we drew a comprehensive picture of natural biotic resources and their availability across the globe, in order to then cover the conceptual gap of elementary flows associated to them within the inventories of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) framework. On this basis, we aimed at providing suggestions based on renewability concepts for identifying reliable indicators to evaluate the depletion of biotic resources in the LCA context and support the transition to sustainable bio-economy at global scale.