Product Life Cycle and Eco-innovations Generation: Challenges for Brazil

Questionnaire - implementation of LCA in Brazil This questionnaire is part of a thesis being developed at the Information Science Post Graduation Program - PPGCI IBICT (Brazilian Institute on Science and Technology Information) / UFRJ (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro), which aims to point out the challenges and opportunities for the implementation of LCA in Brazil. We emphasize that the information obtained will be used for academic purposes and we are committed to the anonymity of the respondent, the information will be analyzed on a consolidated basis. The questionnaire consists of 28 questions that do not require more than 30 minutes of your time. We count on your cooperation in answering it as soon as possible, given the limited time for the completion of this thesis. Your participation is crucial to the realization of this research and we are grateful in advance for your cooperation.

Questionnaire

1- How long have you been researching the LCA? _____________________________________________________________ 2- What is your affiliation? Which Country? ______________________________________________________________ 3- In which area did you graduate? ______________________________________________________________ 4- Do you believe companies which are ISO 14000 certified in your country are aware of the LCA methodology?

_________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ 5- Does ISO 14000 certification help the company to implement and / or use the LCA? What is your opinion about it? _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ 6- Why are companies seeking to get ISO 14000 certification? _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ 7- Why have companies been seeking to use LCA? What are their main objectives? _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ 8- By implementing LCA in a company, what is the importance of training employees involved? What influence do employees have in the LCA implementation? _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ 9- Does the LCA use make the company adopt more efficient practices in the use of natural resources, waste generation and emissions of waste / toxic gases? What are these practices? _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________

10- Do Companies using LCA prefer suppliers (inputs and services) that are ISO 14.000 certified or that use the LCA?

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_________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ 11- Does the use of LCA influence other internal process management? How? _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ 12- Do you believe LCA methodology can be used as a reliable tool for decision making in business? Why? _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ 13- Do you think LCA methodology is complex? _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ 14- If you answered yes to the previous question, do you believe the complexity of the LCA methodology can hinder its adoption / implementation in countries where the methodology is not yet fully used? How? _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ 15- What factors make it difficult for companies to update and comply with the LCA procedures in these countries? ( ) Need a lot of information for its elaboration ( ) Complexity ( ) The need for many financial resources and long time ( ) Local conditions may not be adequately represented by global conditions ( ) Establishment of more objective criteria to define the boundaries, system functional units and the product to be studied

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( ) Others ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 16- Which simplifications do you consider most important for the LCA methodology, in order to facilitate their use by a majority of companies in these countries where the LCA is still not fully utilized? _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ 17- What is the most appropriate life cycle inventory databases and impact assessment methods to be used by companies in these countries? Why? _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ 18- Many of the countries where the LCA is still not fully utilized do not have their own life cycle inventories and usually adapt data from others. How was the life cycle inventory developed in your country? Was there a collaborative production? _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ 19- In connection with the previous question, what are the greatest difficulties and opportunities found in this development? _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ 20- Is there a system to organize, store and disseminate information relating to the inventory lifecycle in your country? What is the importance of having such a system? How was it built? _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________

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21- What are your suggestions for the implementation of LCA in countries where it is not yet fully utilized and disseminated? _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ 22- Are there tax incentives to use LCA in your country? What are they and how do they work? _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ 23- Does the use of LCA by companies help in meeting the legal requirements and relevant environmental issues in your country? How? _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ 24- Can you notice any relationship between LCA and innovation? Could you illustrate some kind of innovation that could be generated or has been generated from a LCA study? _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ 25- Do you think the use of LCA can contribute to increase the companies commitment to environmentally sustainable development in their activities? Why? _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ 26- Do you think the ISO 14020 relating to environmental labeling is a matter in the companies’ agenda in your country? Are the companies in your country prepared to use environmental labeling? Are they using it? _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________

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27- How important is environmental labeling? What are your expectations in relation to environmental labeling in other countries? _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ 28- Still on the question 26, do you believe that environmental labeling may induce companies to adopt LCA in these countries where the tool is not widespread? _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________

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please after fill out the questionnaire, send it to the e-mail: [email protected]