Following an invitation for tenders by the European Commission, a consortium led by PE Europe GmbH carried out a comparative study entitled "Life cycle assessment of PVC and of principal competing materials".

The overall goal of the study was to compile an overview of the publicly available information on Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) on PVC and competing materials, for a variety of applica-tions,in order to assess existing information and to identify information gaps.

The overall scope of the study included the gathering of information from all relevant informa-tion sources within the EU. A structured survey of existing relevant LCA studies was carried out. A specific procedure for the identification and acquirement of these studies was thereby developed. Furthermore, a systematic characterisation and critical assessment scheme was developed and applied.

The LCA studies that assess the applications of PVC and competing materials on a system level were analysed in detail. An application matrix, which includes market share information, provided an overview of the relevance of studies and also helped to identify potential incon-sistencies.

An overview of the "Overall life cycle impacts of PVC" was compiled, discussing the relevant LCA components and life cycle phases of PVC products. The "Socio-economic costs and benefits" were also analysed.

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