Pesare e quantificare i confini planetari regionali in Veneto: integrare l'LCA per uno spazio operativo sostenibile

This research develops a region-specific sustainability assessment framework by integrating the Planetary Boundaries (PBs) concept with Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for the Veneto region in Italy. The study quantifies Veneto’s share of key planetary boundaries including climate change, change in biosphere integrity, biochemical flows, Stratospheric Ozone depletion, Ocean acidification, Land system change, Freshwater use, Atmospheric aerosol loading and Novel entities using regionalized data and Distance to Target(DTT) method. To determine the relative importance of each boundary, the weighting methodology combines the Castellani, V., Benini, L., Sala, S. et al. A distance-to-target weighting method for Europe 2020. Int J Life Cycle Assess 21, 1159–1169 (2016) and the recent advancements in regional planetary boundary assessment described by Paulillo, A., &Sanyé-Mengual, E. (2024). Approaches to incorporate Planetary Boundaries in Life Cycle Assessment: A critical review. Resources, Environment and Sustainability, 17, 100169. These thresholds are then linked to LCA results for locally produced products and materials, enabling a quantitative evaluation of how much each product contributes to the consumption of the region’s safe operating space budget. By integrating weighted boundaries with LCA impact categories, the framework provides a transparent, science-based tool for comparing products and identifying those exerting the least or most pressure on ecological limits. This approach addresses the limitations of traditional LCA, which lacks spatial specificity and threshold-based accountability and of the PBs framework which lacks product-level resolution. The resulting model offers practical decision-support for policymakers and industry, supporting the prioritization of sustainable resource use and operationalizing the “safe operating space” concept at the regional level.