Life cycle inventory

TDMA Life Cycle Assessment shows members have achieved significant reductions

TDMA recently completed its third Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).  From 2012 to 2021 TDMA Members achieved improvement in site emissions to both air and water and an estimated 19% decrease in “climate change impact,” a metric indicating the carbon footprint of titanium dioxide (TiO2).

What is a Life Cycle Assessment?

An LCA evaluates the potential environmental impacts of a product throughout its lifetime and provides credible data to demonstrate actual impacts. LCAs are increasingly important to TDMA customers and others in the value chain to assess the impact of their own titanium dioxide-containing products. 

The TDMA is committed to advancing the understanding of and communicating the ecological footprint of TiO2 products and since 2012 has been an early adopter of tracking carbon footprint and other LCA factors and providing LCA information to customers and stakeholders.

The TDMA LCA

The TDMA LCA provides a comprehensive inventory of certain environmental factors called “impact categories” to provide a “cradle-to-gate” overview of the environmental profile of TiO2 produced by TDMA members.

The TDMA recently completed its third update using data from2021. With previous iterations using data from 2012 and 2016, the TDMA 2021 is now able to provide an LCA dataset to TDMA stakeholders that covers more than a decade. The latest TDMA LCA demonstrates an impressive reduction in the environmental impact of TiO2 products in several impact assessment categories.

Methodology

Methodologies used to perform LCAs continue to evolve, and jurisdictions like the European Union have only recently adopted standards governing such assessments.

The EU Commission recently recommended the Environmental Footprint (EF) methodology as a common way of measuring the environmental performance of products and organisations (see EU Commission Recommendation 2021/2279). The EF is the EU’s recommended LCA method for modelling material flows, emissions, and waste streams, enabling a thorough understanding and management of environmental impacts. The latest TDMA LCA is EF compliant.

The TDMA contracted an outside expert to collect member data via an anonymised process. Members provided data related to raw material sourcing and consumption, energy sourcing and consumption, waste generation and final disposition, and emissions into air/water/land.

Overview of the TiO2 production process

The data

To obtain a copy of the TDMA LCA results, please contact the respective TDMA member company that is currently supplying your TiO2.

Please note, the TDMA LCA data only applies to customers of the TDMA Members and does not represent other TiO₂ suppliers.