In recent years some cases have shown a decrease in emissions related to energy consumption (i.e. CO2/kWh) because of green energy transition and focus on energy efficiency that consequently means that emissions from building materials in a building life cycle perspective are becoming relatively larger. The focus on reducing emissions is creating a shift from a use phase perspective into a more holistic approach using a life cycle perspective. The building industry needs transparency of its environmental impacts to make informed decisions. Nevertheless, many material and product manufacturers have not produced Product Environmental Footprint (PEF), Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) or similar evaluations of the environmental life cycle impact. This study assesses how small and medium enterprise (SME) developers of building products can start their Life Cycle Engineering (LCE) journey by addressing the relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), defined by the United Nations, and which of the 169 targets material and product manufacturers have a direct or indirect impact on. The study describes each relevant target and their relation to life cycle engineering.
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Secher et al. (2018) studied this question.