“Eco -innovation and green economy: the role of sustainability life cycle assessment”

"In recent years, economic growth has been accompanied by growing sensitivity to environmental problems, the problem of energy security and scarcity of nonrenewable natural resources. Innovation has been seen as central to economic performance and social welfare; it is increasingly recognized as a significant driver of economic. This is the context of the life cycle thinking. As we know, Life cycle thinking and Life Cycle Assessment are scientific approaches behind a growing number of environmental policies and business decision support in the context of Sustainability consumption and Production (SPC). The environmental base is supported by Life Cycle Assessment by the international standardized tool (ISO 14040 and ISO 14044) for integrated assessment for goods and services. Sustainability Life Cycle Assessment is a set of tools to analyze the sustainability of a business under different economic, social and environmental. The tools of sustainability can be considered tools of organizational innovation and management to support business decisions. The aims of this work is to give an overview about the current state of sustainability policies implemented in Italian companies emphasizing the prospects for future application. The analysis was carried out comparing the performance data collected through the company accounts of a sample of companies by comparing the performance improvements after the application of LCA and developing forecasts of performance improvement after applying the tools of sustainability."