1. Project title: Improvement of Characterisation Factors in Life Cycle Impact Assessment of Ecotoxicity

2. Type of project: Cogoverned

3. Number of participants: 36 organisations and 15 members

4. Scope of the project: Global

5. Period: May 2006 - May 2009

• Development of characterisation factors for metals that reflect state of the art modelling and environmental realism.

• Review of current processes for the assessment of fate, exposure and effects of metals and metalloids in the environment. Evaluation of data requirements and availability.

• Determination of working assumptions regarding metals chemistry, speciation in receiving environments, fate processes within a multimedia environment and appropriate exposure and effects models.

• Development of a generic model structure that allows for inclusion of speciation, fate, exposure and effect.

• Adaptation and revision of coding within relevant models to accommodate metal specific needs.

• Determination and incorporation of appropriate parameter values into the revised model for the specified substances and all archetypal receiving environments.

• Perform Monte Carlo simulations to develop frequency distributions for the determination of characterisation factors for Tier1 and Tier 2 substances and the analysis of uncertainty.

• Model runs for Tier 1 and Tier 2 substances, initially based on archetypal environments and subsequently for sediments and the terrestrial receiving environment.

• Final synthesis including:

7. Outputs until now: 
- Assessed aquatic toxicity characterization factors (CFs) for Tier I metals
- Assessed CF sensitivity on environmental variables
- Opened discussion on choice of archetypal environments acute and chronic endpoints
- Developed a generic method for calculating metal CFs

8. Progress done so far: 65%

9. Leaders: Myriam Diamond, Toronto University

Current status on characterisation factors in LCIA of ecotoxicity