Integration of life cycle sustainability assessment indicators in different energy sectors

Despite the increasing number of studies analysing sustainability performance in energy-related field, most of the existing papers present the results of particular dimensions separately. A number of methods have been identified to integrate individual LCSA indicators and determine one final sustainability score which could be a relevant support for decision-makers to rank scenarios being compared at the interpretation phase. In the current stage, none of the proposed methods seem to be in a leading position. The integration of sustainability indicators still suffers from the lack of harmonisation concerning the selection and definition of impact categories to be analysed, as well as specific procedures that would allow the results to be reliably compared. The procedures often assume arbitrarily determined weights of importance for aggregating environmental, economic and social scores, which can raise controversy. The development of noncontroversial methods to integrate LCSA indicators is also recommended from the perspective of future standardisation.