Show me the Money – Societal LCC or Optimizing for Societal and Business Value in Core Business Transactions

While the process for governments, corporations and civil society organizations to set absolute targets in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and planetary boundaries is accelerating, doing so effectively may take years if not decades. In the meantime, companies will need to grow the use of life cycle assessment (LCA) based systemic thinking to complement absolute targets on single dimensions such as greenhouse gases (GHGs). LCA is however still largely unknown and unused in core business activities such as buying, selling, and even product development, i.e., the millions of yearly decisions that drive societal impact. Impact assessments are expressed in terms difficult to understand for professionals without a sustainability background and the link to life cycle costing (LCC) and financial risk is often not clearly defined. This paper discusses how an emerging ecosystem, comprising some of the world's leading buyers, sellers, NGOs, academic institutions and rating agencies, is fostering the adoption of societal LCC, where external impacts are monetized and more clearly connected to revenue and cost considerations. We note how the founder of LCC practice in procurement fifty years ago, the US Department of Defense, is now at the forefront of piloting societal LCC.