LIFE CYCLE IMPACT ASSESSMENT (LCIA) Comparison of different normalised LCIA results and their feasibility in communication Helena Dahlbo & Sirkka Koskela & Hanna Pihkola & Minna Nors & Maija Federley & Jyri Seppälä Received: 17 January 2012 / Accepted: 6 August 2012 / Published online: 18 September 2012 # Springer-Verlag 2012 Abstract Purpose The purpose of this study was to answer the fol- lowing three questions: (1) What are the reference values of normalisation for Finnish production and Finnish consump- tion and how do they differ from the European reference values?, (2) How do these differences influence the inter- pretation of normalised LCIA results?, and (3) How can normalised LCIA results be made more comprehensible to non-LCA experts with the help of communication material? Methods Finnish reference values for normalisation were calculated on the basis of the Finnish environmentally ex- tended input–output model and ReCiPe LCIA method. The influence of different normalised results on the interpreta- tion of LCIA was assessed based on an LCA study of print products. LCA communication material (product-specific fact sheets) was developed by organising workshops and interviews with stakeholders in the paper and printing industry. Results and discussion A comparison of the production based Finnish reference values to the European reference values shows that Finland contributes roughly 1 % to the European values in all impact categories except in the fossil depletion category where the contribution is 3 %. The order of magnitude of the impact categories varies depending on the reference system used for normalisation, which influen- ces the interpretation of LCIA results. The normalised results were made more comprehensible by developing fact sheets including background information and guidance for interpretation of the LCIA results. Conclusions The interpreter of normalised LCIA results does not usually have the information to estimate how the chosen reference system influences the results. A sensitivity analysis with different reference values may help to high- light this effect. When communicating to non-LCA- practitioners, LCIA results need to be connected to a wider context, which can be achieved by using normalisation to give an idea of the order of magnitude of the results. However, the harmfulness of the impact categories in rela- tion to each other cannot be judged on the basis of the normalised results, which seems to be a difficult concept for non-LCA-practitioners to understand. Keywords Communication . LCA . Life cycle assessment . LCIA . Life cycle impact assessment . Normalisation . Print product 1 Introduction 1.1 Communicating LCA results The role of sustainable production and consumption has been emphasized as a means for minimizing environmental hazards and moving towards more sustainable development (Munasinghe 2010; European Commission 2008). Due to increasing public interest in the environmental impacts of consumption, there is a growing need for environmental information among different industrial actors. According to ISO 14063 (2006), environmental commu- nication can be defined as “a process that an organization Responsible editor: Reinout Heijungs Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11367-012-0498-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. H. Dahlbo (*) : S. Koskela : J. Seppälä Centre for Sustainable Consumption and Production, Finnish Environment Institute SYKE, PO Box 140, 00251 Helsinki, Finland e-mail: helena.dahlbo@ymparisto.fi H. Pihkola : M. Nors : M. Federley VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, PO Box 1000, 02044 Espoo, Finland Int J Life Cycle Assess (2013) 18:850–860 DOI 10.1007/s11367-012-0498-4