Life Cycle Assessment of Refined Tin

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a widely recognised tool for quantifying environmental impacts. For industries such as tin production, LCA provides a robust approach to understanding the environmental footprint associated with production, while providing valuable data for downstream tin users to assess the impacts associated with tin within their own products and supply chains.

ITA and its members are committed to providing transparent, accurate and up-to-date environmental information to stakeholders. Through continued participation in industry-wide LCA studies, ITA full member companies work collectively to improve the quality, accuracy and representativeness of life cycle data for refined tin production. Maintaining an up-to-date industry baseline also enables the sector to track environmental performance over time and supports more informed sustainability and environmental decision-making.

Updated Life Cycle Assessment: 2024 reference year

ITA has published its second industry-wide Life Cycle Assessment of refined tin production, updating the previous 2018/2019 industry baseline with data representing the 2024 reference year.

The updated study was completed with 100% participation from ITA full member companies, collectively representing approximately 51% of global refined tin production. It provides the most comprehensive and globally representative environmental profile of refined tin production published by ITA to date.

The study was undertaken by independent global sustainability consultancy Sphera Solutions Inc. in accordance with ISO 14040 and ISO 14044. Using a functional unit of 1 tonne of refined tin metal (99.95%), the assessment covers the cradle-to-gate production of refined tin, including mining, recycled material, mineral processing or beneficiation, smelting and refining.

The updated LCA provides insight into the processes and inputs contributing most to potential environmental impacts across refined tin production. Updating the industry baseline helps ensure that the environmental data available to stakeholders better reflects current technologies, operational practices and supply chain conditions.

Life Cycle Assessment: Previous Industry Baseline

ITA’s first industry-wide LCA of refined tin production used 2018/2019 reference-year data and was published in 2023.

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Continuous Improvement and Efforts on Climate Change

ITA is developing best practice guidance for greenhouse gas measurement within the tin industry. Currently, no sector-specific methodology exists for determining the carbon footprint of refined tin. The aim of this guidance is to help harmonise data collection and reporting methodologies, establish industry best practice, and support a more consistent and comparable approach to carbon footprint reporting and disclosure across the global tin industry. This guidance is intended not only to support ITA members, but also the wider global tin industry and other tin producers.

As part of its broader low-carbon transition roadmap, ITA will continue to build on our current reporting activities and ongoing improvements, strengthening our position to develop more actionable and coordinated long-term strategies

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