The LCA Working Group Meeting of Full Industry Chain of Sericulture & Silk Held Online

On January 18, 2022, in order to promote the healthy, stable and sustainable development of the international silk industry and effectively carry out the Life Cycle Assessment of full industry chain of sericulture & silk, International Silk Union (ISU) held the "The LCA Working Group Meeting of Full Industry Chain of Sericulture & Silk" online. More than 50 experts, scholars and enterprise representatives from 7 countries and regions including China, Italy, France, Brazil, India, Japan and Pakistan attended the meeting. The conference was supported by industry organizations such as the International Sericultural Commission (ISC), Ufficio Italiano Seta (UIS), INTERSOIE France, Brazilian Silk Association (ABRASEDA).

Chen Wenxing, vice chairman of ISU, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, president of Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, scientist of the “silk comprehensive utilization” of the National Sericulture Industry System, Rajit Ranjan Okhandiar, secretary general of the ISC, Dileep Kumar R, programme coordinator of ISC, Stefano Vitali, vice chairman of ISU, president of UIS, Guido Tettamanti, secretary general of UIS, Graziano Elegir, head of Italy Silk Division of Innovhub, Anne-Cecile Caschera, secretary general of INTERSOIE France, Renata Amano, vice chairman of ISU, president of ABRASEDA, Joao Berdu, project manager of Vale da Seda, Sivaprasad, director of Central Silk Board, Ministry of Textiles, Govt. of India, Amit Kumar, scientist of Central Silk Board, Ministry of Textiles, Govt. of India, Yusuke Shiojiri, board member of Maruhachi Kiito Co. Ltd., Assad Farooq, associate professor of Pakistan University of Agriculture, Azmat Hussain, doctor of Bahauddine Zakariya University in Pakistan, Su Miao, vice dean of International Institute of Silk of Zhejiang Sci-Tech University in China, Zheng Jinhuan, vice director of ISU Education Research Professional Committee, Ding Xuemei, professor of Donghua University in China, Xu Jianmei, associate professor of Soochow University in China, Wang Laili, associate professor of Zhejiang Sci-Tech University in China, etc. attended the meeting. Li Qizheng, secretary general of ISU, presided over the meeting.

In order to carry out the work more effectively, ISU is actively preparing to establish a working group for the life cycle assessment of full industry chain of sericulture & silk, and invited the Prof. Chen Wenxing to serve as the leader of the working group. Chen Wenxing expressed that green revolution and low-carbon economy are the inevitable trend of the current manufacturing transformation and upgrading, silk has good environmental friendliness in the full life cycle. It is hoped that through this working group meeting, a consensus will be reached on the research framework, and the follow-up research will be guided. As the group leader, he will do a good job in coordinating the work to ensure that relevant research can receive more support.

Adhering to sustainable development and achieving carbon neutrality have become the consensus and focus of competition in the international silk industry. On June 10, 2021, ISU hosted the “2021 International Think Tank Forum on Silk Sustainable Development”, and jointly issued the "Proposal for the Comprehensive and Objective Assessment of Life Cycle of Silk Products" with ISC, UIS, INTERSOIE France and ABRASEDA, actively promotes the Life Cycle Assessment of silk products. Li Qizheng reviewed the Progress on Silk Sustainable Promoting of ISU. So far, ISU actively builds a platform, gathers experts and scholars in the field of silk sustainability from various countries, provides support in industrial research, academic research, theme seminars, publicity and promotion, etc., and jointly promotes silk LCA research, aiming to maintain the sustainable image of silk

Focusing on the Topic Discussion - the Research Path of LCA of Full Industry Chain of Sericulture & Silk, six experts including president Stefano Vitali, Prof. Ding Xuemei, Joao Berdu, scientist Amit Kumar, Graziano Elegir, A/Prof. Xu Jianmei made the keynote reports. The attendees asked questions and speech freely on the reference standard, system boundary, environmental impact categories, data list, etc.

Stefano Vitali 

Sustainable Development of Silk Industry

Ding Xuemei

Quantification and Evaluation of Environmental Performance of Silk Products in the Whole Life Cycle

Joao Berdu

Silk and United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

Amit Kumar

Research Framework for LCA Methodology of Indian Mulberry Silk

Graziano Elegir 

Research Framework and Progress of Italian Silk Life Cycle Assessment

Xu Jianmei

Dissucssion on EF Assessment

The meeting reached a basic consensus on the Guideline of Life Cycle Assessment of Full Industry Chain of Sericulture & Silk. It is hoped that to integrate the industrial situation of silk producing countries, form a unified reference standard, normative the research framework, and gradually promote the sustainable work of silk.