In combination with traditional approaches that address e.g. local impacts and peak environmental pressures of resource use and the associated waste production, 
life cycle thinking is rapidly becoming a cornerstone in the assessment and monitoring of the sustainability of goods and services (products) in business 
and in public administrations. The full life cycle of products must be taken into account when assessing the consumption of resources and the management of 
resultant wastes; from the extraction of raw materials to the disposal of wastes (the 'cradle-to-grave'). The shifting of burdens within the life cycle, among 
political regions or across impacts such as climate change, damage to aquatic ecosystems, health effects and others is to be avoided. Applications range from 
the optimisation of waste management systems when addressing e.g. whether to recycle, to recover energy and/or to compost, through to the monitoring of environmental 
and economic decoupling in relation to European consumption accounting for its full global impacts. Life cycle thinking, in combination with traditional 
modelling and analytical approaches, is therefore indispensable, as highlighted in e.g. the Commission's Thematic Strategies on the Sustainable Use of 
Natural Resources (COM(2005) 670) and on the Prevention and Recycling of Waste (COM(2005) 666), in the Integrated Product Policy Communication (COM (2003) 
302), as well as in the developing Sustainable Consumption and Production Action Plan. Yet, while there have been important achievements, there are still 
knowledge barriers that inhibit the broader and effective implementation of both the traditional approaches as well as life cycle thinking.