Sep 30, 2025

Eurobitume and Sphera: Advancing sustainability in the European bitumen industry

Sphera Editorial Team

Overview

Eurobitume, the European association representing bitumen producers and marketers, partnered with Sphera’s Sustainability Consultants to deliver the fourth edition of the life cycle assessment for bitumen products—Eurobitume LCA 4.0. This assessment provides a cradle-to-gate analysis, covering key life cycle stages such as crude oil production, transportation, refining and bitumen storage. The study incorporates primary data from 17 refinery locations across Europe, representing over 75% of the bitumen produced by Eurobitume members. Conducted in compliance with ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 standards, LCA 4.0 has been externally reviewed and aligned with EN 15804+A2 standards for environmental product declarations (EPDs), ensuring greater credibility.

Leveraging Sphera’s LCA consulting expertise, proprietary software and high-quality data enabled the seamless integration of advanced LCA methodologies and the most up-to-date life cycle inventory (LCI) data. This resulted in a robust and actionable assessment. Beyond enhancing transparency on the environmental impact of bitumen, the findings provide a strong foundation to support stakeholder dialogue across the bitumen value chain.

HIGHLIGHTS

Comprehensive cradle-to-gate LCA covering ~75% of bitumen produced by Eurobitume’s members.

Data-driven foundation for stakeholder and policymaker engagement.

Establishing internal expertise in LCA methodology and LCI data collection and usage.

The most up-to-date LCI datasets on bitumen available for LCA practitioners across the bitumen value chain.

Challenges

1

Collecting reliable primary industry data from 17 refineries.

2

Ensuring access to accurate and representative secondary LCI data.

3

Aligning diverse member company viewpoints to a unified LCA methodology.

4

Enhancing the accuracy of supply chain impacts, particularly for crude oil production.

Solution

By combining their deep knowledge of the oil and gas industry with advanced LCA methodologies, software and data solutions, Sphera’s Sustainability Consultants delivered a high-quality, comprehensive LCA report within the expected timeline.

Sphera’s extensive expertise in managing industry-wide LCA projects facilitated the efficient collection of primary data from Eurobitume’s members, covering 17 refineries across 8 European countries. Since the production and supply of crude oil account for a significant share of the environmental impacts in bitumen production—yet remain outside the direct control of bitumen producers—representative LCI data was essential. Sphera’s Managed LCA Content (MLC), which includes crude oil LCI data from a wide range of producing countries, was utilized for environmental impact calculations in Sphera’s LCA for Experts software alongside primary refinery data.

Results

Conducting a comprehensive LCA and developing representative, reliable industry-average LCI data enabled the Eurobitume association and its members to not only meet market demand for environmental transparency but also establish a benchmark for continuous performance improvement.

The Eurobitume LCA 4.0 provides a detailed set of environmental indicators for paving-grade and oxidized bitumen, serving as dependable background data for future LCAs and EPDs of bitumen-containing products. Sensitivity analyses conducted by Sphera’s experts offered valuable insights into the impact of crude oil supply timelines and methodological choices, equipping stakeholders with actionable knowledge. Additionally, the aggregated LCI datasets for bitumen are now available in ILCD (International Life Cycle Data System) format, ensuring compatibility with commonly used LCA software and accessibility for industry practitioners.

“Sphera’s expertise in LCI data and LCA methodology in general and specifically in the energy, oil and gas sector helped us collaboratively develop an outstanding and sound update of our bitumen LCA.”

— Siobhan Mckelvey, Director General, Eurobitume

What made this happen?

A combination of Sphera’s industry-leading LCA consulting expertise and over 30 years of experience managing sustainability projects in the oil and gas sector laid the foundation for success. Sphera’s annually updated, DEKRA-verified Managed LCA Content (MLC) provided essential LCI data for accurately calculating the environmental impacts of bitumen using the LCA for Experts software. Together, these elements highlight Sphera’s unique ability to tackle complex challenges and deliver solutions that empower industries to innovate sustainably.

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