Specifically, the iron sinter production dataset includes an error in the order of magnitude of the estimated emissions for dioxins and particulate matter (PM). This error distorts the results of the ecoinvent database calculated using human health and ecotoxicity indicators from most methods.
All other impact categories, including climate change, water depletion, cumulative energy demand, land use and land use change, fossil depletion, acidification, eutrophication, ionising radiation, renewable resources, stratospheric ozone depletion, photochemical oxidant formation, radioactive substances and ozone layer depletion, are not impacted by these issues.
Following our values and acknowledging our responsibility as publishers of the ecoinvent database, we have decided to proceed with the additional release of ecoinvent 3.7.1 in December 2020. With this, we shall correct the iron sinter production dataset.
We will take the opportunity of this release to also incorporate an improvement on the modelling of the zinc mining dataset as received from the International Zinc Association. Although this update was brought to our attention outside of the review framework of ecoinvent 3.7, we believe it significantly improves the quality of the database. Otherwise, there will not be further updates or changes of the content of ecoinvent 3.7.
While we take this decision to ensure the accuracy of the ecoinvent database, we wish to assure everyone that the changes only affect the results of the database calculated using mineral resource or human health and ecotoxicity indicators depending on the methods used. Research and projects based on other impact categories, including climate change, water depletion, cumulative energy demand, land use and land use change, fossil depletion, acidification, eutrophication, ionising radiation, renewable resources, stratospheric ozone depletion, photochemical oxidant formation, radioactive substances, and ozone layer depletion, remain completely unaffected.
The ecoinvent database is widely used via software tools. Our support team is ready to provide users with more information about the software tools that have already implemented ecoinvent 3.7 data.
Acknowledging the impact of this situation on the business operations and projects of our partners and users, we share our sincere apologies for this inconvenience.
Our efforts will now concentrate on ensuring the best quality for ecoinvent 3.7.1, and on revising our review and quality control processes in a way that will make sure such incidents are not repeated in the future.
Our support team remains at your disposal for any questions you may have.
Thank you for your understanding,
kind regards,
the ecoinvent team.