Python package creating the IMPACT World+ files directly downloadable into various software.

This package is used by the IMPACT World+ team to take data from characterization models (e.g., IPCC, AWARE, Usetox, etc.), manage and harmonize them to ultimately integrate these models in the IMPACT World+ overall methodology. All this is done automatically and in a totally transparent/open-source manner, only relying on open-access, free data. This package could be interesting to other users to have a precise look on what assumptions are taken by the IW+ team during the generation of the different files for the different software platforms.

To get started you can follow the Tutorial.ipynb jupyter notebook. You will need the source database from IW+ (SQL database) which is downloadable here: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1488368.

After running the code (follow the Tutorial.ipynb file) you will find different versions of IW+ in the Databases folder:

• a brightway version (in the form of a .bw2package file), linking IW+ to the flows from biosphere3 of a selected brightway project. Note that this is ecoinvent-dependent, meaning that each generated IW+ files for brightway only operates with a specific ecoivnent version. That is because biosphere3 is fixed and is ecoinvent-dependent itself. Also note that either a bw2 or bw2.5 version of the files will be generated depending on the arguments provided by the user and obviously of the brightway version used in the brightway project used.
• "pure" ecoinvent versions, linking different versions of ecoinvent to IW+. These files are available in Excel format.
• a SimaPro version (.csv file).
• an openLCA version in a .zip format (importable as a JSON-LD file in openLCA)
• an exiobase version, linking the environmental extensions of the exiobase GMRIO database to IW+. Either for version 3.8.2 and before and for post versions 3.9. That is because the list of environmental extensions changed after version 3.9.
• a developer version, this only regroups all the characterization factors of the IW+ method, in an Excel file. This file is mostly relevant for developers wishing to integrate IW+ in their tools.

Note that this package includes mappings between the flows of IW+ and the flows of the different software platforms, which could be of interest.

• Maxime Agez (maxime.agez@polymtl.ca)
• Elliot Muller (elliot.muller@polymtl.ca)

Bulle, C., Margni, M., Patouillard, L. et al. IMPACT World+: a globally regionalized life cycle impact assessment method. Int J Life Cycle Assess 24, 1653–1674 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-019-01583-0