Contrary to some other published indicators, more recent analysis points to a life cycle CO2 emission rate of about 13-20 g-C/kWh from PV systems receiving high insolation. Such calculations account for location, module efficiency and lifetime, material and energy resource consumption and BOS performance. In many parts of Europe, for example, the emissions may amount to about 50 g-C/kWh.

Research activities are addressing some of the other environmental concerns associated with production of PV. For example, with respect to fluorocarbons (used for dry etching) the IPCC has categorized PV alongside the electronics (LCD) industry - however the actual figures may be several orders of magnitude lower than suggested. Thin-film module recycling can now achieve 99.99 % separation and recovery of CdTe. For CIGS, indium availability may become an issue when the market becomes very large; therefore recycling approaches to recover this rare material are being investigated. Regarding fire impacts on CdTe and CIGS modules, it has been found that Cd is captured in molten glass at 1000°C and vapour emissions from CIGS are an order of magnitude less than those from oil or gas combustion.