All you need to know about Life Cycle Assessment

What is Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)?

The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology is a pivotal method for assessing the environmental impact of a product or service. This method takes a holistic approach to analyze the product's whole life cycle, from raw material extraction to the end of life (treatment of waste). The method has evolved into an indispensable tool to understand, address, assess, and therefore mitigate the environmental impacts associated with goods and services.

In today's regulatory landscape (Overview of the corporate carbon regulation jungle | Climate Regulation Jungle | Yook Knowledge Hub), the significance of LCA cannot be overstated. It plays a crucial role in navigating through emerging regulations, especially under the European Green Deal, such as the Ecodesign Directive (EG Eco-Design | Climate Regulation Jungle | Yook Knowledge Hub), the Green Claims Directive ('Green claims' directive: Protecting consumers from greenwashing | Think Tank | European Parliament (europa.eu)), ECGT (Vorschlag für eine Richtlinie zur Stärkung der Verbraucher für den ökologischen Wandel und Anhang - Europäische Kommission (europa.eu), PEFCR (PEF(CR) | Product Environmental Footprint (Category Rules) | Climate Regulation Jungle | Yook Knowledge Hub), and the French Environmental Labelling Initiative as part of the AGEC law, to name a few. Additionally, LCA is one of the most granular tools to use for Scope 3 (Glossary | Yook Methodology | Yook Knowledge Hub) carbon accounting, with increasing relevance due to the CSRD, and is integral to mechanisms such as Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) (Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism - European Commission (europa.eu)), among others.

Moreover, the surge in 'green claims'— where companies promote their products as eco-friendly or sustainable— needs tangible evidence to support these assertions, particularly in light of regulations such as the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD) (Unfair commercial practices directive - European Commission (europa.eu)). 

‍

How can LCA enhance your company’s sustainability initiatives?

LCA is not just a tool for environmental compliance. It is also a powerful tool for enhancing B2B communication and collaboration across industries. Its adoption can help companies in the following areas:

• Collaborative Product Development: LCA can unveil environmentally friendly design choices, facilitating collaboration on greener products.
• Sustainability Reporting: LCA data enhances the credibility of sustainability reports, strengthening relationships with business partners.
• Supplier assessment: LCA offers insights about the areas with the highest environmental impacts, known as “hotspots”. Therefore, it can be used to identify environmental improvement opportunities in areas such as material sourcing and manufacturing. It stimulates collaboration on sustainability initiatives within the supply chain and comparing suppliers.
• Regulatory Compliance: LCA helps demonstrate compliance with environmental regulations and standards, assuring third parties of the company’s commitment to sustainability.
• Risk Management: LCA identifies areas of environmental risk, enabling proactive risk mitigation strategies and building trust with partners.
• Stakeholders Relations: Stakeholders, including consumers, shareholders, NGOs, and policymakers, are progressively scrutinizing companies and emphasizing the necessity of substantiated claims. In essence, LCA empowers companies to become informed and make decisions about sustainable practices and environmental stewardship.

‍

How can LCA enhance your company’s sustainability initiatives?

Cradle to grave: This comprehensive model analyses and evaluates impacts from the raw material extraction ('cradle') to the end of life ('grave') of a product. It covers all stages, including raw material extraction, production, distribution, usage, and end-of-life management, as well as transportation between each stage. This model is invaluable for gaining a complete understanding of a product's environmental footprint, supporting internal evaluations, and ensuring transparent communication with consumers.

However, it's important to recognize that producers do not control the use phase of a product, and consumer habits vary widely. Consequently, a standardized method for evaluating the use phase is essential. For instance, the PEFCR-Apparel and Footwear guideline, part of the Green Deal regulations in Europe, seeks to establish consensus on the parameters for modeling the use phase of apparel and footwear products.

Cradle to gate: This model focuses solely on impacts from raw material extraction to the point when the product leaves the factory gate. It is commonly used for industry comparisons or B2B communication/disclosure), as it zooms in on processes under the direct decision making of manufacturers and suppliers. This model can be useful when data on product usage and end-of-life stages is lacking or uncertain.

Example: Suppose that a company would like to perform LCA on all their yearly produced chairs to learn more about their environmental impacts of the production and identify the hotspots. The relevant boundary is cradle to gate. 

‍

What are the environmental indicators?

Life Cycle Impact Assessment  translates the products’ inventory data into impact categories such as greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption, land use, and toxicity. 

These impact categories are assessed using established models and indicators to quantify the environmental burdens associated with each stage of the life cycle. This is the stage where the in-depth knowledge of LCA matters. We need to use a coherent and up-to-date methodology! 

The LCA results are analyzed and interpreted to draw conclusions and make informed decisions. This includes identifying hotspots (i.e., stages of the life cycle with significant environmental impacts), evaluating alternative scenarios or strategies for reducing environmental burdens, and communicating findings to stakeholders.

Example: Let’s get back to the chair example. The results show that the material extraction and processing, producing polypropylene pellets and transforming them, contributes the most to the environmental impact of the chair, while the wood and screws play a less significant role. Also, the assembly step, i.e. putting the parts together, is a semi-automated production process and only has a low significance

‍

What are typical challenges with Life Cycle Assessment?

It has become clear that the LCA results can be used for internal purposes such as product design development, research and development (R&D), and supply chain management, as well as external purposes such as marketing and customer communication.

However, you might have encountered challenges in this journey, such as: 

The Data collection maze: We know that what cannot be measured cannot be managed. However, we need access to relevant data to calculate the relevant impact. Whether it is tracking down information from suppliers or grappling with the complexity of supply chains, ensuring data accuracy and completeness can be challenging. This process can be very time-consuming and resource-intensive for businesses. Sometimes they are not even able to determine the importance of each data point. 

Data quality: Even when data is available, it is like walking on thin ice – you can never be quite sure if it will hold up. The quality and consistency of data can vary, leading to uncertainties in LCA results. Organizations, therefore, often highlight the importance of a tool to assess the certainty and quality of the primary data.

Boundary setting: Drawing the line between what to include and exclude in an LCA is like walking a tightrope. Decisions about system boundaries can significantly sway LCA results, making it crucial to justify every step of the way.

Keeping up with compliances: Understanding the requirements of different compliances is a difficult hurdle. Trends are shifting rapidly, and each compliance requires a specific LCA methodology and system boundaries. Keeping up with the regulations can be confusing for some organizations.

Cost: LCA can be conducted by consultancies, in-house experts, or the newly emerged automated LCA tools. It is crucial to use the right service and purchase the right tool, database, and software. Making the wrong decision can be costly and inefficient, especially for organizations with over 100 products in their portfolio. 

‍

How does Yook perform Life Cycle Assessments?

Unmatched Ease-of-Use:

We believe in making LCA accessible to everyone, which is why we have revolutionized the process of conducting LCAs. With our platform, launching Product LCAs is a breeze. Say goodbye to months of tedious data collection and complex analyses. Our streamlined approach allows you to generate comprehensive assessments in just days without the need to be an expert. Minimal data inputs are required, and our automated data enrichment does the heavy lifting for you.

Data-Driven Decarbonization:

Our platform empowers you with actionable insights that drive advanced EcoDesign strategies. By leveraging data, you can make proactive decisions that significantly reduce your carbon footprint. 

Unlimited Scalability with Granular Precision:

Whether you have one product or a thousand, our platform has you covered. We offer unlimited scalability without sacrificing detail. Analyze every aspect of your products’ life cycles with granular precision. Our results are publicly shareable, allowing you to showcase your commitment to sustainability effortlessly.