After reviewing various decarbonization policies in our previous posts that aim to motivate companies to reduce their carbon emissions, it is clear that companies must simply conduct evaluations of their products, services, and operations in order to determine which areas need to be modified in order to comply with regulatory standards. The most effective approach is through employing a Life Cycle Assessment.

A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) also known as “cradle-to-grave” analysis is the process of evaluating the impact of a product on the environment over the entire period of its life from raw materials up to disposal. The outcome of this assessment is to increase resource-use efficiency and decrease the liabilities to the environment. Aside from products, the LCA can also be used to assess services and systems such as the transportation system. LCA also serves as a valuable tool for comparing different types of products or packaging serving the same purpose, as it enables a direct comparison between them. Through this comparison, one can tell if one option is better or worse than its counterpart in terms of environmental impact.

International standards (ISO 14040 and ISO 14044) have been established to generate stringent criteria on defining what constitutes an LCA and delineating its capabilities and limitations. Therefore, conducting an LCA may require external experts and consultants possessing special skills in areas like industrial processes, transport modelling, human and ecological toxicity assessments, and those with familiarity with existing data sources such as environmental expert, engineer, manufacturing, purchasing, marketing among others. Because of its rigid assessment, companies can use this as a supporting document for ESG reporting to validate carbon footprint and environmental impact.

As mentioned above, the LCA meticulously reviews the 5 stages of a product life:

Raw material extraction
Manufacturing
Distribution and transport
Use and maintenance
Disposal and recycling

These stages are usually assessed based on the following impacts:

Damage to Human Health: climate change, human toxicity, particulate matter formation
Damage to Ecosystem Quality: terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecotoxicity, eutrophication, terrestrial acidification, land occupation, and ozone depletion
Resource Depletion: water, mineral, and fossil fuel depletion

Steps of Life Cycle Assessment

To generate a complete investigation of a product, the LCA undergoes 4 major steps which will be detailed below:

Step 1: Goal and Scope Definition

This step is where we first define the objectives of the assessment, including the "functional unit" under scrutiny, the necessary data and its quality requirements, the methods to evaluate the impact of the different stages of the product life cycle, and guidelines for reporting. ISO 14044 mandates a clearly defined goal, requiring the inclusion of four key areas: 1) the intended application, 2) the reason for conducting the study, 3) the target audience, and 4) public release of results.

Step 2: Life Cycle Inventory (LCI)

During this step of the LCA, a life cycle inventory analysis is conducted where a detailed inventory of all flows throughout the life cycle of a product or process is monitored. The LCI dives into the different environmental inputs and outputs associated with the product that is integrated into the product system. The tracked inputs can include raw materials and energy usage, while outputs can comprise of emissions and waste from creation to disposal, typically presented in a flow model which is illustrated in Figure 1. Guiding the inventory analysis, comprehensive data from expert interviews, related literature, surveys and other forms of qualitative and quantitative research may be necessary to construct an accurate flow model.

Step 3: Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA)

The LCIA is where the entire life cycle of the product is evaluated for environmental and health effects based on selected impact categories (from the list above) relevant to the goal and scope of the study. At this stage, it is important to note that the LCIA shows merely the potential or theoretical impacts of the inputs and outputs. The ISO standards requires 3 steps for this stage to ensure its quality results:

Selection of impact categories relevant to the study and is completed through choosing existing LCIA methods.
Classification of inventory results into selected impact categories based on their environmental effects with the aid of a specialized software.
Characterization of inventory results to determine volume of contribution across impact categories expressed in common units.

Step 4: Interpretation

In this final step, the interpretation of results undergoes a systematic technique to formulate conclusions and recommendations in accordance with the stated goal and scope. This step is guided by ISO 14044 standards, which require several checks to ensure the validity of the data and procedures used to support conclusions. The interpretation encompasses completeness, sensitivity, and consistency checks, as well as the identification of significant issues, conclusions, limitations, and recommendations.

Figure 2 illustrates an example of a brief life cycle assessment of plastic bags in comparison with canvas bags.

While LCAs are not mandatory for companies, it would be wise to start looking into generating your own life cycle assessments, especially as nations come together to impose stricter regulations on product development, service offerings, and business processes. In the near future, LCAs can serve as a standard for ESG reporting and facilitate the identification of scope 1-3 emissions as this assessment can monitor carbon footprints throughout the entire development process. Both BREEAM and LEED certificates are already incorporating LCA as a gauge for sustainability ratings of real estate properties (WSP, 2019). LCA may be a complex study but with the proliferation of advanced software platforms that are capable of simulating product models and generating estimates of environmental impact and carbon emissions, there’s no reason why LCAs can’t be conducted.

In conclusion, Life Cycle Assessment are able to offer invaluable insights into the environmental impacts of the entire product development process. Each stage of a product life is reviewed thoroughly from raw material extraction to disposal by the LCA to help companies create more informed decisions. LCA may be the initial step towards decarbonization but it is a good jump off point for companies to embark on their journey towards sustainability.

For companies committed to shaping a green future, GreenEco Investments stands ready to assist you in achieving your objectives. Get in touch today to explore the possibilities ahead.