Life Cycle Assessment: Do more than measure your environmental impact
Advanced digitalization helps companies achieve their carbon neutral goals by not only measuring their current environmental impact, but also the impact of future decisions.
Urgent times call for effective solutions
Committing to carbon neutrality is just the first step. The second is how you actually achieve it. This starts with being able to measure the environmental impact of your business end-to-end.
But that shouldn’t be the limit. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tools/software, also known as life cycle analysis, enables you to assess the sustainability of any decision you make, even before they’re implemented.
Sustainable Innovation Intelligence
How Manufacturers Are Planning for a More Sustainable Future
The Role of Lifecycle Assessment in Achieving Net-Zero Goals
LCA is not just a measurement tool; it’s a strategic asset in the quest for net-zero carbon emissions. Companies aiming to achieve net-zero must identify and mitigate emissions across the entire lifecycle of their products and services. From sourcing raw materials to end-of-life disposal, LCA provides actionable insights to reduce greenhouse gas emissions effectively.
For example, by leveraging LCA tools, businesses can pinpoint high-impact areas such as energy-intensive manufacturing processes or inefficient transportation routes. This data empowers them to implement targeted changes, such as adopting renewable energy sources, streamlining logistics, or investing in more sustainable materials.
80%1 of a product or service’s design determines its environmental impact throughout the lifecycle.
56% of executives know the importance of integrating sustainability principles into product and service development.
Yet only 26% have revised their product and service development processes to maximize any sustainability benefits.
Lifecycle Assessment in the Circular Economy
A circular economy focuses on minimizing waste and maximizing resource efficiency by designing products and systems that enable reuse, refurbishment, and recycling. Lifecycle Assessment plays a critical role in this model by providing data on the environmental impact of materials and processes.
For instance, an LCA study can help businesses compare the environmental benefits of recycling materials versus sourcing new ones. By using LCA insights, companies can design products with extended lifespans, modularity for easier repair, and materials that are simpler to recycle—key principles of circularity.
csi entwicklungstechnik
German engineering services provider csi entwicklungstechnik adopted the 3DEXPERIENCE platform and its cloud-based sustainability solution to embed Life Cycle Assessment into a virtual twin to support the eco-design process for its customers which include international automotive OEMs.
EPFL Racing Team
The Swiss EPFL Racing Team is the first Formula Student organization with its own sustainability department. The team uses the 3DEXPERIENCE platform and its solution, Eco-Design Engineering for Education, to assess the environmental impact of its electric formula racing car. Through a comprehensive lifecycle assessment (LCA), they were able to examine which areas of the vehicle to improve, using this analysis to guide the eco-design of its next-generation racing car.
What is Life Cycle Assessment and why do you need it?
LCA quantifies the environmental impact of end-to-end business products and services, from sourcing raw materials to delivering finished goods. By using data about a company’s processes and from thousands of sources, LCA aims to answer questions such as:
- Which product designs and material selections are the most sustainable ones?
- Which processes have the lowest consumption of land and water resources?
- Which manufacturing and supplier strategy has the best carbon footprint?
LCA tools have been available for decades, but they have long been the preserve of specialist teams, and their findings have been difficult and time-consuming to integrate into product development and delivery.
However, thanks to advanced digitalization and virtual twin technologies, LCA is now being put in the hands of teams who can use it to optimize design choices, right from the beginning, with a clear understanding of what actions have the highest environmental impact.
This allows project teams to work collaboratively and identify optimal trade-offs, test designs virtually and cost-effectively, and reduce cycle times.
The above is a simplified LCA demonstration of two HVAC components. We invite you to explore different results using the Recalculate button to see how the different human activities compare with each other and with your sustainability goals. The data for the human activities comes directly from the 3DEXPERIENCE platform’s built-in LCA solution, with the ecoinvent database2 fully integrated.
The power and potential of LCA within the virtual twin
Dassault Systèmes’ Sustainable Innovation Intelligence solution enables this integration of LCA and virtual twin technologies with design and delivery functions.
By combining LCA with the virtual twin, detailed environmental assessments are available from as early as the ideation stage, and then to every member of the innovation process downstream.
To consistently deliver accurate insights, Dassault Systèmes has partnered with environmental intelligence provider ecoinvent. Their database monitors 20,000 activity types, with data updated every year, and allows for optimization across 16 different KPIs.
LCA brings the metrics needed to evaluate environmental impacts across the product lifecycle. Integrating that with virtual twin technology opens new possibilities to address those impacts very early on.
Key Factors of the Sustainable Innovation Intelligence Solution
The Sustainable Innovation Intelligence solution enables companies to:
- Follow a sustainability-driven engineering approach that sets sustainable goals, reinforces eco-design practices and drives innovation throughout the product lifecycle
- Assess human activities and optimize for sustainability
- Understand a product’s environmental impact across the value chain, from raw materials, to packaging and transport, to manufacturing, to recovery and end-of-life
- Explore design alternatives and model various trade-off scenarios
The ecoinvent Database
The ecoinvent association is the world leader in the provision of environmental data. The ecoinvent database contains over 19,000 life cycle inventory datasets across all industrial sectors. It covers a diverse range of sectors on a global level. A not-for-profit association, ecoinvent was founded by the Swiss research institutes ETHZ, EPFL, PSI, Empa and Agroscope and promotes the availability of environmental data worldwide.
1Source: “The Contribution of Design to Sustainable Development” by Euractiv
2Source: “Ecoinvent database” by IISD
Life Cycle Assessment: Frequently Asked Questions
According to the KPMG Life Cycle Assessment Guide, a product's life cycle consists of five main stages, which are analyzed during an LCA to evaluate environmental impacts:
- Raw Material Extraction: The process of sourcing natural resources required for production.
- Manufacturing and Processing: Transforming raw materials into finished products, which involves significant energy use and emissions.
- Transportation and Distribution: Moving products through the supply chain, which contributes to greenhouse gas emissions.
- Usage and Retail: The period when the product is used by consumers, including maintenance and energy consumption.
- Waste Disposal/Recycling: Managing the end-of-life phase, whether through landfill, recycling, or reuse.
For each of these stages, conducting a detailed inventory analysis is crucial to quantify the inputs (e.g., materials, energy) and outputs (e.g., emissions, waste). The reasons for performing such an analysis include identifying high-impact areas and developing strategies to reduce a product’s overall environmental footprint.
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) evaluates the environmental impact of a product or system throughout its life cycle. According to science portal ResearchGate, steps include:
- Goal and Scope Definition: Establishing the objectives and boundaries of the study to ensure a clear focus.
- Inventory Analysis: Collecting and quantifying data on all inputs (e.g., raw materials, energy, water) and outputs (e.g., emissions, waste) throughout the product's lifecycle. This step provides the foundational data for the subsequent impact assessment.
- Environmental Impact Assessment: Using the results of the inventory analysis to evaluate the potential environmental impacts across various categories, such as climate change or resource depletion.
- Interpretation: Analyzing the findings to draw conclusions, identify improvement opportunities, and ensure alignment with the study goals.
The importance of inventory analysis cannot be overstated, as it underpins the accuracy and reliability of the entire LCA process. One of the main reasons for conducting LCA is to make informed decisions that reduce environmental impacts while supporting sustainable practices. By following these structured steps, businesses can effectively identify areas for improvement and minimize their environmental footprint.
ISO standards 14040 and 14044 provide internationally recognized guidelines for conducting Lifecycle Assessments (LCA), ensuring consistency, transparency, and reliability in evaluating the environmental impacts of products, processes, or services. These standards outline a structured methodology that generally consists of four key phases:
- Defining Study Objectives and Scope: This phase involves establishing the purpose of the LCA, the system boundaries, and the functional unit (the basis for comparison). It sets the framework for the assessment, determining which aspects of the product lifecycle will be analyzed and the goals to be achieved.
- Compiling a Life Cycle Inventory (LCI): This step entails collecting and quantifying data on all inputs (e.g., raw materials, energy, water) and outputs (e.g., emissions, waste) associated with the product lifecycle. The LCI phase is critical for building a comprehensive dataset that serves as the foundation for subsequent analysis.
- Conducting a Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA): Using the inventory data, this phase evaluates the potential environmental impacts across various categories, such as global warming potential, resource depletion, and water usage. This step provides actionable insights into the most significant areas of environmental concern.
- Performing an Interpretation of the Findings: The final phase involves analyzing the results in the context of the study objectives, identifying key areas for improvement, and making recommendations. It ensures that the conclusions drawn are consistent with the goals and boundaries defined earlier.
These ISO standards ensure that LCAs are performed in a standardized, systematic, and credible manner, allowing for comparability across studies and enabling organizations to confidently use the results to inform sustainability strategies, decision-making, and reporting. By adhering to these guidelines, companies can ensure their LCA studies meet rigorous international benchmarks, building trust with stakeholders and supporting compliance with environmental regulations.
A simplified version of a life cycle assessment application is available in the form of an interactive calculator within the Life Cycle Assessment page by Dassault Systèmes.
Lifecycle Assessment (LCA) is a comprehensive methodology developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) to address climate change and global warming by systematically identifying and quantifying greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and other environmental impacts across a product's lifecycle. This includes raw material extraction, manufacturing, transportation, usage, and end-of-life disposal. By analyzing the entire lifecycle, LCA provides actionable insights to reduce carbon footprints and improve overall sustainability.
In addition to its environmental focus, LCA also incorporates social aspects, evaluating how production processes and supply chains affect communities and workers. This broader perspective ensures that solutions for mitigating climate change also promote ethical and responsible practices across industries.
The main reasons LCA is effective in combating climate change include:
- Comprehensive Analysis: LCA evaluates every stage of a product's lifecycle, using a reference flow (a quantifiable measure of output) to ensure no stage of greenhouse gas emissions is overlooked.
- Informed Decision-Making: LCA empowers businesses and decision-makers to select materials, processes, and designs that minimize emissions while considering social implications.
- Supply Chain Optimization: It identifies inefficiencies and high-impact areas within the supply chain, such as energy-intensive production or long-distance transportation, enabling targeted improvements.
- Support for Climate Goals: By identifying areas for emission reductions, LCA helps organizations align with global climate change initiatives, such as the Paris Agreement, net-zero goals, and ISO standards.
For example, in the construction industry, LCA can demonstrate that using low-carbon concrete reduces GHG emissions significantly. It can also highlight that sourcing materials locally minimizes transportation-related emissions while supporting local communities—a key social benefit. These insights, grounded in clear reasons and a structured approach, combined with adherence to ISO standards, make LCA an indispensable tool in addressing the interconnected challenges of climate change, global warming, and sustainable development.
An example of Lifecycle Assessment (LCA) in the construction industry involves evaluating the environmental impact of a building project from the extraction of raw materials to its end-of-life. The assessment begins with the sourcing and processing of construction materials such as concrete, steel, and timber. Decision-makers assess the environmental impacts associated with these materials, including embodied carbon, energy consumption, and emissions generated during their extraction and transportation through the supply chain.
During the manufacturing and prefabrication phases, LCA examines energy usage, water consumption, and waste generation at production facilities. In the construction phase, emissions from heavy machinery and on-site operations are considered, alongside material efficiency and waste management practices.
The assessment extends to the operational phase, where factors such as the building’s energy performance, water usage, and maintenance requirements are analyzed. Finally, the LCA evaluates the building’s end-of-life phase, focusing on demolition impacts, recycling potential, and waste disposal.
For example, an LCA might reveal that sourcing locally-produced steel reduces emissions from long-distance transportation, or that using prefabricated components decreases waste on construction sites. By addressing these findings, developers and construction stakeholders can optimize their projects to reduce the overall environmental footprint, align with sustainability goals, and meet regulatory requirements.