Life Cycle Assessment
A product-oriented method for sustainability
analysis
Introduction and Resources
Delegate’s manual
June 2007
Table of Contents
Context & Introduction to Training .................................................................................... 3
Available modules .............................................................................................................. 4
LCA Resources ................................................................................................................... 5
Background Reading for This Training .............................................................................. 8
Acknowledgements........................................................................................................... 11
About us ............................................................................................................................ 12
The UNEP SETAC Life Cycle Initiative.......................................................................... 12
UNEP DTIE, SETAC & the Life Cycle Initiative............................................................ 12
Context & Introduction to Training
This Introduction and Resources booklet is companion to a set of training slides, and
supporting booklets for both trainers and delegates and is intended to support Delegates
in attending a training session on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). (A list of these materials
can be seen on the next page.)
Life Cycle Assessment is an important tool for the compilation and evaluation of the
inputs, outputs and the potential environmental impacts of a product system throughout
its life cycle. It is used for many applications (from designing car bumpers to formulating
a national waste policy) by many persons (from R&D people at SMEs to policy officials
at supranational bodies). Its importance has been recognized by the International
Organization for Standardization (ISO): there are now international standards for carrying
out and reporting an LCA study.
This training kit presents the central messages of Life Cycle Assessment in a format
accessible to a broad audience. The training kit will present LCA in four topics:
• Package 1: General introduction to LCA and its relation with environmental
decision support
• Package 2: Overview of LCA
• Package 3: In-depth presentation of the main issues in LCA
• Package4: Specialization modules for a number of selected topics
In addition, a list of resources is available, both for the trainers and for the delegates.
Available modules
Within the LCA Training Kit, several modules are available. The table below gives the
essentials for each module.
Module Title Delegate’s Manual
– Introduction and Resources (this document)
a LCA and decision support [pdf]
b Overview of LCA [pdf]
c Goal and scope definition [pdf]
d Inventory analysis [pdf]
e Impact assessment [pdf]
f Interpretation [pdf]
g Multifunctionality, allocation & system boundaries [pdf]
h The mathematics of LCI [pdf]
i The mathematics of LCIA [pdf]
j Life cycle costing & eco-efficiency [pdf]
k Uncertainty in LCA [pdf]
LCA Resources
The available resources for LCA are numerous and their number is moreover increasing
yearly. In this manual, we refer to the main resources, and include to a number of
webportals that provide up-to-date information. The information listed here is largely
based on the overview of 2007 that has been compiled for the LCA portal of the Dutch
LCA Expertise Centre (RIVM) by Globright. See http://www.rivm.nl/ for more and
newer information.
International organisations and networks
There are a number of organizations and networks that aim to facilitate and disseminate
LCA. The most important ones are listed below:
• The UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative (http://lcinitiative.unep.fr/): the United
Nations Environment Program, UNEP and the Society for Environmental
Toxicology and Chemistry, SETAC launched an International Life Cycle
Partnership, known as the Life Cycle Initiative, to enable users around the world
to put life cycle thinking into effective practice.
• The ISO (http://www.iso.org/iso/en/ISOOnline.frontpage): the International
Organization for Standardization (ISO) has created the ISO 14000 family, which
is primarily concerned with "environmental management", including LCA.
• The SETAC (http://www.setac.org/): the Society of Environmental Toxicology
and Chemistry (SETAC) is a nonprofit, worldwide professional society comprised
of individuals and institutions engaged in the study, analysis, and solution of
environmental problems, the management and regulation of natural resources,
environmental education, and research and development. LCA is one of their
themes.
• The ISIE (http://www.is4ie.org/): the International Society for Industry Ecology
promotes industrial ecology as a way of finding innovative solutions to
complicated environmental problems, and facilitates communication among
scientists, engineers, policymakers, managers and advocates who are interested in
how environmental concerns and economic activities can be better integrated.
LCA is one of their core themes.
• The European Plaform on Life Cycle Assessment (http://lca.jrc.ec.europa.eu/):
The “European Platform on Life Cycle Assessment” is a project of the European
Commission. The purpose is to improve credibility, acceptance and practice of
LCA in business and public authorities, by providing reference data and
recommended methods for LCA studies.
• The ACLCA (http://www.lcacenter.org/): the American Center for Life Cycle
Assessment is a non-profit membership organization. Its mission is to build
capacity and knowledge of LCA.
• The AusLCANet (http://auslcanet.rmit.edu.au/): the Australian LCA Network has
a website that provides information on those active in LCA in Australia and in the
international community.
• The LCA Center Denmark (http://www.lca-center.dk/cms/site.asp?p=716): the
LCA Center Denmark is a knowledge centre for life cycle assessments (LCA) and
the life cycle approach. The centre promotes product-orientated environmental
strategies in private and public companies by assisting them in implementing life
cycle thinking.
• The ALCANET (present link not known): the African Life Cycle Assessment
Network
• The ALCALA (http://jp1.estis.net/sites/alcala/): the Asociación de LCA en
Latinoamérica is a network that aims at LCA capacity building in Latin America
• The SEAsia (present link not known): the Southeast Asian Life Cycle network
Information portals
There are a number of LCA information portals, providing links to documents, data,
software, conferences, and so on. Some are more regularly maintained than others. Some
of the most useful are:
• AIST Research Center for Life Cycle Assessment (http://unit.aist.go.jp/lca-
center/cie/)
• American Center for Life Cycle Assessment (http://www.lcacenter.org/)
• Australian LCA Network (http://auslcanet.rmit.edu.au/)
• EPA-NRMRL - Life-Cycle Assessment
(http://www.epa.gov/ORD/NRMRL/lcaccess/)
• European Platform on Life Cycle Assessment (http://lca.jrc.ec.europa.eu/)
• LCA Expertise Centre - RIVM (http://www.rivm.nl/; deep link not yet known)
• LCA hotlist - Gabor Doka (http://www.doka.ch/lca.htm)
• LCAinfo Switzerland (http://www.lcainfo.ch/)
• Life Cycle Assessment Links - Thomas Gloria (http://www.life-cycle.org/)
• UNEP-SETAC Life Cycle Initiative (http://lcinitiative.unep.fr/)
LCA methods, data and software
It is difficult to recommend methods, data and software for LCA. Some data sources are
very good, but only for building materials. Other data sources have a broader scope, but
on the expense of data quality. The same applies to methods and software. We refer to the
LCA portals above for updated reviews on these topics.
LCA studies
Case studies with LCA are numerous. Many companies, consultants, research institutes
and universities carry out LCA studies, some of which are published on websites. More
officially, some scientific journals publish case studies. The most important sources for
this are:
• International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment
• Journal Cleaner Production
• Journal of Industrial Ecology
In addition, many other journals publish LCA studies from time to time:
• Agricultural Systems
• Applied Energy
• Business Strategy and the Environment
• Chemical Engineering Journal
• Clean Technology and Environmental Policy
• Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management
• Ecological Economics
• Energy
• Environment International
• Environmental Impact Assessment Review
• Environmental Management
• Environmental Modelling & Software
• Environmental Progress
• Environmental Quality Management
• Environmental Science & Technology
• Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry
• Greener Management International
• Human and Ecological Risk Assessment
• International Journal of Energy Research
• Packaging technology and science
• Progress in Industrial Ecology
• Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications
• Renewable Energy
• Resources, Conservation and Recycling
• Science of the Total Environment
• Integrated systems analysis of persistent polar pollutants in the water cycle
Background Reading for This Training
Short history
Life Cycle Assessment, or LCA, analyses the environmental impacts associated with
products, or more precisely, as we will explain later, product systems. LCA has its origins
in the early seventies, when LCA-type studies were performed in a number of countries,
in particular Sweden, the UK, Switzerland and the USA. The method had its roots in
energy and waste management, and the products given greatest attention in this initial
period were beverage containers and diapers, topics that predominated in LCA
discussions for a long time. During the seventies and eighties numerous life cycle studies
were performed, using different methods and without a common theoretical framework.
The consequences were largely negative, LCA being applied directly in practice by
companies keen to substantiate their market claims. Even with the same objects of study
there was often marked variation in the results obtained, which has hampered
development of LCA into a more widely accepted analytical tool.
Since around 1990, there has been a growing exchange of knowledge and experience
among LCA experts. Under the auspices of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and
Chemistry (SETAC) efforts were undertaken to harmonise methodology. Since 1994 the
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has also played an important role.
While the work of SETAC is primarily scientific, focusing on methodological
development, ISO is formally handling the task of methodology standardisation, as now
laid down in the ISO 14040 series of standards. And since about 2000 UNEP has also
played its part, mainly in stimulating the application of life cycle approaches in practice.
As LCA methods become more sophisticated, dedicated software packages and databases
are also being developed. For results to be acceptable to potential users, though, standard
procedures are also an essential prerequisite. Part and parcel of this development is that
there has grown a major need for input by key stakeholders in the LCA process, and for
an independent peer review of the results of an LCA study. In the ISO standards these
procedural elements are included as mandatory for public comparative studies, i.e. LCA
studies concerned with comparison of several competing products and the results of
which are made available to the public. This section describes the state of the art in LCA
methodology as well as ongoing developments and future perspectives.
Definition and applications
The ISO 14040 standard defines LCA as follows: ‘LCA is a technique for assessing the
environmental aspects and potential impacts associated with a product by compiling an
inventory of relevant inputs and outputs of a system; evaluating the potential
environmental impacts associated with those inputs and outputs; and interpreting the
results of the inventory and impact phases in relation to the objectives of the study’. The
term ‘product’ should be understood here as referring to either goods or services
providing a given function. LCA may also have other types of object of study, such as an
entire industrial sector or the functioning of a firm as a whole. In the following, however,
we shall refer simply to products, as a pars pro toto for all objects of LCA studies, unless
specified otherwise.
More specifically, the reference point of an LCA study is the function provided by the
product(s) of interest, and it is this function that serves as a basis for inter-product
comparison. In LCA all the environmental impacts occurring during the ‘life cycle’ of a
product are analysed and quantitatively related to this function. The life cycle is formed
by the entire chain of industrial and household processes associated with the product,
‘from cradle to grave’, i.e. from resource extraction through to final waste disposal. This
set of unit processes, interlinked by material, energy, product, waste and/or service flows
is referred to as the ‘product system’. It forms part of the wider, economic subsystem that
comprises the following main activities: mining of raw materials; production of materials,
products and energy; use and maintenance of products; waste treatment and processing of
discarded products; and transport. Wherever possible the product system is studied using
quantitative, formal mathematical methods.
LCA can be used in different contexts. It can be applied in an operational context for
product improvement, product design or product comparison. Examples of the latter
include the underpinning of environmental labelling programmes, like eco-labels for
consumers or Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for business-to-business
agreements. These programmes can also support green procurement by governmental
agencies. LCA can also be applied at a strategic level, by private companies or public
authorities. In the corporate context LCA may help guide business strategies, including
decisions on what types of products to develop, what types of resources to purchase and
what types of investments to make in waste management. Public authorities may use
LCA for comparing and contrasting environmental policy options in such areas as waste
management, energy policy, transportation or the building sector. Typical questions
addressed include the following. What are the environmental gains of composting organic
waste compared with fermentation or incineration with energy recovery? What is the
preferred application of thinning wood: electrical power generation or paper production?
How do biomass-for-energy programmes affect climate change? What mode of freight
transport is environmentally preferable: road or rail, distinguishing different levels of
technological improvement? What requirements should be set on sustainable building
activities, in terms of both the energy characteristics of the building(s) in question and the
construction materials used?
Use of LCA in public comparative studies makes the highest demands on methodology
and data and on procedural provisions. One example is the use of LCA in the consumer
oriented eco-labelling programmes mentioned earlier. These programmes are often
associated with studies that meet with public criticism; they may also lead to disputes
among commercial firms. This is far less the case with the business-to-business EPDs, or
with in-house company applications aimed at product improvement or new product
design, or studies that seek to improve a company's overall environmental strategy.
Technical framework
In order to make LCA a workable tool for comparative purposes, the first step required is
to establish a standard technical framework and terminology. As mentioned above, it is
this task that ISO has taken upon itself. The ISO framework consists of the following
phases: Goal and scope definition, Inventory analysis, Impact assessment, and
Interpretation.
As can be seen from the figure, LCA is not a linear process that simply starts with the
first and ends with the last phase. Instead it often follows an iterative procedure, at
increasing levels of detail. The individual phases of an LCA will be described below. The
standardisation of these phases is laid down in the new ISO 14044 standard.
Acknowledgements
Many of the modules were extensively tested and revised on the basis of courses and
lectures that were given to students and researchers at
• Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands
• Daimler-Chrysler, Germany
• Leiden University, the Netherlands
• SenterNovem, the Netherlands
• Suez Canal University, Egypt
The primary authors – Reinout Heijungs & Helias Udo de Haes of CML, Leiden
University – are grateful to all who contributed.
About us
The UNEP SETAC Life Cycle Initiative
UNEP DTIE, SETAC & the Life Cycle Initiative
UNEP and SETAC have Declaration (2000). It contributes 1. The Life Cycle Management
established a global life cycle to the 10-year framework of (LCM) programme creates
assessment initiative. Among programmes to promote awareness and improves skills of
other things, the Life Cycle sustainable consumption and decision-makers by producing
Initiative builds upon and production patterns, as requested information materials,
provides support to the ongoing at the World Summit on establishing forums for sharing
work of UNEP on sustainable Sustainable Development best practice, and carrying out
consumption and production, (WSSD) in Johannesburg (2002). training programmes in all parts
such as Industry Outreach, of the world.
Industrial Pollution Management, Our mission is to develop and
Sustainable Consumption, disseminate practical tools for 2. The Life Cycle Impact
Cleaner and Safer Production, evaluating the opportunities, risks, Assessment (LCIA) programme
Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), and trade-offs associated with increases the quality and global
Global Compact, UN Consumer products and services over their reach of life cycle indicators by
Guidelines, Tourism, Advertising, entire life cycle to achieve promoting the exchange of views
Eco-design and Product Service sustainable development. among experts whose work
Systems. results in a set of widely accepted
The programmes aim at putting recommendations.
The Initiative’s efforts are life cycle thinking into practice
complemented by SETAC’s and at improving the supporting 3. The Life Cycle Inventory (LCI)
international infrastructure and its tools through better data and programme improves global
publishing efforts in support of indicators by hosting and access to transparent, highquality
the LCA community. facilitating expert groups whose life cycle data.
work results in webbased
The Life Cycle Initiative is a information systems. Learn more at:
response to the call from http://www.uneptie.org/pc/sustain
governments for a life cycle /lcinitiative.
economy in the Malmö
created by
for
UNEP SETAC Life Cycle Initiative
June 2007
