What is Life Cycle Assessment?
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a systematic methodology for evaluating the environmental impacts of a product, process, or service throughout its entire life cycle.
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Knowledge Base
Everything you need to know about Life Cycle Assessment, emissions accounting, and sustainability standards.
Understanding Life Cycle Stages
Learn about the five key stages of a product's life cycle and how each contributes to overall environmental impact.
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Functional Units Explained
The functional unit is the foundation of any LCA study, providing the reference basis for meaningful comparisons.
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Scope 1: Direct Emissions
Scope 1 covers all direct GHG emissions from sources owned or controlled by the reporting organization.
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Scope 2: Indirect Energy Emissions
Scope 2 accounts for indirect GHG emissions from purchased electricity, steam, heating, and cooling.
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Scope 3: Value Chain Emissions
Scope 3 encompasses all other indirect emissions across the value chain, often representing the largest portion of a company's footprint.
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Scope 4: Avoided Emissions
Scope 4, or avoided emissions, represents the positive climate impact when sustainable products displace carbon-intensive alternatives.
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ISO 14040/14044 Standards
The international standards that provide the framework and requirements for conducting life cycle assessments.
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GHG Protocol Overview
The most widely used international accounting standard for measuring and managing greenhouse gas emissions.
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EU Product Environmental Footprint (PEF)
The European Commission's methodology for measuring and communicating the environmental performance of products.
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Carbon Footprint
The total greenhouse gas emissions caused directly and indirectly by an individual, organization, event, or product.
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Global Warming Potential (GWP)
A measure of how much heat a greenhouse gas traps in the atmosphere relative to carbon dioxide.
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Life Cycle Inventory (LCI)
The data collection phase of LCA that quantifies all inputs and outputs of a product system.
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Environmental Hotspot
A life cycle stage, process, or material that contributes disproportionately to environmental impact.
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PACT Compliant Carbon Accounting: Pathfinder Framework v2.0 Explained
PACT (Partnership for Carbon Transparency) defines the Pathfinder Framework v2.0 for exchanging verified Product Carbon Footprint data across supply chains. This guide covers the PCF data model, DQR scoring, industry adoption, and what PACT compliance requires in practice.
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CBAM Compliance Tool: What Importers Need Before 2026 Full Enforcement
The EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) moves to full enforcement in 2026, requiring importers of cement, steel, aluminium, fertilizers, electricity, and hydrogen to report verified embedded carbon. This guide explains the calculation methodology, data collection requirements, and how LCA software closes common compliance gaps.
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CSRD LCA Reporting: How Product Life Cycle Data Feeds ESRS E1 Disclosure
The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and its ESRS E1 climate standard require large EU companies to disclose Scope 3 emissions with sufficient granularity to be verified. This guide explains how LCA studies and EPDs supply the product-level data that makes CSRD value chain disclosures credible.
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EPD Verification Process: A Step-by-Step Guide for LCA Practitioners
Getting an EPD published requires a critical review of your LCA study by an independent verifier, acceptance by a program operator, and registration in a publicly accessible system. This guide explains every step, what verifiers check, common rejection reasons, and realistic timelines and costs.
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EPD Software Comparison: How to Evaluate Tools for Environmental Product Declarations
A practitioner-level comparison of leading EPD software tools — ClimatePoint, One Click LCA, SimaPro, openLCA, Sphera, and ecoChain — covering database coverage, PCR support, verification workflows, and pricing models.
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EPD Compliant Software 2026: What Regulatory Changes Demand from Your LCA Tools
ESPR, the Green Claims Directive, updated public procurement rules, and CBAM are reshaping what EPD compliant software must do in 2026 — from machine-readable output formats to Digital Product Passport readiness.
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Carbon Footprint Product Declaration: ISO 14067 vs. EPD — When to Use Each
A practitioner guide to carbon footprint of a product (CFP) declarations under ISO 14067 versus full EPDs under ISO 14025 and EN 15804 — covering methodology requirements, verification, and which sectors accept each format.
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What Makes an LCA Tool ISO 14040 Compliant? A Practitioner's Evaluation Guide
ISO 14040 compliance goes beyond checkbox claims. This guide breaks down what the standard actually demands from LCA software — covering traceability, system boundary documentation, allocation methods, and what peer reviewers scrutinize in tool-generated reports.
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ecoinvent vs GaBi: A Technical Comparison for LCA Practitioners
ecoinvent and GaBi (Sphera) are the two dominant background LCI databases for professional LCA work. This guide compares their structure, geographic coverage, versioning practices, characterization factor handling, licensing models, and industry fit — so you can choose the right database for your study.
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LCA Software for SMEs: What to Look For, What to Avoid, and What Is Good Enough
Traditional LCA tools like SimaPro and GaBi were designed for expert consultants, not SME sustainability teams. This guide explains what SMEs actually need from LCA software, what features matter, and when a full ISO 14044 study is necessary versus a defensible screening analysis.
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PCR Category Guide: How to Find and Use the Right Product Category Rule
Product Category Rules (PCRs) define the LCA methodology, system boundaries, and reporting format that make EPDs comparable. This guide walks through PCR structure, three real-world PCR categories, and how to proceed when no PCR exists for your product.
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ISO 14044 Data Quality Requirements: A Practitioner's Complete Guide
ISO 14044 Section 4.2.3 specifies seven data quality indicators that every LCA study must address. This guide explains each indicator, the pedigree matrix scoring method, primary vs. secondary data hierarchy, and how to defend data quality decisions during critical review.
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Scope 3 LCA Methodology: How Life Cycle Assessment Underpins Corporate Value Chain Emissions
Scope 3 category calculations under the GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain Standard are built on LCA methodology. This guide covers how process-based LCA connects to Scope 3 categories, which categories benefit most from LCA precision, and how to transition from spend-based screening to activity-based primary data collection.
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