Life Cycle Assessment Guide

Traditionally, a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) analyses the environmental impact at every stage of a product’s life cycle.  It follows the internationally recognised framework standardised by ISO 14044:2006. Increasingly, however, the positive (or negative) social and economic impact of products and materials are also being reviewed and considered as part of the LCA process. 

Every part of a product’s life cycle – from raw material extraction (“cradle”), manufacturing and processing, transportation, use and retail, to waste disposal (“grave”) – can have an environmental, economic or social impact in many different ways. 

There are several different types of LCA. As a rule of thumb, the more detail you want, the more complete your LCA needs to be. In this guide, we will go through the different types of LCA and the four phases of completing an LCA, defined by the ISO standards 14040 and 14044.