How do you communicate the LCA results and benefits to your clients and stakeholders?

1 Know your audience

Before you prepare your LCA report or presentation, you need to understand who your audience is, what they care about, and what they need to know. For example, your clients may be interested in the cost savings, market opportunities, or regulatory compliance that LCA can offer, while your stakeholders may be concerned about the social, ethical, or environmental aspects of your design. You should tailor your message, language, and format to suit your audience's goals, preferences, and level of familiarity with LCA.

2 Highlight the benefits

One of the main objectives of communicating LCA results is to demonstrate the benefits of your design compared to the alternatives, and to persuade your audience to adopt or support it. You should focus on the positive outcomes and impacts that LCA can reveal, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions, saving energy and water, minimizing waste, enhancing quality and durability, or improving customer satisfaction. You should also quantify and visualize the benefits using clear and relevant indicators, such as carbon footprint, life cycle cost, or customer loyalty.

3 Address the limitations

Another important aspect of communicating LCA results is to acknowledge the limitations and uncertainties of your analysis, and to explain how you handled them. For example, you should disclose the assumptions, data sources, methods, and boundaries that you used in your LCA, and how they may affect the accuracy, reliability, and validity of your results. You should also discuss the trade-offs, risks, and challenges that your design may entail, and how you plan to mitigate or overcome them.

4 Provide recommendations

A good LCA communication should not only present the results, but also provide recommendations for action and improvement. You should use your LCA results to suggest practical and feasible solutions for your clients and stakeholders, such as optimizing the design, changing the materials, implementing best practices, or adopting new technologies. You should also explain how your recommendations can help your audience achieve their objectives, such as reducing costs, increasing revenues, complying with standards, or enhancing reputation.

5 Engage your audience

Finally, you should communicate your LCA results in a way that engages your audience and invites feedback. You should use simple and concise language, avoid jargon and technical terms, and use examples and stories to illustrate your points. You should also use visual aids, such as graphs, charts, tables, or images, to make your LCA results more appealing and understandable. You should also encourage your audience to ask questions, share opinions, or provide suggestions, and respond to them respectfully and constructively.

6 Follow up

After you communicate your LCA results, you should follow up with your audience to ensure that they understood and appreciated your message, and that they are willing and able to act on your recommendations. You should thank them for their attention and participation, and provide them with additional information or resources if needed. You should also monitor and evaluate the outcomes and impacts of your communication, and seek feedback for improvement.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?