How do you conduct a life cycle assessment of your products and services from a sustainability perspective?

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If you want to improve the sustainability of your products and services, you need to understand their environmental impacts throughout their life cycle. A life cycle assessment (LCA) is a method that helps you measure and evaluate these impacts, from the extraction of raw materials to the disposal or recycling of the product. In this article, you will learn how to conduct a LCA of your products and services from a sustainability perspective, using a four-step approach and some tools and resources.

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1 Define the goal and scope

The first step of a LCA is to define the goal and scope of your study. This means clarifying why you are doing the LCA, what questions you want to answer, and who are the intended users and audience of the results. You also need to define the functional unit, which is the basis for comparing the environmental impacts of different products or services that perform the same function. For example, the functional unit for a light bulb could be the amount of light produced over a certain period of time. Finally, you need to define the system boundaries, which are the limits of the processes and activities that you include in your LCA. For example, you may decide to include or exclude the transportation, packaging, or use phases of your product.

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Saad Bin SABIR

Legal Counsel | Bridging Law & Business | Startups, Tech & AI | Compliance & Taxation | Transaction Advisor | Contract Management | Venture Capital | Dispute Resolution | Strategic Insights
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To conduct a life cycle assessment (LCA) with a sustainability twist, start by tracing your product or service from cradle to grave ????. Calculate the environmental impacts at each stage, from raw material extraction to disposal ??. Don't forget to weigh factors like energy consumption, emissions, and waste generation. Then, sprinkle in some eco-friendly alternatives and innovative solutions to minimize your carbon footprint ??. Finally, serve up your findings with a side of sustainable action plans and catchy hashtags like #GreenifyYourLife ?? and #EcoFriendlyChoices ??. Voilà! You've just LCA'd your way to a greener future!

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Aeshwini Singarajan

Quality, Safety, Health & Environmental Executive
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From sustainability view, LCA of products and services entails methodically assessing the environmental effects connected to every phase of their life cycle, from the extraction of raw materials to disposal. There are a few aspects that need to be considered in the first phase, such as goal and scope determination, defining functional units, and boundaries. Data collection (inputs and outputs) is involved inside the fixed boundary. Followed by impact assessment and interpretation based on environmental aspects, improvements can be suggested to wrap up the assessment. LCA is part of the environmental management system used to identify significant negative impacts from processes and manage them for a sustainable environment.

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Monnapule Matlhare

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Defining the goal and scope is essential for focusing the analysis on specific sustainability objectives and ensuring that all relevant stages are considered. For example, Unilever sets clear goals like reducing carbon footprint and scopes their LCA to include stages from raw material extraction to disposal, which helps target improvements effectively.

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2 Collect the inventory data

The second step of a LCA is to collect the inventory data, which are the inputs and outputs of the processes and activities within your system boundaries. This means quantifying the amount of raw materials, energy, water, emissions, wastes, and other flows that are involved in the life cycle of your product or service. You can use primary data, which are collected directly from your own sources or suppliers, or secondary data, which are obtained from databases, literature, or other sources. You can also use software tools or models that help you calculate or estimate the inventory data based on your inputs.

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Monnapule Matlhare

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To conduct LCA from a sustainability perspective, collect detailed inventory data on resource inputs, energy consumption, and emissions throughout the product’s life cycle. Use this data to assess environmental impacts and guide improvements, ensuring a balanced approach to various impact categories.

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3 Assess the impact categories

The third step of a LCA is to assess the impact categories, which are the potential environmental effects of the inventory data on different aspects of the environment, such as climate change, acidification, eutrophication, human health, or biodiversity. You need to choose the impact categories that are relevant for your goal and scope, and apply characterization factors that translate the inventory data into common units of impact. For example, you can use the global warming potential factor to convert the emissions of different greenhouse gases into equivalent units of carbon dioxide. You can also use software tools or models that help you perform the impact assessment based on your inventory data and impact categories.

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4 Interpret and communicate the results

The fourth and final step of a LCA is to interpret and communicate the results of your study. This means analyzing and evaluating the results in relation to your goal and scope, identifying the main sources of environmental impacts, uncertainties, limitations, and trade-offs, and drawing conclusions and recommendations for improvement. You also need to communicate the results to your intended users and audience, using clear and transparent methods and formats, such as reports, graphs, labels, or indicators. You can also use software tools or models that help you visualize and communicate the results of your LCA.

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5 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?

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Thais de Classe

Mestra em Ecologia Aplicada | Gestora Ambiental | ESG | Consultoria, Assessoria e Auditoria
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A Avalia??o do Ciclo de Vida (ACV) envolve definir meta e escopo, coletar dados de inventário (entradas e saídas de materiais, energia, emiss?es), avaliar categorias de impacto (como mudan?as climáticas e saúde humana) e interpretar os resultados, identificando principais impactos e recomendando melhorias. Os resultados s?o ent?o comunicados de forma clara e transparente, usando relatórios e gráficos.

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Paolla Normando

Engenheira de Controle Ambiental | Engenheira Sanitarista | Engenheira de Melhoria Contínua | White Belt | Auditora Interna da ISO 14001, 45001 e 9001 | SGA | ESG | Licenciamento Ambiental
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Conduzimos uma Avalia??o do Ciclo de Vida (ACV) de nossos produtos e servi?os considerando todos os estágios, desde a extra??o de matérias-primas até o descarte final, visando minimizar impactos ambientais e promover práticas sustentáveis.

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How do you conduct a life cycle assessment of your products and services from a sustainability perspective?

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1 Define the goal and scope

2 Collect the inventory data

3 Assess the impact categories

4 Interpret and communicate the results

5 Here’s what else to consider

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