Blog

Why life cycle assessments are becoming crucial for business

6 Nov 2024 • Business Positive •

Read time: minutes

Why life cycle assessments are becoming crucial for business

Our Guide to Life Cycle Assessments

As companies look to reduce their environmental impact, it can be difficult to get to grips with the terms and tools involved. Carbon footprints. Biodiversity quotas. Life Cycle Assessments. All ideas we associate with sustainability. But what exactly do they involve? And most importantly, how can you implement them in the best way for your organisation?

In this guide, we share insights into Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) from Professor Xiaoyu Yan and Dr Xiaocheng (Sam) Hu, two of University of Exeter’s experts in LCA and sustainable systems, to help you understand:

What life cycle assessments involve
How they benefit different organisations (particularly SMEs)
Why they are becoming essential for sustainable decision-making

What is a Life Cycle Assessment?

As its name suggests, a Life Cycle Assessment aims to understand the full scope of environmental impact over a product’s life, from the raw materials used in its production, to the way it is used and eventually disposed of.

However, Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) are more than a method for measuring and reducing emissions. According to Xiaoyu, they are a way of thinking that takes a holistic view of the environmental impact of products, services, or even entire organizations.

As such, LCAs typically take a broader view of environmental impact than, say, carbon footprint services, by focusing on a product or service’s impact on natural resources such as biodiversity and resources, as well as carbon emissions.

What should a good Life Cycle Assessment focus on?

While an LCA can vary significantly depending on the product or service being analysed, a typical LCA will focus on evaluating the environmental impact data across the following stages:

Raw Material Extraction

This involves the mining or harvesting of raw materials required for the product. The environmental impacts at this stage include land use, energy consumption, and pollution.

Material Processing and Manufacturing

Once raw materials are extracted, they are processed and transformed into the final product. This stage includes energy use, emissions from manufacturing processes, and waste generation.

Product Use

The environmental impacts during the usage of the product. For instance, while an electric vehicle (EV) might produce zero emissions during use, the electricity it consumes has an associated environmental cost depending on how it is generated.

End-of-Life Disposal

This involves the disposal or recycling of the product once it reaches the end of its useful life. The challenges at this stage include the safe disposal of hazardous materials and the energy required for recycling.

What are the benefits of LCAs compared with other ways of reducing emissions?

Because it focuses on the entire lifecycle of a product or service, Life Cycle Assessment offers strategic insights that go beyond traditional carbon accounting methods. While carbon footprint assessments typically focus on direct emissions (scope 1), energy-related emissions (scope 2), and supply chain emissions (scope 3), LCA provides a more comprehensive view by integrating all these aspects and is particularly suited for quantifying the scope 3 emissions.

This often uncovers hidden impacts along supply chains and allows companies to understand the full environmental footprint of their products. These hidden impacts will become increasingly important to tackle, as consumer expectations and government regulations evolve.

In the near future, it is expected that life cycle-based assessments will become a regulatory requirement, particularly in the EU and the UK. When that happens, companies will need to disclose the full environmental footprint of their products, similarly to how health warnings are currently displayed on packaging. So, for all companies – whether they are looking to proactively lead on climate action or simply prepare for the future – it is essential to get started with Life Cycle Assessment.

What are the stages of a Life Cycle Assessment?

There are four stages to a typical Life Cycle Assessment.

Project Scope

At the outset, experts like Sam and Xiaoyu work with their clients to establish their environmental goals and the project scope. This involves looking at the priority areas of focus and environmental impact, such as carbon emissions, water use and ozone depletion.

LCA Inventory and Data Collection

The client collects and shares its data for the relevant products and services - such as the raw materials, energy and transport used in production, and consumer insights on use and disposal. The more data that can be provided at this stage, the more accurate the LCA will be. General estimates can be provided where data is not available.

Impact Assessment

After data is collected, the LCA team run all the data through their software to establish the product or service's environmental impact.

Results and Interpretation

At the final stage, the LCA team will help the client interpret and understand the results, focusing on the most relevant impact categories. This can involve visualisation tools to help make sense of the data and meetings to highlight the priority actions the client should take to address their environmental impact.

How can organisations start to implement Life Cycle Assessment?

For many organisations, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), implementing LCA for the first time can be daunting. The process requires detailed data collection, sophisticated modeling, and a deep understanding of the product’s supply chain.

However, with the help of experts and consultancies, these companies can begin to explore LCA, improve the accuracy and comprehensiveness of their assessments, and start making informed sustainability decisions.

How can Green Futures Solutions support organisations with Life Cycle Assessments?

What sets the University of Exeter apart, when it comes to Life Cycle Assessments, is our scientific background and training. Our researchers work at the forefront of the science behind LCA. That gives us two distinct advantages.

Firstly, our in-depth knowledge means we can help our clients to unpack and understand the results of their LCA, which is crucial for implementing changes effectively. Secondly, it means we can keep abreast with the latest developments, techniques, and regulations in the field, making it possible for us to share insights and advice before they become widely available.

Additionally, our experts have a range of specialisms within the field of Life Cycle Assessments – such as biodiversity monitoring and the LCA of complex technologies – which makes us well prepared to measure the impacts of products and services in these areas.