Life cycle thinking has
a holistic approach
to sustainable
development

Life Cycle Assessment

Life cycle assessment, LCA, is an analytical method which aims to calculate the potential impact on the environment and the society that a product or service gives rise to throughout its life cycle from ‘cradle to grave’ – from raw material extraction to end of life handling.

From ISO 14040:2006

“life cycle assessment (LCA); is the compilation and evaluation of the inputs, outputs and the potential environmental impacts of a product system throughout its life cycle.”

“life cycle impact assessment (LCIA); phase of life cycle assessment aimed at understanding and evaluating the magnitude and significance of the potential environmental impacts for a product system throughout the life cycle of the product.”

“life cycle inventory (LCI); is a phase of life cycle assessment involving the compilation and quantification of inputs and outputs for a product throughout its life cycle”

Life Cycle Management

Life Cycle Thinking is made operational through Life Cycle Management (LCM). LCM is a management approach that puts the tools and methodologies in the life cycle thinking basket into practice. It is a product management system that helps enterprises to minimize the environmental and social burdens associated with their product or product portfolio during its entire life cycle. /Life Cycle Initiative

Value chain hotspots

With Life Cycle Assessment an organization can identify the hotspots in their value chain, with the largest impact on the environment and the largest potential to reduce its impact.

In each life cycle stage there is the potential to reduce resource consumption and improve the performance of products, which affects the total environmental performance.

 

This example is from a tea product.

Databases

Several databases for life cycle assessments are available. Some are free of charge, others are commercial and the data quality and transparency differs from database to database.

Swedish Life Cycle Center provides life cycle data in the CPM LCA Database. The administration is mainly managed by Environmental Systems Analysis at Chalmers University of Technology. The data in the CPM LCA Database is open and accessible for free to researchers and practitioners.

Sustainable consumption and production

“Sustainable consumption and production is about systemic change, decoupling economic growth from environmental degradation and applying a lifecycle thinking approach, taking into account all phases of resource use in order to do more and better with less” /UN Environment SCP 10 YFP

Get inspired by others and learn more

Which clothes are most environmental friendly? (In Swedish).

Sustainability researcher Sandra Roos talks about how counting on the effect of the garment with the help of LCA can help us doing the right choices.

 

The Environmental Footprint process (PEF and OEF)

The European Commission has established common methods to measure and communicate the life cycle environmental performance of products and organizations. The overall aim to increase the range of environmentally adapted products on the market. Swedish Life Cycle Center has, with its expert group, followed and influenced the process in the European Commission. 

Latest news and learn more (European Commisson)

Read more about our contribution

Learn more (Swedish EPA, in Swedish)

Checklist - how to get started

Here you will find an introduction and a getting started guide for organizations to learn how to reduce its environmental impact. You will also find inspiring examples on how organizations have applied the life cycle perspectives and why.

Explore the check list & inspiring examples

Introduce the life cycle perspective in environmental management systems

Environmental Footprint

The need to communicate the environmental impact of products in a credible way from a life cycle perspective is increasing. Part of the European Commission’s initiative ”Single Market for Green Products” aims to facilitate better information on the environmental performance of products and organisations. Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) and Organisation Environmental Footprint (OEF) are two methods that were developed in 2013 and have since been tested, evaluated, and developed. These methods are still being developed, and policies and legislative proposals are emerging based on PEF.

Publications

Here are some of the latest publications, published in Swedish Life Cycle Center’s report series. All publications are available through the link Find all publications below. You will be able to read them online or download them in PDF.

If you can not find the report you are looking for, you may be able to order it from Swedish Life Cycle Center technical secretariat by sending your request to: lifecyclecenter@chalmers.se.

 

Find all publications

Tools & support

Several tools and systems have been developed within Swedish Life Cycle Center. Here are some examples.

Webinars

For partners, recorded webinars and presentations from them are available at any time.

Find all recorded webinars here