Introduction to the life cycle perspective
A beginner-friendly online course
Do you want to strengthen your organisation’s sustainability work? This self-paced e-learning course introduces the life cycle perspective to build your sustainability competence and help you make more informed decisions.
The life cycle perspective is a simple way to understand how products or services affect the environment throughout their life cycle. The course also introduces life cycle assessment (LCA), a method used to measure environmental impacts in a structured way. These tools help organisations understand their environmental impact, develop more sustainable products, and communicate transparently, for example through sustainability reports or Environmental Product Declarations.
The course is designed for beginners and requires no previous knowledge.
About the course
You will learn the basics of the life cycle perspective. The course introduces key concepts and explains the role and purpose of the life cycle perspective in sustainable development and environmental management. You will also learn what life cycle assessment is and how it can be applied. Through lectures, exercises, and reading advice, you’ll gain the knowledge and inspiration to start using the life cycle perspective in your own organisation.
Who is it for
This course is designed for anyone seeking a basic understanding of sustainability from a life cycle perspective. It is particularly valuable for professionals working with sustainability who want to explore how the life cycle perspective can be applied within their organisation. The course is suitable for individuals involved in business development, product development, sustainability management, procurement, or analytical roles in both the private and public sectors. No previous knowledge of life cycle assessment or other prerequisites are required.
Get started
The course is free, fully online, and self-paced. It takes approximately 2 hours to complete and participants receive a certificate upon completion.
To register, either log in with your existing Chalmers account or create one by pressing “Enrol Now.” Once registered and logged in, you can access your student dashboard, where all your courses are listed. Click “Go to course” to start learning in the Canvas portal. You can download your course certificate directly from the student dashboard once you have completed the course.
This course was co-developed by the Swedish Life Cycle Center and RISE Research Institutes of Sweden and funded by the Swedish Energy Agency, together with partners of the Swedish Life Cycle Center through the project Innovation Cluster for the Life Cycle Perspective.
