Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Explained – A Beginner’s Guide

Life Cycle Assessment

Life Cycle Assessment is the process of evaluating all environmental impacts associated with every stage of a product’s life. It helps companies:

Quantify the carbon footprint of a product

Identify wasteful processes and optimize them

Improve product design based on real data

Make credible climate claims backed by facts

🎯 Example: A company producing t-shirts may ﬁnd through LCA that dyeing fabric contributes more emissions than transport or packaging. Knowing this allow smarter improvements.

The 4 Key Stages of an LCA

1. Goal & Scope Deffinition

Decide what you want to assess:

A full product lifecycle (cradle to grave)

Or part of it (“cradle to gate”) Deﬁne boundaries and what environmental impacts you include (e.g. carbon, water, land use).

2. Inventory Analysis (LCI)

This step involves gathering all data related to inputs and outputs:

Electricity used in production

Water consumption

Fuel burned in transport

Emissions and waste generated

3. Impact Assessment

Translate data into environmental categories:

Greenhouse gas emissions

Resource depletion

Human toxicity This is where you get a carbon footprint or water footprint estimate for your product.

4. Interpretation

Use the results to make decisions:

Which processes to redesign

Which suppliers to switch

What to highlight in ESG reporting

How to reduce emissions or waste

Life Cycle Assessment Matters in 2025

In today’s climate conscious world, it’s no longer enough to say a product is

eco-friendly. Stakeholders, whether customers, regulators, or investors, want proof. That’s where Life Cycle Assessment comes in.An LCA is a science based method to measure the environmental impact of a product or service across its entire life cycle from raw material extraction, manufacturing, transport, use, and ﬁnal disposal.

Whether you are a sustainability leader, startup founder, or curious consumer, LCA is your map to responsible, data-driven decisions.

Why Businesses Use LCA Today

Improves Product Design Helps teams reduce resource use and emissions from the start.
- Supports Climate & ESG Reporting Backs up your sustainability disclosures with hard data.
- Builds Trust with Stakeholders Communicates transparency and responsibility to your customers and partners.

Reduces Risk and Cost Identiﬁes areas of inefﬁciency and helps plan smarter supply chains.

LCA Tools We Recommend

OpenLCA – Free and open-source

SimaPro – Professional-grade assessment tool

One Click LCA – Construction and real estate focused

Watershed – Corporate emissions platform

Planetary Plus – End-to-end support for product LCA and Scope 3 emissions

Planetary Plus Can Help

Whether you’re just getting started or scaling your sustainability operations, Planetary Plus offers:

Product & process LCAs

Scope 3 and supply chain analysis ESG & BRSR-compliant reporting Internal climate training for your team

Let’s build a low-carbon future together—one product at a time.

📩 Reach out at www.planetaryplus.com