The method of life cycle assessment serves to demonstrate the environmental properties of products in the various life phases. The systematic analysis of product systems and the quantification of potential environmental impacts make it possible to identify ecological risks and weak points. It provides decision makers in industry, governmental and non-governmental organisations with important information and can be used for strategic planning as well as product and process development.
A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a systematic analysis of potential environmental impacts of a product system over its entire life cycle, from production to use and disposal. The life cycle assessment method is used to quantify the environmental impacts of processes, products, services or organisations and serves as a basis for other sustainability applications such as environmental product declarations, product environmental footprints, CO2 footprints and much more.
Through the holistic analysis, environmental information is quantified and displayed. This serves to identify optimisation potentials along the life cycle and is therefore particularly relevant for product manufacturers, developers and companies with sustainability strategies. The results of the Life Cycle Assessment allow transparent communication of company- or product-related environmental impacts with your customers and can be used as a targeted marketing instrument. Comparative Life Cycle Assessments enable comparisons between the environmental impacts of certain products and are used particularly in the implementation of new products.
Process steps
Life cycle assessments are carried out by our experts in accordance with international ISO standards 14040/14044. At an initial meeting, technical and organisational framework conditions are defined together with the customer, in terms of target and scope of investigation.
In the Life Cycle Inventory, all environmentally relevant input and output flows of the product systems are recorded and quantified. The Life Cycle Inventory is used as the basis for the impact assessment, which determines the significance of potential environmental impacts. Using current life cycle assessment databases, the phases are modelled using life cycle assessment software and then evaluated.