This document provides an introduction to life cycle assessment (LCA). It defines LCA as a technique to assess the environmental impacts of a product system from cradle to grave. The key steps of an LCA are outlined, including goal and scope definition, inventory analysis, impact assessment, and interpretation. Examples of LCA applications and a case study on Danish packaging are also summarized.

1. Welcome to a course in
Life Cycle Assessment
Centre for Environmental Strategies Research
Anna Björklund and Göran Finnveden

2. • What’s the environmental impact of a PET
bottle?
• Which is better; PET bottles,glass bottles, or
aluminium cans?

3. • LCA covers the entire life cycle, from ”cradle-to-grave”
• LCA calculates energy and resource use, emissions,
environment and health impacts
Raw material
acquisition
Manufacture Use Waste
management
Energy &
material Emissions

4. The life cycle model
Raw material
acquisition
Process
Transport
Manufacture
Use
Waste
management
Emissions
to air,
water,
ground
Resources
(e.g. raw
materials,
energy,land)

5. Definition of LCA
LCA is a technique for assessing environmental aspects and
potential impacts of a product, by:
-compiling an inventory of relevant inputs and outputs of a
product system;
-evaluating potential environmental impacts associated with
those inputs and outputs;
-interpreting the results.
(ISO 14040)

6. Why LCA?
• System focus, avoids sub-optimization and
problem shifting.
• Structured, quantitative method to analyse
complex systems.

7. Short LCA history
• Waste debate and oil crisis strong incentives.
• 1969: First LCA? Resource and Environmental Profile Analysis
(REPA) of beverage packaging, commissioned by Coca Cola. (Similar
contemporary studies in UK, Germany, Sweden)
• 1980’s: Growing use of LCA, applied to packaging. Mostly know to
researchers.
• 1991: The term ”LCA” was defined.
• 1996: First scientific LCA journal.
• 1997: First ISO standard.
• Today: LCA finds it way to public policy, design, decision making,
education.

8. Applications of LCA
• Product/process design, development, improvement.
• Strategic planning (e.g. in companies, municipalities)
• Public policy
• Learning
• Eco-labelling
• Environmental produc declaration
• Marketing

9. Some applications
• Environmental Systems Analysis of Pig Production - The Impact of
Feed Choice
• Life Cycle Assessments for Waste
• Life Cycle Assessment of a Personal Computer and its Effective
Recycling Rate
• Life Cycle Assessment of the District Heat Distribution System
• Life Cycle Assessment of the Mobile Communication System UMTS:
Towards Eco-efficient Systems
• LCA of Multicrystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Systems
• Life Cycle Assessment of Kerosene Used in Aviation
• Life Cycle Assessment of Wood Floor Coverings

10. LCA methodology in brief
Goal
and scope
definition
Inventory
analysis
Impact
assessment
Interpretation
Source: ISO 14040
Life cycle assessment framework

11. ISO 14000
Environmental management
• ISO 14040: LCA - Principles and framework
• ISO 14041: LCA - Goal and scope definition and
inventory analysis
• ISO 14042: LCA - Life cycle impact assessment
• ISO 14043: LCA - Life cycle interpretation
• ISO 14047: LCA - Examples of application of
ISO 14042
• ISO 14048: LCA - Data documentation format
• ISO 14049: LCA - Examples of application of
ISO 14041

12. Goal and scope definition
• Goal:
– purpose
– intended application
– intended audience
• Scope (specification of model):
– studied product (or service)
– system boundaries: processes to include, time, place
– types of impacts
– data requirements

13. Goal of Danish packaging LCA
• Purpose: Update LCA comparing potential environmental
impact of packaging systems.
• Application: Basis for decisions on packaging systems in
Denmark.
• Audience: General publication (external).

14. Scope of Danish packaging study
• Functional unit: Packaging and distribution of 1000 litres
beer or softdrink.
• System boundaries:
– Bottles or cans that are filled and sold in Denmark,
– secondary packaging (boxes, pallets, etc.),
– all processes contributing significantly to the life cycle impacts

15. Inventory
• Draw flow chart of product system.
• Collect data of resource use and emissions of all processes
• Data sources: LCA databases, reports, scientific papers,
on-site investigation, expert knowledge, qualified guesses
• Build system model (computerised in e.g. generic LCA
tool, Excel, other)
• Calculate resource use and emissions of studied product.
• Present results in charts and tables.
• Iterative procedure!

16. Inventories in
Danish packaging study
• Inventories of:
– refillable glass bottles
– disposable glass bottles
– aluminium cans
– steel cans
– refillable PET bottles
– disposable PET bottles

17. Process tree glass bottle
Manufacture
glass bottle
Retail
Prod.
soda
Filling
w. soda
Raw
material
extract.
Prod.
lime
Raw
material
extract.
Prod.
sand
Raw
material
extract.
Use
Waste management
Recycling
Landfill

18. Impact assessment
• Classification: Sorts inventory parameters according to
type of environemtal impact.
• Characterisation: Translates inventory results (emissions,
resource use) to potential environmental impact.
• Example: Global warming potential (according to
EDIP)
1 CH4 = 25 CO2 equivalents
1 N2O = 320 CO2 equivalents
1 CO = 2 CO2 equivalents

19. Impact assessment in Danish
packaging study
• EDIP (Danish method)
– Global warming
– Ozone depletion
– Acidification
– Eutrophication
– Photochemical smog
– Ecotoxicity: water chronic/acute, soil
– Human toxicity: air, water, soil
– Waste: bulk, hazardous, radioactive
– Slags/ashes
– Resources

20. Optional steps
• Normalisation: Relates each impact of the product system
to impacts of society as a whole. Gives perspective of
relative importance.
• Weighting: Relates different impacts to each other, based
on subjective values.