GreenFlex Sustainable development strategy and roadmap Life Cycle Assessment Conducting a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of your product, process, or service The manufacturing of products, associated processes, as well as the materials and substances that compose them, and all services, have an environmental footprint that has become essential to evaluate, know, and control. To go further in its corporate social responsibility actions as a market player and to meet the expectations of your value chain, especially on the customer side, it is key to question the “upstream” impacts of your products, just as much as their fate with your customers and beyond. And of course, to take all necessary actions to minimize negative externalities and, as much as possible, to act to promote positive externalities. To do this, measuring, reducing, and communicating are the three steps to implement, in that order. To support you in your eco-design, scope 3 decarbonization, environmental impact reduction, and environmental claims regarding the impact of your products, we mobilize our multi-expertise to reduce pressure on various planetary boundaries with concrete actions. What are the final objectives of an LCA? In a world with finite resources, LCA – Life Cycle Assessment in English – has become the reference tool for considering the intertwined issues facing industrial players, brands, or distributors who want to have a global vision of their activities: climate change, chemical pollution, eco-toxicity, land use, water footprint, mineral and fossil raw materials, etc. Identifying, quantifying, and qualifying the direct and indirect environmental impacts of your activities is a prerequisite for developing ambitious environmental action plans that align with regulatory requirements, communication standards surrounding the impact of your products, and growing consumer expectations. The benefits of LCA Having a global multi-impact vision of your products/processes/projects Knowing the carbon footprint of your products throughout their life cycle (product carbon footprint) Having the support of an ISO 14040-14044 methodology that can be critically reviewed by external auditors Establishing an eco-design strategy to involve all your businesses and reduce the impacts of your activities Identifying concrete actions to eco-design while reducing your costs Decarbonizing the scope 3 of your carbon footprint, contributing to your low-carbon trajectories, and achieving your reduction targets compatible with climate requirements Communicating responsibly the impacts of your products to your customers, partners, and investors The main steps of Life Cycle Assessment Conducting a Life Cycle Assessment depends on four steps: Definition of the study objectives LCA being a method serving a specific purpose, it is important to frame the objectives of the analysis. The functional unit of the product or process, i.e., “the evaluated service provided,” must be carefully defined to account for environmental impacts concerning the service provided. Additionally, the study scope can vary depending on the situations and objectives. An LCA can be conducted on the entire life cycle, called “cradle-to-grave” (i.e., from raw material extraction to product end-of-life), but also on a specific part of it depending on the objective, for example, “cradle-to-gate” (i.e., from raw material extraction to their delivery to the manufacturing company). Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) representing the data collection phase Environmental impact assessment Interpretation of results These steps can then be complemented by GreenFlex’s multi-expertise: Definition of an action and eco-design plan Evaluation of positive or negative costs associated with eco-design options Creation of an automated tool to calculate the footprint of all products in a portfolio, then manage its operational roadmap Formalization of a “responsible purchasing” specification Drafting communication documents for partners and suppliers Conducting or reviewing a more precise carbon footprint Modeling an ambitious but concrete low-carbon trajectory Why choose GreenFlex to conduct your LCA? To successfully conduct an LCA, GreenFlex’s multi-expertise is a considerable asset, allowing for a concrete and appropriate progress plan tailored to your businesses, sector, and various strategic constraints. Realize the life-cycle assessement of your producs, process or services Trust our experts Contact us LCA and Carbon Footprint®, what are the differences? The Carbon Footprint® or the GHG protocol are now well known to companies, but only the impacts on climate change are concerned, and the approach is only relevant at the organizational level. Life Cycle Assessment, on the other hand, allows for measuring the product’s overall impact. It thus makes it possible to prioritize one impact theme over another (climate change, water, fine particle emissions, raw material extraction, ozone layer depletion, etc.). Additionally, it becomes possible to identify the life cycle stages where impacts occur and therefore prioritize actions accordingly (upstream, manufacturing, use, transport, end-of-life). LCA and Carbon Footprint®, what are the links? LCA can also focus solely on the impact on climate change, sometimes called Product Carbon Footprint or Carbon LCA, and thus appears as an essential component for conducting a precise organizational Carbon Footprint®. The two methodologies can also be combined to refine the calculation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of products or processes and to quantify emission reductions through eco-design in a low-carbon trajectory. Every company being in the scope 3 of another, conducting LCAs of your products also helps to highlight your good practices to your customers who are also conducting their GHG emission inventories. By communicating a specific emission factor for your products, less impactful than that of your competitors, you assert your competitiveness by contributing to the decarbonization of their activities. FAQ: Life Cycle Assessment Definition and reminders What is the life cycle of a product? The life cycle of a product represents all the phases it goes through. From the extraction of raw materials needed for its manufacture, to energy or water consumption, but also its distribution, use phase (does it require batteries, water, other consumables, etc.) to its estimated end-of-life (recycling, reuse, incineration, etc.). Who can conduct an LCA? LCA is governed by international standards (ISO 14040-44, European Product Environmental Footprint PEF, etc.) and requires complex tools like SimaPro, used by GreenFlex. Additionally, various databases exist and can be used depending on the sectors and context (e.g., EcoInvent, Agribalyse, Base Empreinte®). It is therefore advisable to have the evaluation conducted by recognized experts in the field. When to conduct an LCA? An LCA can be conducted at different key moments in a product’s life: from its design to reduce future impacts concerning the services provided; but also during its commercialization to demonstrate a competitive advantage on the environmental front, relying notably on common references such as environmental labeling or eco-score. Is it necessary to conduct an LCA during the eco-design of a product? Eco-design is by definition an ecological design aimed at reducing the negative environmental impacts of a good or service throughout its life cycle. To do this, it is necessary to quantify these impacts and therefore, most of the time, to conduct an LCA, the most advanced tool currently available to meet this need.
