What is LCA (lifecycle assessment)?
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a way to estimate the climate or total environmental impact of a product or service through all its life cycle phases. The starting point for any product is raw materials that are extracted from nature. Those raw materials are then processed into a product, packaged, sold, used, maybe reused, and eventually disposed of. Through all life phases, a product has an impact on the climate, water resources, soil fertility, human health, etc. – all of which are represented by so-called impact categories. An LCA that is compliant with the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) rules decided by the EU, considers all impact categories throughout the life cycle of a product and hereby measures its total environmental impact.
The terms Cradle to Cradle, Cradle to Grave, and Cradle to Gate are widely used in environmental communication. They often reflect different approaches to sustainability and product life cycles.
