Resource
Information checklist for a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
What materials, energy, logistics, waste and use data are needed to start a defensible LCA.
Why it matters
A defensible LCA depends on input-data quality, not on the software. Before modelling you must gather materials, energy, logistics, waste and use data, and clearly define scope and functional unit. This guide lists what to collect so the result withstands verification (ISO 14040/44).
Scope and functional unit
Define the system boundary (cradle-to-gate or cradle-to-grave) and a clear functional unit; it is the decision that most shapes the result.
Primary vs. secondary data
Collect primary data from your operation wherever you can; buyers increasingly penalize database averages.
Document assumptions
Every assumption and emission factor must be traceable; that is what lets the LCA be verified and later turned into an EPD.
What the resource covers
1. Product information
- Product name
- Description
- Format
- Functional unit (for example 1 kg, 1 bottle, 1 m²)
- Annual production volume
- Plant where it is manufactured
2. Raw materials
- Name of each raw material
- Quantity used
- Supplier (optional)
- Country of origin (if applicable)
- Recycled content (if any)
3. Energy consumption
- Electricity
- Natural gas
- LPG
- Diesel
- Biomass
- Steam
4. Water consumption
- Process water
- Cleaning water
- Cooling water
- Supply source
- Volume consumed
5. Transport
- Approximate distance
- Mode of transport
- Origin
- Destination
- Quantity transported
6. Packaging
- Primary packaging material
- Weight
- Secondary packaging material
- Quantity used
7. Waste and emissions
- Waste recycled
- Waste sent to final disposal
- By-products
- Wastewater treatment (if applicable)
8. Product use
- Does it consume energy in use?
- Does it consume water?
- Does it have a defined service life?
- Does it require maintenance?
9. End of life
- Recycling
- Reuse
- Landfill
- Incineration
- Composting
What happens next?
If you hold most of this information, you have already taken the most important step towards a Life Cycle Assessment. That is where EcoAsesoria's work begins.
Our team turns that information into a technically robust LCA model, defining the scope, the functional unit, the system boundaries, the impact categories, the allocation rules and the databases best suited to your product. That architecture is what makes the results consistent, comparable and defensible.
Rather than simply calculating a footprint, we build a model that identifies where the main impacts arise, what opportunities exist to reduce them and how to communicate those results in line with the goals of the project.
When the LCA forms part of an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), the study follows ISO 14040, ISO 14044, ISO 14025 and the applicable Product Category Rules (PCR), so the information can be used in a formal verification and publication process.
In other words: the company provides the information; EcoAsesoria provides the expertise that turns it into evidence you can act on.
What it includes
- Which materials, energy and logistics data to gather
- How to define scope and functional unit
- Common assumptions and how to document them
- Mistakes that weaken the credibility of results
- Final checklist before starting the LCA
Request the resource
We will send this resource as soon as it is available; in the meantime we coordinate your technical assessment
Prefer to talk it through?
Request a technical assessment and we will tell you which environmental data to prepare first