Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a method used to analyze the environmental impacts of a product, process, or service throughout its life cycle. The assessment can cover stages from raw material extraction and production to distribution, use, and final disposal.
The purpose of Life Cycle Assessment is to provide a comprehensive understanding of environmental impacts throughout the product life cycle. With this information, companies can identify environmental hotspots, improve resource efficiency, and make more sustainable business decisions.
Life Cycle Assessment can also provide companies with measurable information about energy consumption, raw material use, emissions, waste generation, and other environmental impacts.
In the context of environmental performance assessment under PROPER, companies may also evaluate their LCA implementation through several criteria and scoring components. This article explains 7 Life Cycle Assessment criteria, their point allocation, objectives, and benefits.
Objectives of Life Cycle Assessment
The implementation of Life Cycle Assessment can support several environmental and business objectives.
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Identify Environmental Impacts:
Life Cycle Assessment helps companies identify and evaluate environmental impacts occurring at different stages of a product’s life cycle. -
Support Better Decision-Making:
LCA provides structured and comprehensive environmental information that can support more sustainable business and operational decisions. -
Encourage Continuous Improvement:
Life Cycle Assessment encourages companies to continuously improve production processes, material efficiency, energy consumption, and resource management.
Benefits of Life Cycle Assessment
Life Cycle Assessment can provide several benefits for companies that want to improve environmental performance and operational efficiency.
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Cost Reduction:
By identifying inefficient processes and resource consumption, companies may find opportunities to reduce production and operational costs. -
Emission Reduction:
Life Cycle Assessment can help companies identify opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants. -
Environmental Impact Reduction:
LCA identifies stages of the product life cycle with the greatest environmental impacts so that improvement programs can focus on priority areas. -
Product Innovation:
Understanding environmental impacts throughout the life cycle can help companies develop more efficient and environmentally responsible products. -
Support Regulatory Compliance:
Environmental information generated through LCA can help companies evaluate their performance in relation to applicable environmental requirements. -
Competitive Added Value:
Products with measurable environmental improvements may provide additional value in markets where customers and business partners increasingly consider sustainability.
7 Life Cycle Assessment Criteria
The Life Cycle Assessment criteria described in this article cover several aspects that companies need to manage carefully to ensure that LCA is implemented systematically.
Within the assessment structure discussed here, the seven criteria have a maximum combined score of 100 points.
1. Policy – 2 Points
The first Life Cycle Assessment criterion is the company’s LCA policy.
The policy should be formally documented and include a commitment to conducting life cycle assessments.
According to the criteria described, the policy should have been established within at least the previous three years.
If the company has updated its Life Cycle Assessment policy, previous versions of the policy should also be maintained as supporting documentation.
2. Structure and Responsibilities – 7 Points
The second criterion evaluates whether the company has an appropriate organizational structure and clearly defined responsibilities for implementing Life Cycle Assessment.
The company should have an environmental manager responsible for LCA implementation as well as a team assigned to conduct or coordinate the assessment.
This criterion includes:
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Manager and LCA Team:
The company should appoint an environmental manager and establish an internal Life Cycle Assessment team. -
Implementation Team:
LCA implementation may involve qualified internal personnel and external professionals.
A clear organizational structure helps ensure that responsibilities for data collection, analysis, reporting, and implementation are properly assigned.
3. Implementation – 8 Points
The third criterion evaluates how Life Cycle Assessment is actually implemented within the company.
The implementation may involve internal or external teams.
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Internal Implementation:
LCA can be conducted by an internal company team with relevant competence, including appropriate PROPER-related certification or Life Cycle Assessment training. -
External Implementation:
Companies may also work with qualified third-party professionals to conduct or support the Life Cycle Assessment process.
Using competent personnel is important because LCA requires systematic data collection, clear system boundaries, appropriate calculation methods, and accurate interpretation.
4. Planning – 8 Points
The fourth Life Cycle Assessment criterion focuses on planning.
The company should establish a clear plan for conducting life cycle assessments, including the assessment period, objectives, targets, and percentage of products to be evaluated.
According to the assessment criteria discussed here, the Life Cycle Assessment should be planned on a three-year cycle.
The planning process should identify:
- LCA objectives.
- Assessment targets.
- Products or processes included in the study.
- Target percentage of products covered by LCA.
- Implementation schedule.
Good planning helps companies ensure that Life Cycle Assessment is implemented consistently rather than only as a one-time activity.
5. Life Cycle Assessment Study – 49 Points
The fifth criterion has the largest weighting, with a maximum value of 49 points.
This section evaluates the quality and completeness of the actual Life Cycle Assessment study.
The assessment includes several major components:
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LCA Study Report:
The report should follow the required format and components according to the relevant PROPER guidelines. -
Life Cycle Inventory:
Companies need to collect and organize data relating to materials, energy, emissions, waste, and other relevant inputs and outputs. -
Impact Assessment:
Inventory data is analyzed to evaluate the environmental impacts associated with the product or process. -
Interpretation and Critical Review:
The results should be interpreted and presented comprehensively within the Life Cycle Assessment report.
Because this section covers the core technical components of LCA, it receives the highest proportion of the total score.
Life Cycle Inventory in Life Cycle Assessment
The Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) is one of the most important stages of Life Cycle Assessment.
During this stage, companies collect information about all relevant inputs and outputs associated with the product system.
Typical data may include:
- Raw material consumption.
- Energy consumption.
- Water consumption.
- Fuel use.
- Transportation.
- Air emissions.
- Wastewater.
- Solid waste.
- Production output.
The accuracy of the inventory strongly influences the quality of the final Life Cycle Assessment results.
Environmental Impact Assessment in LCA
After inventory data has been collected, the next stage is assessing potential environmental impacts.
This allows companies to understand how different activities and materials contribute to environmental issues.
The assessment can help identify which stages of the life cycle have the highest impacts and should therefore become priorities for improvement.
This process is one of the main reasons why Life Cycle Assessment can support evidence-based sustainability strategies.
6. Implementation of LCA Results – 6 Points
The sixth criterion evaluates whether the results of the Life Cycle Assessment are implemented according to the targets established during planning.
The assessment examines whether the company has achieved the planned coverage and implemented actions based on the LCA results.
If the assessed products meet the predetermined target, the implementation component can be considered fully achieved according to the scoring approach described.
This criterion is important because Life Cycle Assessment should ultimately lead to environmental improvement rather than remaining only as a technical report.
7. Certification – 20 Points
The seventh Life Cycle Assessment criterion relates to certification, external recognition, and environmental product information.
This criterion includes several components:
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Contribution to the National Database:
Companies conducting LCA may contribute relevant information to the applicable national database mechanism. -
Environmental Product Declaration:
Companies may prepare an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) based on applicable standards and Product Category Rules (PCR). -
International EPD Verification:
Additional recognition may be obtained when the EPD is successfully verified through an appropriate international EPD verification mechanism.
Certification and verification can strengthen the credibility and transparency of environmental information produced through Life Cycle Assessment.
Life Cycle Assessment and Environmental Product Declaration
An Environmental Product Declaration provides structured environmental information about a product based on life-cycle data.
The preparation of an EPD generally requires clear methodologies, product-system boundaries, environmental indicators, and relevant Product Category Rules.
Life Cycle Assessment therefore provides an important technical foundation for preparing an EPD.
External verification can further improve confidence in the environmental information presented.
Life Cycle Assessment Scoring Summary
The seven Life Cycle Assessment criteria described in this article have the following point distribution:
| Life Cycle Assessment Criterion | Maximum Points |
| Policy | 2 |
| Structure and Responsibilities | 7 |
| Implementation | 8 |
| Planning | 8 |
| Life Cycle Assessment Study | 49 |
| Implementation of Results | 6 |
| Certification | 20 |
| Total | 100 |
The point distribution shows that the Life Cycle Assessment study itself has the largest weighting, followed by certification.
Implementation and Evaluation of Life Cycle Assessment
To ensure that Life Cycle Assessment criteria are implemented effectively, companies can follow several structured steps:
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Develop an LCA Policy:
Establish a documented policy covering Life Cycle Assessment and update it periodically. -
Establish Structure and Responsibilities:
Appoint an environmental manager and establish a competent LCA team. -
Conduct Life Cycle Assessment:
Perform LCA using qualified internal personnel, external professionals, or a combination of both. -
Plan the LCA Program:
Establish clear objectives, targets, product coverage, and implementation schedules. -
Prepare the Life Cycle Assessment Report:
Conduct inventory analysis, environmental impact assessment, interpretation, and reporting according to the relevant guidelines. -
Implement LCA Findings:
Use the assessment results to improve products, production processes, energy efficiency, resource consumption, and environmental performance. -
Prepare Certification and EPD:
Support national database contributions and prepare or verify Environmental Product Declarations where applicable.
Life Cycle Assessment for Continuous Environmental Improvement
One of the main strengths of Life Cycle Assessment is that it allows companies to identify environmental impacts beyond their own factory boundaries.
A company may initially assume that the largest environmental impact comes from production activities. However, an LCA may show that the greatest impact actually comes from raw material extraction, transportation, product use, or end-of-life treatment.
This broader perspective helps prevent companies from reducing environmental impacts in one stage while unintentionally increasing them elsewhere.
Life Cycle Assessment and Resource Efficiency
Life Cycle Assessment can also help companies evaluate how efficiently resources are used throughout the product life cycle.
High energy consumption, excessive raw material use, unnecessary transportation, and high waste generation may indicate opportunities for improvement.
By identifying these inefficiencies, companies can develop strategies that reduce both environmental impacts and operating costs.
Life Cycle Assessment and Product Innovation
LCA results can support product innovation by showing which materials or production stages contribute the most to environmental impacts.
Companies can use this information to evaluate alternative raw materials, improve product design, reduce packaging, extend product life, or improve recyclability.
Product development teams can therefore use Life Cycle Assessment as a tool for integrating sustainability into design decisions.
Life Cycle Assessment and Greenhouse Gas Reduction
Although Life Cycle Assessment can evaluate multiple environmental impacts, greenhouse gas emissions are often one of the key indicators considered.
Companies can use LCA information to identify carbon hotspots throughout the product life cycle.
Possible emission reduction strategies may include:
- Improving energy efficiency.
- Using renewable energy.
- Selecting lower-carbon raw materials.
- Optimizing logistics.
- Reducing production waste.
- Improving recycling.
- Redesigning products.
Why Life Cycle Assessment Is Important for Companies
Life Cycle Assessment provides companies with a more complete understanding of the environmental impacts associated with their products and processes.
Rather than evaluating environmental performance only at the manufacturing stage, LCA considers the wider product system.
This allows companies to identify environmental hotspots, improve operational efficiency, support sustainability strategies, and develop products with lower environmental impacts.
Life Cycle Assessment can also provide environmental data that supports sustainability reporting, Environmental Product Declarations, product development, and long-term environmental planning.
The Future of Life Cycle Assessment
Life Cycle Assessment is becoming increasingly important as businesses face growing expectations regarding sustainability, resource efficiency, environmental transparency, and climate action.
Companies that implement LCA systematically can develop a stronger understanding of how environmental impacts occur throughout their value chains.
The seven criteria described in this article provide a structured approach covering policy, organizational responsibility, implementation, planning, technical assessment, application of results, and certification.
With a maximum assessment value of 100 points, the framework emphasizes that successful Life Cycle Assessment requires more than simply preparing a technical study. Companies also need appropriate policies, competent personnel, clear planning, implementation of findings, and credible environmental communication.
Ultimately, Life Cycle Assessment can help companies make better decisions, improve resource efficiency, reduce environmental impacts, encourage product innovation, and strengthen long-term sustainability.