The ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 standards are very popular LCA standards that provide a clear framework and guidelines while still allowing plenty of freedom for the LCA practicioner to focus on very specific research questions. As such they are perfect for research projects in which the assessed processes are still at conceptual, lab or pilot scale; for study subjects that are more complicated than single products or organisations; or in order to answer very specific questions.

Results can be expressed in any impact category, so in addition to those used in carbon footprint or PEF studies you can also opt for e.g. the following categories from the ReCiPe method:

• Damage to ecosystems (species.years).
• Damage to human health (DALY).
• Resource depletion (US Dollar).
• Overall environmental damage (points).

The scope can include the entire life cycle or be limited to part thereof:

• Cradle to cradle: full life cycle with recycling.
• Cradle to grave: full life cycle with waste disposal.
• Cradle to gate: from raw resource extraction up to a certain point in the life cycle.
• Gate to gate: including only a limited part of the life cycle.

All of our custom LCAs are reviewed by at least one internal or external expert.