Integrating primary, supplier data into your environmental impact assessments significantly enhances the accuracy and relevance of your Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) and, when available, should be prioritized over secondary data (datasets from LCIA databases). Alternatively, datasets might not be accurate or available for an object in which case proxy data can be used. In Mobius, the Custom impact tab allows you to seamlessly incorporate primary data from your suppliers' Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), Environmental Profiles, or LCA reports, and proxy data from external resources. By leveraging supplier-specific data, you can create more representative LCAs and make informed sustainability decisions for your products. This article covers the following questions:
What is custom impact data?
How to add custom impact data to your model?
Feel like you're missing information? This article builds upon the following article, check it out if you want to learn more:
On adding impact: How to: Add impact to your model using datasets
What is custom impact data?
Custom impact data most commonly refers to specific, primary environmental impact information provided by your suppliers, which can be directly added to your LCA models. Unlike generic data from environmental databases, custom impact data is derived from detailed and often verified sources such as EPDs, Environmental Profiles, or scientific LCA reports. This data typically includes precise measurements of environmental impacts associated with a particular product or service, calculated per a defined functional unit.
Alternatively, custom impact data may also represent “proxy” data found from external resources (e.g., LCA studies). This is an option when appropriate ecoinvent datasets are unavailable. The Custom impact functionally works in the same manner for primary custom impact data from suppliers and proxy custom impact data from external resources.
How to add custom impact data to your model?
1. Verify custom data: To ensure compatibility and accuracy of supplier data within your LCA model, check for the following information:
Declared functional unit: The basis for the LCA data.
Scope of the LCA data you wish to add: Whether it covers cradle-to-gate, cradle-to-grave, etc.
LCA framework or impact assessment method used: Ensure compatibility with your model.
Verification status: Check if the EPD/Environmental Profile/LCA report is externally verified to ensure validity.
Pro tip - Scientific notation: Mobius can read scientific notation in the custom impact environment. You do not need to convert supplier data, which is sometimes presented in scientific notation, to number notation. Mobius converts the scientific notation and displays it as regular numbers in your product's inventory.
2. Select the relevant object: Find and click the object you wish to add custom impact to.
Pro tip - Open item and custom impact: Optionally, use the Open Item functionality to open the object in Mobius per single unit. Adding custom impact via the Open item feature makes it more convenient and accurate to add supplier data because it is scaled to one unit of that object.
For example, suppose you’re adding data for one square meter of cotton fabric, but some products contain different amounts of fabric (could be more or less). In that case, the Open item feature allows you to input data to reflect one square meter of fabric, making it easier to input accurate data.
3. Select custom impact: Click “Add impact” (Figure 1) and select the “Custom Impact” tab (Figure 2). This allows you to input custom data from your suppliers or external resources directly into Mobius.
Figure 1: Adding impact to an object in Mobius.
4. Input Supplier data into the relevant impact categories: Manually enter the supplier or proxy data into the corresponding impact categories in Mobius (Figure 2). Ensure you input data for all the relevant categories to avoid incomplete results.
Pro tip - Select specific impact categories: If you are only interested in the impact results for one impact category (e.g., carbon footprint), the Custom impact feature allows you to fill in data for that selected category. Simply leave the other, non-relevant impact categories as is with the prefilled zeros (0).
Figure 2: Inputting custom impact in Mobius. The top four green arrows are the impact categories to fill with custom data - these are based on the IPCC GWP100a AR6 impact method, however, fill in the categories that are relevant to your impact method and/or interests.
Pro top - Adding custom impact data: Follow these tips when adding custom impact data in Mobius:
Check units: Ensure the units in the supplier’s document match those in your model.
Verify methods: The LCA method used by your supplier should match your model’s impact method. The impact categories displayed depend on your selected calculation method in your workspace settings. Can't find the right impact categories? Consider switching calculation methods
Use conversion tools: Convert PDF data (e.g. an EPD) to Excel for easier copying and pasting.
Caution - Switching calculation methods: Changing calculation methods after adding custom impact risks losing custom impact data due to differences between impact methods. Double check this before you switch!
5. Save and verify: After entering the data, save your custom impact by scrolling down to the bottom of the page (Figure 2). Verify the impact by switching to the relevant impact categories to ensure the data reflects correctly.
Caution - Transferring custom impact data between workspaces: Objects containing custom impact aren’t transferable between workspaces. Their impact is lost if you migrate data between workspaces through the export/import files (CSV). Contact the Ecochain Helpdesk if you’re experiencing issues and would like to explore workarounds.
Next steps
By following these steps, you can accurately incorporate supplier or proxy data into Mobius, making your LCA more representative of your product’s actual environmental impact. For more details and resources, explore our help center.
Good luck with your LCAs! If you have any questions or need further assistance, our support team is here to help.