Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a useful tool for evaluating the environmental impacts of products. LCA standards are essential for ensuring the quality and comparability of these environmental assessments. Specifically, ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 standards provide the fundamental guidelines and framework for conducting LCAs. This article introduces standards, their importance, and their function - with a specific focus on ISO standards. Understanding these standards sets a strong foundation for performing accurate, consistent, and credible LCAs. This article answers the following questions:
Why are LCA standards important?
What types of LCA standards exist?
What does verification and compliance have to do with standards?
What are ISO 14040 and ISO 14044?
What are the four phases of the LCA framework according to ISO 14040/44?
Why are ISO standards general?
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Why are LCA standards important?
LCA standards specify the rules for conducting LCAs. They ensure all assessments are comparable, enabling products to be seen as equivalent/similar entities. This comparability is vital for making informed decisions based on LCA results.
What types of LCA standards exist?
What’s the difference between general and specific standards?
LCA standards can be broadly categorized into general and specific standards:
General standards: Apply to many product types within a certain region. For example, ISO 14040/14044 defines the basic framework for all LCAs globally.
Specific standards: Apply to particular product categories or industries within a specific region. For example, EN15804 applies to the construction industry in Europe.
How do LCA standards work and what is their hierarchy?
LCA standards define the rules for creating life cycle models and conducting assessments. Examples of rules include allocation methods (i.e., how to allocate impacts between co-products), calculation methods (i.e., how to calculate environmental impacts), and cut-off criteria (i.e., how to decide what to include and exclude in the LCA). The specificity of these rules increases from general to specific standards: LCA standards can be visualized as a pyramid, where more specific standards build on more generic ones:
ISO 14040/14044: The foundational standards for all LCAs.
Regional standards: More specific guidelines for certain industries, such as EN15804 for the European construction industry.
Product Category Rules (PCRs): Detailed standards for specific product categories, prescribing specific dataset usage and calculation methods for certain lifecycle stages.
What does verification and compliance have to do with standards?
Before LCAs can officially claim to comply with certain standards, an accredited, third-party verifier must check the LCA study. This ensures assessments meet the requirements and guidelines.
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What are ISO 14040 and ISO 14044?
ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 are international standards that prescribe the process for conducting LCAs. Understanding these standards is an important part of environmental impact assessments.
ISO 14040: This standard outlines the framework and principles underlying LCA. Consider it the backbone of the LCA process.
ISO 14044: This standard supplements ISO 14040, specifying requirements and guidelines for each LCA phase and the overall process.
What are the four phases of the LCA framework according to ISO 14040?
The LCA framework according to ISO 14040 consists of four phases, ISO 14044 provides further guidance on the execution of these phases. Below, these phases and their requirements are introduced (Figure 1).
Define the objective and scope of the LCA.
Ensure alignment with the study's goals.
Clearly define and justify the system boundaries.
Life Cycle Inventory (LCI):
Collect all input and output data relevant to the LCA model.
Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA):
Calculate the environmental impacts of the studied product.
Interpretation:
Assess the results (e.g., contribution analysis/hotspot analysis).
Assess (e.g., sensitivity analysis, quality assurance) and improve your results.
Figure 1: The four LCA phases, according to ISO 14040.
These guidelines are designed to ensure the quality and credibility of the LCA, creating a level of consistency where all LCAs follow the same standards.
Why are ISO standards general?
The ISO standards are intentionally general to apply to all LCAs. For product-specific rules, you should refer to industry standards or Product Category Rules (PCRs) (e.g., set by EPD International), which provide detailed guidance tailored to specific products or sectors.
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Next steps
Understanding and adhering to LCA standards is crucial for producing reliable, comparable, and high-quality environmental assessments. ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 are the leading standards for LCA. ISO 14040 outlines the LCA framework (i.e., goal and scope phase, LCI phase, LCIA phase, and interpretation phase). ISO 14044 provides detailed requirements and guidelines for executing these phases.
Check out our additional resources for more information on the fundamentals of LCA.