How we help your business succeed in sustainability with LCA

What is Life Cycle Assessment?

Life Cycle Assessment ( LCA ) is a systematic methodology used to evaluate the environmental impacts associated with all stages of a product's life cycle, from raw material extraction to disposal. This comprehensive analysis helps identify the cumulative potential environmental effects of a product or activity throughout its entire life cycle, often referred to as a "cradle-to-grave" approach.What is LCA - Enperas

LCA is widely used in various industries to improve the environmental performance of products and services. It helps organizations make informed decisions regarding product design, material selection, and waste management.

By understanding the environmental footprint of their offerings, companies can implement strategies to minimize impacts, enhance sustainability, and communicate their environmental performance transparently.

Therefore, the EU Green Claims Directive requires you to provide transparent and accurate information about the environmental impact of your products. The best way to achieve this is through a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to support any green features communicated with your product. If you cannot provide the necessary evidence, such as an LCA, you will be considered to be engaging in "greenwashing" and risk a fine of up to 4% of your annual revenue!

How is LCA applied in Ecodesign?

In a Life Cycle Assessment ( LCA ) background report, all the environmental data is granular and represented across different environmental impact categories, life cycle stages, raw materials and processes. During its assessment, the main contributors are identified, along with opportunities to reduce negative environmental effects. Research indicates that over 80% of a product's environmental impact can be determined during the design phase. By incorporating LCA into the ecodesign process, designers can proactively address potential environmental issues before the product is manufactured, leading to more sustainable outcomes. 

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As regulations around sustainability tighten, using LCA in ecodesign assists companies in adhere to emerging standards, such as the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR). This ensures that products meet environmental criteria and can be marketed as sustainable.

During a decarbonization project, the focus on reducing carbon emissions can sometimes lead to unintended consequences, causing impacts to shift toward other environmental impact categories, such as ionizing radiation potential or other toxicological effects.To address this dilemma, the Enperas LCA Quadrant Tool always calculates, in addition, the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) single score, which allows for comparison or benchmarking an a single value. 

The PEF single score is a comprehensive metric that aggregates environmental impacts across various impact categories, including climate change, human toxicity, ecotoxicity, resource depletion, and more. By using this single score, the Enperas LCA Quadrant Tool enables decision-makers to evaluate the overall environmental performance of products or services, taking into account the potential trade-offs between different impact categories.

LCA Consultancy 

☑️ Identifying your highest contributing LCA stage.

☑️ What are your main contributors?

☑️ Environmental impact categories.

☑️ Aiding in Eco-design.

☑️ Providing sustainable insights.

 

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How can I utilize LCA for my double materiality assessment and CSRD reporting?

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Using Life Cycle Assessment ( LCA ) for Double Materiality Assessment (DMA) and Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) reporting improves the robustness and relevance of your sustainability disclosures.

The scope of an LCA can be broadened to encompass the full activity, and a Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) single score can be calculated at the business or activity level. Since the PEF single score is also granular, it represents the total impact as the sum of each individual impact category, allowing you to identify which impact categories are material to your organization and to elaborate on or verify your DMA.

The material impact category is suitable for use as a KPI for reporting in its assigned ESRS, and the LCA immediately proposes a sustainable roadmap for improvement through the reduction of its main contributors. By integrating LCA into your DMA and CSRD reporting, you can ensure that your sustainability efforts are impactful and aligned with regulatory requirements, ultimately leading to better risk management and enhanced stakeholder trust. After all, LCA is the most reliable method for reporting environmental data!

Find out more about our LCA Quadrant Tool and upcoming webinars

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LCA Quadrant Tool of Enperas

For manufacturing companies needing multiple Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) across various EPD programs, our LCA Quadrant Tool offers significant advantages, saving up to 50% in cost and 80% in time.

A single license is granted per organization, which includes setup consultancy and ongoing updates of standards, norms, methods, data records, and scenarios. The tool is cloud-based and grants access to Enperas’ expertise, aftercare, and its LCA-EPD ecosystem. This streamlined approach enables efficient management of EPD requirements, allowing companies to focus on sustainability while minimizing resource expenditure.

Discover how our LCA Quadrant Tool puts our LCA expertise at your fingertips via the following link ⤵️

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Regulations webinar

 

 




Discover the current and future EU legislation in which LCA is applied

On a monthly basis, we offer free webinars to inform participants about the value and relevance of LCA and EPD. For compliance managers, we organize a webinar dedicated to the regulatory framework.

💬 During the webinars, we have Q&A sessions, where we answer all your questions!

You can register for free on our 'Events' page at the following link ⤵️

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Empowered Ecodesign

The hotspot analyses and PEF single score offered by the LCA Tool result in simple, smart environmental footprint interpretations. Easily benchmark environmental performance across multiple products and even simulate the footprints of planned innovations.

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Enperas’s LCA Quadrant Tool, Consultancy and EPD services are trusted by more than 90 manufacturers!

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Are you looking for an effective and accessible way to analyse, benchmark, and plan your product footprints and pipelines? Do you need Life Cycle Assessments to support your Environmental Product Declarations?  Are you seeking guidance on how to begin your journey with LCA and EPD, as well as determining the right EPD program for your product?

Request your personal demo today.