Scalable LCA – life cycle assessment for your entire product portfolio
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a fundamental method for understanding the environmental impact of a product, service or process throughout its entire life cycle. It helps you identify what drives the impact, compare alternatives and make decisions from a holistic perspective.
Scalable LCA means that data, models and methodologies can be reused across multiple products and product variants. We help you build a shared, quality-assured foundation that enables you to move from individual life cycle assessments to environmental data for your entire product portfolio.
When work with LCA needs scaling
The need for LCA evolves as more products, decisions and requirements need to be managed. This calls for data, models and ways of working that can be reused again and again.
From one product to many
You need environmental data for more products or variants without starting from scratch for each new LCA.
Get more from the same data
You want to use LCA data to compare materials and scenarios, develop products, or make better-informed decisions.
Meet more requirements with the same environmental data
You need reliable, quality-assured results for EPDs, customer requirements, Scope 3 or reporting.
How Scalable LCA works
As your needs grow, your LCA work needs to grow with them. By structuring data and building reusable models, you can scale from individual assessments to an entire product portfolio.
Structure data
We identify what data is needed and how it can be retrieved and structured from sources such as ERP and PIM systems, product databases, or other existing systems.
Build reusable LCA models
We build models and data libraries where common materials, processes and assumptions can be reused across products and product variants.
Ensure quality and traceability
We establish clear rules for methodology, data quality and updates to ensure consistent results that can be traced back to the underlying data.
Scale to more products
Once the foundation is in place, new products and variants can be assessed without having to build each LCA from scratch.
The result is a shared LCA foundation that can evolve over time – and be used for more products, more assessments and more decisions.
One data foundation – multiple applications
Once LCA data is structured and quality-assured, the same foundation can be used for multiple purposes – without starting from scratch each time.
EPDs
Generate and update environmental data for more products and product variants.
Product development
Compare materials, suppliers and scenarios to understand where changes can make a difference.
Client demands
Provide reliable and traceable product data when customers and other stakeholders request it.
Scope 3 and reporting
Use relevant product and LCA data as a basis for carbon footprint calculations and reporting.
From a scalable LCA model to a Scenario Tool
Once LCA models and data libraries are built for reuse, new possibilities open up. With a Scenario Tool, the same foundation can be used to test materials, suppliers and other changes, and compare how they affect the results. We always offer this as a potential deliverable when you carry out an LCA with us.
Scalable LCA in practise
What Scalable LCA looks like depends on the product portfolio, the available data and how the results will be used. Here are a few examples of how the same LCA foundation can be used and developed over time.
From an Initial LCA to a Scalable Approach – AJ Produkter
AJ Produkter started by building knowledge and experience in LCA. The work then developed step by step into models that could be used for more products and variants – while also strengthening internal expertise and ways of working.
Today, the models cover more than 70 product variants and several hundred individual products.
From production data to product-specific EPDs – how Ovako scales up with Miljögiraff’s expertise
Together with Ovako and digitalisation partner Astrada, Miljögiraff has helped develop a tailored EPD tool that can generate article-specific environmental data in just a few minutes.
Want to learn more about LCA methodology? Explore the articles in our Knowledge Hub.
What is LCA? An Introduction to Life Cycle Assessment
Getting Started with LCA: Make Life Cycle Assessment More Efficient in 3 Steps
Do you want to make your LCA work scalable?
You don’t need to know exactly what solution you need. We start with your product portfolio, the data you have today and what you need to use the results for. From there, we can identify a suitable next step together.
Book a meeting with Maja at maja@miljogiraff.se or fill in the form below and we’ll get back to you!
