In today’s climate-conscious economy, businesses can no longer afford to ignore their environmental footprint. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is more than just a sustainability tool—it's a strategic advantage. From reducing costs and managing climate risks to unlocking global market access, LCA empowers corporates to future-proof their operations and drive responsible growth.

LCA importance and business benefits

Life Cycle Assessment is critical for any product in any sector as it unlocks business opportunities, ensures global market access and aligns sustainability goals with long-term business strategy.

Sustainability efforts: The most important objective that Life Cycle Assessment helps achieve is sustainability goals and Net Zero targets for the products, services and organisations.

Compliances and regulations: You stay ahead of compliances and different regulations under the ISO Standard family of 14040/44. This ensures the company is protected against any trade barriers due to climate laws in climate-conscious economies across the world. This not only saves the business but also saves penalty-related expenditures and trade restrictions.

Competitive advantages: Accurate Life Cycle Assessment also ensures competitive advantages for the company. Better market planning and revenue generation opportunities can be created. For instance, a business that has a stronger climate commitment will stay ahead of its rivals with a lax attitude towards corporate sustainability. This ensures early and stronger market penetration and also an expansion in the sustainability-conscious world.

Investors and consumers trust: Most investors have realised the climate risk of any business, service and product in the market. Hence, they prefer to invest in companies and organisations that are not just aware of their climate risks but are also taking timely measures to become climate-friendly. Apart from this, consumers are increasingly becoming climate-conscious, and they prefer choosing brands that are mitigating their environmental impacts and are open about it.

Supply chain decarbonisation: Accurate and timely Life Cycle Assessment helps in supply chain decarbonisation. Most environmental impacts are witnessed in the supply chain management. Life Cycle Assessment helps in identifying the emission hotspots and provides actionable insights about the supplier selection in the supply chain.

Climate Risk Management: The most significant thing that Life Cycle Assessment ensures is specific climate risk management. Under the LCA, different kinds of data from multiple data points are gathered in a systematic way. Hence, an accurate and objective interpretation of the data can assist in cutting unwanted costs, saving penalty money, and redesigning the product in a more sustainable manner as per the market demands. It also highlights resource dependencies and environmental risks that need to be taken into consideration while avoiding or minimising disruption of the supply chain. It also makes the company, product and service future-ready. Challenges in Conducting Life Cycle Assessment

Life Cycle Assessment is one of the most comprehensive and difficult exercises for multiple reasons. The challenges arise due to the complexity of the assessment and data-gathering limitations. Here are the top 6 challenges in conducting LCA:

Lack of data availability and quality of data
Inconsistency in defining system boundaries
Accurate interpretation of data
Right LCA methodology
Tool and database restrictions

‍Lack of data availability and quality of data: The primary challenge in conducting a successful Life Cycle Assessment comes from a shortage of data and a lack of accuracy in the limited data that is available for the analysis.

In most cases, the results of the study depend on the secondary data given by the vendor or suppliers of the raw materials needed for the production of the main item. Such data is usually proxy information that does not represent the actual environmental impact of the company’s supply chain. In many instances, third-party vendors also provide assumed data rather than actual information.

Gathering accurate and qualified data is a big challenge in the entire LCA journey. Reliable data from all the points and for all the specific activities is important for accurate LCA results. However, data gaps, inconsistencies in data gathering and procurement for multiple lifecycle stages can be the cause of concern. Consequently, incomplete and unreliable data cause inaccurate interpretations of LCA results, resulting in many economic losses as well.

Inconsistency in defining system boundaries: The ultimate goal of the LCA for a company should be very clear, as it significantly helps in defining the system boundaries and scope of data gathering. Clear demarcation of the system boundaries for the LCA helps in understanding what to study, how much to study and what areas to omit to reach the desired goals and findings. For instance, you need to decide what data you need to gather about raw material extraction, upstream and downstream processes, etc.

Accurate interpretation of data: After setting the boundaries and gathering the relevant data for the Life Cycle Assessment, comes the challenge related to interpreting the data accurately and objectively. Final LCA results depend on organising the data and preparing a report without biases and assumptions. Inaccurate reading of the collected data can result in discrepancies. In order to avoid such confusion, the evaluator must ensure that the report is prepared according to established frameworks such as ISO 14040 and 14044. Sticking strictly to the relevant standards can help maintain the accuracy of the interpreted data.

Choosing right LCA methodology: Choosing the right LCA methodology is one of the significant challenges. Moreover, even a minor mistake while deciding the methodology to conduct LCA can result in an absolutely inaccurate LCA report generation. There is a well-established methodology to carry out LCA with a structured approach. This methodology has different stages that must be followed in a sequential manner for effective LCA. These include phases like defining the goal and scope of study, inventory analysis or data gathering, impact assessment with the collected set of data, and finally, interpretation and report generation.

Tool and database restrictions: Finally, everything comes down to the kind of tool and database we use for the LCA. Every tool has limitations as not all of them cover all kinds of materials and processes specific to different industries. Any brand should choose the platform and tool that covers specific activities and has a comprehensive database integrated into it for swift LCA.

Why choose us to turn your LCA challenges into business benefits?

The Climate Action Front is a platform that is on a mission to make a climate-conscious economy and help corporations achieve their NetZero targets on time with accurate data. We value data accuracy, long-term commitments and shared values to minimise the climate risk on your products, services and organisations. Our team comes with a robust background in sustainability and data management. We know that data is at the core of your business, and we value it at any cost. Our founder, who is me (Shubham Thakur), has a robust track record in helping companies of all scales in preparing their NetZero roadmap and assisting in understanding how climate change is impacting the economy. We will not rest until you become a complete NetZero on time, as decided by the nature of your business and sustainability goals.