Life Cycle Assessment / Life Cycle Analysis (LCA)

Life Cycle Assessment, also known as Life Cycle Analysis, (LCA) is a tool for the systematic evaluation of the environmental aspects of a product or service system through all stages of its life cycle. LCA provides an adequate instrument for environmental decision support. Reliable LCA performance is crucial to achieve a life-cycle economy. The International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), a world-wide federation of national standards bodies, has standardised this framework within the series ISO 14040 on LCA.