SUSTAINABILITY
Environmental Management – Life Cycle Assessment, ISO 14040
About Environmental Management – Life Cycle Assessment, ISO 14040
ISO 14040, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) provides quantitative assessment methods for the assessment of the environmental aspects of products, including services, in the product’s life cycle stages from raw material acquisition, production, use, end-of-life treatment, recycling and disposal
The LCA encompasses four phases:
- goal and scope definition
- life cycle inventory analysis
- life cycle impact assessment
- life cycle interpretation
The LCA is a systematic tool for organisations to assess and analyse the
- environmental loads (emissions to the air, water, and land, solid wastes and resource consumption) of their products throughout its entire life cycle
- potential impacts of these loads on the environment.
Why it matters
There is increased demands for the protection and preservation of the environment and sustainability of resources from customers and stakeholders. Organisations need to demonstrate their commitment to such expectations.
Adverse impacts on the environment can occur at different stages of the product’s   life cycle. Implementing the LCA provides organisations with a systematic approach in mitigating the environmental issues that result from the production and consumption of their product.
Implementing and complying with the LCA requirements, organisations can:
- assess and report on environmental performance of products and services.
- improve their environmental performance.
- use the LCA as norms for environmental consideration of products and services in international trade, to reduce barriers to trade.