Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a methodology for analysing the environmental impact of a product or service across its entire life cycle — from raw material extraction to end of life. The result is an objective picture of the product’s CO₂ footprint, its resource consumption, and its overall environmental impact.
Why does it matter now?
The European Union is steering industry towards progressively stricter environmental requirements, and compliance can only be demonstrated through a life cycle assessment.
- From 2025, the Construction Products Regulation requires Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) in many markets. EPDs are grounded in the results of a life cycle assessment.
- The Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), applicable from 2024, extends the life cycle-based approach to all product categories.
- The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) requires companies to report the environmental impact of their products and their supply chain footprint — in other words, to analyse the product life cycle.
- Green procurement requirements — the public sector increasingly favours products whose environmental performance has been verified through life cycle assessment.