Environment: Introduction to Life Cycle Assessment

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is an assessment of the environmental implications of a product, service or material, from the extraction of raw materials to disposal. Carrying out an LCA is a complex process, mainly because a lot of specific information, knowledge and software is required. When making an LCA, difficulties may arise because one has to work with subjective choices and one has to make assumptions as to the relative importance of different environmental effects. It is important to keep in mind that because of the quantitative results an LCA may seem exact and absolute, this is however not the case because of the many assumptions that often need to be made.

Although an LCA is very specialised and based on parameters which are different for every country, its application has become widely accepted. The increasing globalisation of markets, the exchange of local developments and the growing production and consumption, enlarge the possibilities and the need for environmentally sound product development.