Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a methodology for assessing the environmental impacts associated with all the stages of the life cycle of a commercial product, process, or service. This includes assessing the environmental impacts from raw material extraction and processing, through the products manufacture, distribution, and use, to the recycling or final disposal of the materials composing it. An LCA study involves a thorough inventory of the energy and materials that are required across the industry value chain of the product, process, or service, and calculates the corresponding emissions to the environment. The aim of LCA is to document and improve the overall environmental profile of the product. LCA is commonly referred to as a "cradle-to-grave" analysis.
LCA is a comprehensive assessment that takes a product life cycle perspective and covers a range of environmental impacts. During an LCA, the potential environmental impacts throughout the entire life cycle of a product (production, distribution, use, and end-of-life phases) or service are evaluated. This also includes the upstream (e.g., suppliers) and downstream (e.g., waste management) processes associated with the production (e.g., production of raw, auxiliary, and operating materials), use phase, and disposal (e.g., waste incineration) . Life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) covers all relevant inputs from the environment (e.g., ores and crude oil, water, land use) as well as emissions into air, water, and soil (e.g., carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides) .
Widely recognized procedures for conducting LCAs are included in the 14000 series of environmental management standards of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) .
