Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a systematic approach to evaluating the ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE of products and services.
LCA's evaluate the inputs and outputs of products over their whole life cycle.
LCA's put environmental management on a rational footing
Properly performed, LCA is
LCA is a great tool for managing the environment. You can use LCA's to identify the aspects and impacts of your goods, products and services by identifying the LCA impact categories and indicators for each category. Thus it is the measuring tool that can be used at any level of the organization
LCA's measure Environmental
Performance rather than compliance, so an LCA is responsive
to stakeholders and is the basis for the next generation
environmental management systems.
Is much simpler using LCA's-- everyone has the same measuring system, different countries and different commodities use the same measuring system.
If your environmental management system is based on a product life cycle, end-of-life issues are incorporated into the measuring system, and have the same weight as other parts of the life cycle.
Doing LCA's via the full ISO standards yields Type III ecolabels that can stand up in court-- and that can provide an edge for environmentally preferable purchasing
