Life Cycle Assessment & Calculating the CO₂ Footprint – What They Have in Common and Why They Matter

The most widely used metric is the Product Carbon Footprint (PCF), especially in the corporate context, but it is also increasingly appearing in the media across various fields. In contrast, Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) are less well known.

What Is a Life Cycle Assessment?

A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a comprehensive method for evaluating the environmental impacts of a product throughout its entire life cycle – from raw material extraction to disposal (cradle-to-grave). It considers numerous environmental factors: energy consumption, CO₂ emissions, as well as other environmental effects like acidification, water scarcity, land use, and more. It can be calculated according to various standards. The most commonly applied standard is ISO 14040 / ISO 14044. This also forms the basis for other standards such as the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) method or EN 15804 – Sustainability of construction works – Environmental Product Declarations – Core rules for the product category of construction products, which includes life cycle assessment.

What Is a Product Carbon Footprint (PCF)?

The Product Carbon Footprint is a sub-aspect of the LCA – it measures only the greenhouse gas emissions of a product, usually expressed in CO₂ equivalents (CO₂e). It is particularly relevant for climate strategies, offsetting, and net-zero targets. Just like with life cycle assessments, standards should ideally be applied when calculating a PCF. The most commonly used standard is ISO 14067.

Which standard, norm, or method should be used depends on the product and the purpose of the study. It should definitely be clarified before any calculations begin.

What Do Life Cycle Assessment & CO₂ Footprint Have in Common?

• Both are based on the life cycle approach (cradle-to-grave or cradle-to-gate)

• Both use standardized methods (e.g., ISO 14040/44 for LCA, ISO 14067 for PCF)

• Both provide data-driven decision support for sustainable product development, ecodesign, procurement, and communication

• Both are becoming increasingly relevant for regulation – e.g., for CSRD, ESPR, Battery Regulation, EU Taxonomy, or the Critical Raw Materials Act

LCA and PCF complement each other perfectly – they look at different perspectives but pursue the same goal: well-informed sustainability decisions. Those who master both methods lay the foundation for climate-friendly, future-proof products. In a state-of-the-art sustainability management system, they should be considered essential components.

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