LCA vs. PCF: Differentiating the Two Methods and Which One to Choose.
LCA and PCF are two excellent methods to start evaluating environmental impacts.
A good way to reduce the environmental impact of a product is to start with its assessment. Numerous tools have been developed for this purpose in recent years, for which carefully crafted standards are also available and have become widely recognized. Among the most popular assessment methods are the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and the Product Carbon Footprint (PCF), which provides a more climate-focused approach. This article defines the two methods and provides insight into the differences between them.
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
The LCA is a method used to evaluate the environmental impacts of a product or system by looking at its entire life cycle. An LCA considers a variety of environmental and health impacts of a product (e.g. climate change, ozone depletion, water, acidification, human toxicity, ecotoxicity, land use and land use change (LULUC), resource depletion etc.) at all stages of the product's life cycle, from raw material extraction to disposal or recycling.
Product Carbon Footprint (PCF)
A PCF is a standardized methodology for assessing the climate impact of a product or material through the measurement of the greenhouse gases (GHGs) emitted throughout its life cycle. The term "carbon" in PCF actually incorporates the most important GHGs translated into carbon equivalents (CO2e) for comparison purposes.
What is the difference between the LCA and the PCF?
The calculation of a PCF is based on LCA methodology. Where an LCA looks at several environmental impacts such as e.g. land use, ozone depletion etc. of a product or system, the PCF is done specifically on the product level and puts a special focus on the environmental impact category of GHG emissions. Similarly to an LCA, a PCF analysis can be done fully ("cradle-to-grave") or partially (e.g. "cradle-to-gate", meaning from the raw materials extraction phase (the "cradle") until the last manufacturing process phase right before the product passes the factory's "gates").
An LCA has the advantage of considering several environmental impacts of a product, whereas a PCF solely focuses on the climate change impact. However, looking at a variety of impacts may increase the complexity of the assessment and make the results less accurate, whereas focusing on a simple impact category such as climate change may in fact limit the assessment's complexity, leading to a relatively rapid and precise assessment, and finally translating into feasible action for reducing emissions.
LCA and PCF are two excellent methods to start evaluating the environmental impact of a product. However, in order to perform a meaningful calculation, the inventory (collection of data) must ensure the best possible data quality.
First, data collected directly from suppliers can be checked for quality. Second, missing or incomplete data, which occur frequently, should be supplemented with validated reference data (learn more about the difference between data sources) from 3rd Party data providers like sustamize.
Want to get started with your LCA or PCF assessments?
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