One of the primary goals of LCA is to enable decision makers to see a more comprehensive set of environmental impacts for their operations, compared to just a single impact (i.e. not just looking at greenhouse gas emissions, for example, but also including water consumption, ozone depletion substance emissions, smog formation, etc.). In this way, decision makers can ensure that they minimize the possibility of having any environmental trade-offs (i.e. one might lower their emissions of ozone depleting substances but water consumption might increase).

Because LCAs do require assessing upstream, downstream, and direct environmental impacts of your products/processes, the process requires collecting and analyzing a lot of data. LCA consultants such as TPC are well equipped in quickly identifying which data is required, how to identify data gaps, how to supplement data gaps, which methodologies and software to use for analyzing this data, and how to generate high-quality reports in clear language that decision makers can act on. Depending on the types and numbers of products and processes that you need evaluated, the LCA process could take several weeks to several months. If you are interested in a quote, please contact us at contact@threepillarsgroup.com

An Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) involves an LCA specifically for a product (e.g. mobile phone, automobile, food packaging, etc.). EPDs provide a harmonized way to compare and contrast the environmental impacts/benefits of similar products (i.e. product categories). EPDs are outlined by ISO 14025 and are independently verified reports that are made available on the International EPD System Database. The goal of the EPD is to make it possible to provide an apples-to-apples comparison of two or more different products. Thus, EPDs require that LCA is implemented with specific guidance and rules for each product category, meaning that they have to abide by the same methods and procedures (e.g. similar calculation procedures, units, impact categories, allocation rules, system boundaries, etc.).

Our team has completed hundreds of product-level LCAs and GHG assessments for all different sectors, including oil & gas companies, manufacturers, logistics companies, and others. TPC is also a recommended consultant as listed by the EPD Operator and Administrator.