Assessment

 While life cycle assessment studies can be time consuming and resource intensive, they can serve a critical role in meeting business objectives and stakeholder requests. There are several types of LCAs with varying levels of rigor and effort, ranging from a review and synthesis of published literature to a comprehensive cradle-to-grave third party verified LCA. In some instances, a streamlined LCA can meet the desired outcomes within time and budget constraints. A few examples of a streamlined LCA approach include consideration of only a portion of the product life cycle, an evaluation of a limited set of environmental impacts (like a carbon or water footprint), reliance primarily on secondary data, or a succinct report format that communicates only the most critical results, implications, and study assumptions.