Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is now an essential tool for assessing and reducing environmental impacts. Used in ecodesign, decarbonisation strategies and public policy alike, it enables the environmental impacts of a system to be assessed across its entire life cycle. 

However, the term “LCA” covers several different approaches, including product LCA, organisational LCA, territorial LCA and prospective LCA. This diversity often leads to confusion. One of the most common examples is the distinction between a product’s carbon footprint and an organisation’s carbon footprint: both assess greenhouse gas emissions, but at very different scales. 

So, how do you choose the right approach? In this article, we explore the main types of LCA to help you understand their objectives, key differences and areas of application. 

At WeLOOP, we support businesses and public authorities in carrying out Life Cycle Assessments tailored to their strategic, regulatory and operational challenges. 

Principles of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) 

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LCA is an impact assessment method that goes beyond carbon emissions (CO₂e). It provides a multicriteria and systems-based assessment of the environmental impacts associated with a product, an activity or a territory.  

The main objective is generally to identify “hotspots”, i.e. the life cycle stages generating the most significant impacts, in order to effectively target improvement actions. 

All LCAs are based on the methodological framework defined by the ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 standards and always include the following four stages, which address the same key questions:

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This is the most widely recognised form of LCA and applies to existing products or materials at an industrial scale. The identified hotspots may relate to the materials, energy use or transport specific to a product. For example: 

It is a reference tool for the following approaches: 

Organisational LCA: to identify the impacts of your organisation 

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Its objective is to assess the overall environmental impacts of an organisation, whether a company, public administration, association or group. Complementary to a carbon footprint assessment, which focuses solely on greenhouse gas emissions, organisational LCA adopts a multicriteria approach that also enables the assessment of: 

It therefore becomes a strategic management tool for integrating environmental considerations into business decision-making and is based on all the flows associated with the organisation: 

Territorial LCA: assessing the impacts of a territory 

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Territorial LCA applies the life cycle approach to a geographical area, such as a city, metropolitan area, region or industrial territory, as well as to a sector operating within a specific territory. The objective is no longer to analyse a product or an organisation, but rather all the activities that contribute to the functioning of the territory or sector.

For example, a local authority can use territorial LCA to compare different mobility scenarios, such as the development of cycling infrastructure, transport electrification or the creation of new infrastructure. The main benefit is to avoid impact shifting. A solution that appears beneficial at a local level may sometimes generate significant impacts elsewhere throughout its life cycle. LCA provides precisely this global and systemic perspective.

 It is particularly useful for: 

Prospective LCA: to assess the impacts of future products 

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Conventional LCA analyses systems that already exist. But how can we assess a technology that is still under development, or a strategy that will only be implemented several years from now? This is where prospective LCA comes in. The objective is not to predict the future with certainty, but to help decision-makers direct their investments towards the most relevant long-term solutions. 

This approach aims to anticipate future environmental impacts by incorporating assumptions about future developments: 

It is particularly used for: 

How to choose the right LCA scale? 

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Life Cycle Assessment is now one of the most powerful multicriteria tools for understanding and reducing environmental impacts. Its value also lies in its ability to adapt to different decision-making scales. There is not one single type of LCA, but rather several complementary approaches. 

Whether the aim is to improve a product, manage an organisation, transform a territory or assess tomorrow’s innovations, each type of LCA addresses a specific objective. 

The challenge is therefore not to choose “the best” approach, but to select the most relevant one to answer the question at hand. In all cases, the robustness of the results depends largely on the quality of the data, the assumptions made and the definition of the study scope. 

At WeLOOP, we use LCA to support decision-making. Thanks to our expertise in different assessment scales, we help businesses, industry players and public authorities understand their impacts and identify the most relevant action levers.