Absolutely everything that is created goes through a series of life cycle stages, from raw material extraction to end of life. The scientific process of understanding the impacts that occur as a result of the materials that move through our economy is called Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).

The life cycle approach expands perspective from one aspect of a product's life to the full picture of what a product or service goes through. In doing so, you gain valuable insights into the environmental impacts for improvement and redesign. When using the ISO standards, you can publicly promote environmental performance.

Life cycle approaches are critical tools for thinking through and assessing the full impacts of a product, system or service during the design and development process.

In this module you will be taken through the different aspects of the ISO certified LCA process, learn how to read and research LCA's and when to hire experts to conduct them. Gain insights into functional unit definitions and how to apply functionality to sustainability decisions.

You will also learn how to do streamlined or quick life cycle map, use online tools and discover how to consider the full life cycle of your product, services and business aspects right from the start.