Life Cycle Assessment & ISO 14040/14044 Verification

Comprehensive Life Cycle Assessment to Optimise Product Environmental Performance

Certified life cycle assessment services from ALCAS and ACLCA accredited practitioners, delivering ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 aligned studies for Australian manufacturers, developers and product owners.

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60+
Life Cycle Assessments Delivered
ISO
14040 and 14044 Aligned Methodology
ALCAS &
ACLCA
Certified Practitioners
100%
Independent, Unbiased Advice

Trace the Full Lifecycle

From raw material extraction to end-of-life, an LCA maps the environmental impact your product carries at every stage. Our team can scope a study that meets ISO 14040/44 and holds up to scrutiny.

See Our Process
About This Service

Life Cycle Assessment: What It Is and Why It Matters

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is the internationally recognised method for quantifying the environmental impacts of a product, material or service across its entire life, from raw material extraction through manufacturing, distribution, use and end of life. Conducted to the ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 standards, LCA gives your organisation defensible, comparable data to guide product design, substantiate environmental claims and meet the growing expectations of customers, regulators and green building schemes.

At Aqualis Carbon Advisory, our practitioners are certified through the Australian Life Cycle Assessment Society and the American Center for Life Cycle Assessment. We have delivered more than sixty life cycle assessments across manufacturing, construction products, packaging, agriculture and infrastructure, giving us a practical understanding of where impacts typically arise and how to model them credibly.

Whether you need a screening study to guide early-stage product decisions, a full cradle-to-grave assessment to underpin an Environmental Product Declaration, or independent critical review of an LCA prepared elsewhere, we manage the process end to end using internationally recognised life cycle inventory databases and impact assessment methods.

What We Assess

Life Cycle Assessment Aligned with ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 Standards

Every credible life cycle analysis begins with a clearly defined system boundary. We work with you to select and document the boundary that matches your goals, your product and your intended audience.

CRADLE TO GATE

Raw Material to Factory Gate

Covers raw material extraction, processing and manufacturing up to the point your product leaves the factory. The most common boundary for Environmental Product Declarations and business-to-business reporting.

CRADLE TO GRAVE

Full Product Life Cycle

Extends the assessment through distribution, use and end of life, including disposal, recycling or reuse. Gives the most complete picture of a product’s total environmental footprint.

GATE TO GATE

Single Process Step

Focuses on one value-adding process within a larger production chain. Useful for identifying hotspots within your own operations before scaling to a full study.

CRADLE TO CRADLE

Circular Product Systems

Accounts for material recovery and reintroduction into new production cycles, supporting circular economy strategies and closed-loop product design.

Why It Matters

Why Australian Organisations Invest in Life Cycle Analysis

Life cycle assessment has moved from a niche technical exercise to a core input for product design, procurement and disclosure. The organisations that invest early gain a genuine competitive advantage.

Strategic and Commercial Drivers

  • Substantiate environmental claims with defensible, third-party reviewable data rather than generic marketing statements
  • Underpin Environmental Product Declarations required by Green Star, NABERS and other rating tools
  • Identify the highest-impact stages of your product life cycle to prioritise design improvements and cost savings
  • Differentiate your products in tenders and specifications that increasingly request life cycle data
  • Support circular economy and product stewardship strategies with credible baseline data

Regulatory and Reporting Drivers

  • International markets and supply chains increasingly require ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 aligned life cycle data from suppliers
  • Life cycle assessment provides the technical foundation for Environmental Product Declarations under ISO 14025
  • Complements AASB S2 climate disclosures by quantifying embodied and value chain impacts at the product level
  • Supports government and institutional procurement policies that favour lower-impact products and materials
  • Positions your organisation ahead of tightening product stewardship and extended producer responsibility regulation
Our Methodology

Our Life Cycle Assessment Process

We follow the four-phase structure set out in ISO 14040, with an additional review stage to keep your study audit-ready and, where required, ready for independent critical review under ISO 14044.

01

Goal and Scope Definition

We define the purpose of the study, the intended audience, the functional unit and the system boundary in line with ISO 14040, so every downstream decision is anchored to a clear objective.

02

Life Cycle Inventory

We compile the inputs and outputs of your product system, including energy, materials, water and emissions, using primary data from your operations supplemented by recognised inventory databases.

03

Life Cycle Impact Assessment

We translate inventory data into environmental impact categories such as climate change, resource depletion, water use and eutrophication, using internationally recognised characterisation methods.

04

Interpretation and Reporting

We interpret the results against your original goal and scope, identify significant contributors and limitations, and prepare a clear, decision-useful report for technical and non-technical audiences.

05

Critical Review and Verification

Where your study will support public claims or an Environmental Product Declaration, we coordinate independent critical review in accordance with ISO 14044 to confirm methodological rigour.

Why Aqualis

Why Choose Aqualis Carbon Advisory for Life Cycle Assessment

We are an independent Australian climate advisory firm with practitioners certified by the Australian Life Cycle Assessment Society and the American Center for Life Cycle Assessment. We do not sell LCA software licences or inventory databases, which means our modelling choices are made in your interest, not ours.

ALCAS &
ACLCA
Certified Practitioners
60+
Life Cycle Assessments Delivered
ISO
14040 and 14044 Aligned Methodology
100%
Independent, Unbiased Advice

Our credentials include:

Certified practitioners with the Australian Life Cycle Assessment Society (ALCAS) and the American Center for Life Cycle Assessment (ACLCA)
Over sixty life cycle assessments delivered across manufacturing, construction products, packaging and agriculture
Methodology aligned with ISO 14040, ISO 14044 and ISO 14025 for Environmental Product Declarations
Experience across leading life cycle inventory databases and impact assessment methods
Independent advice with no commercial ties to LCA software vendors or database providers
Our Services

Our Full Range of Services

Life cycle assessment often sits alongside broader reporting and certification needs. Aqualis offers complementary services to help you measure, disclose, certify and reduce your environmental footprint.

AASB S2 Reporting Prepare mandatory climate-related financial disclosures
Climate Active Certification (Organisation) Achieve carbon neutral certification for your organisation
GHG Emissions Inventories ISO-aligned Scope 1, 2 and 3 carbon footprint measurement
Life Cycle Assessment Current page
Environmental Product Declarations Publish independently verified product sustainability data
Climate Active Certification (Products & Services) Certify your products or services as carbon neutral
Net Zero Strategy Build a credible, science-aligned pathway to net zero
Carbon Offsets Guidance Independent advice on sourcing, evaluating and retiring high-quality carbon offsets
Common Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

Have questions about life cycle assessment? Here are the questions we hear most often from Australian manufacturers and product owners.

A carbon footprint, or GHG inventory, measures a single impact category, greenhouse gas emissions, typically at the organisational level. A life cycle assessment is broader in two ways. It is usually conducted at the product or material level rather than the organisational level, and it can assess multiple environmental impact categories, including climate change, water use, resource depletion, eutrophication, acidification, ozone depletion, human toxicity, land use etc., not just carbon. Many organisations use both tools together, an organisational GHG inventory to manage corporate emissions and product-level LCA to inform design and disclosure decisions.
Timelines depend on the complexity of your product system and the availability of primary data. A screening-level study for a single product with straightforward inputs can often be completed in three to four weeks. A full cradle-to-grave study intended to support an Environmental Product Declaration, including data collection across multiple suppliers and independent critical review, typically takes eight to twelve weeks. We agree a realistic timeline with you at the outset based on your goal, scope and data readiness.
ISO 14040 sets out the principles and framework for life cycle assessment, describing the four phases of goal and scope definition, inventory analysis, impact assessment and interpretation at a conceptual level. ISO 14044 provides the detailed requirements and guidelines for actually carrying out an LCA in line with those principles, including specific rules for data quality, allocation, impact assessment methods and reporting. In practice, a compliant study is described as being conducted in accordance with both ISO 14040 and ISO 14044.
Yes. An Environmental Product Declaration, or EPD, is a standardised report of the environmental impacts of a product based on ISO 14025, and the underlying data is generated through a life cycle assessment conducted to ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 in accordance with the relevant Product Category Rules. The LCA is the technical foundation, and the EPD is the standardised, publicly available document that communicates its results. We can deliver the LCA, prepare the EPD, and coordinate independent verification through your chosen program operator.
We provide a tailored data collection template at the start of every engagement. Typically, this includes a bill of materials, energy and water consumption for relevant manufacturing processes, transport distances and modes, packaging specifications, and end-of-life pathways where known. Where primary data is not available for a particular input, we draw on recognised life cycle inventory databases and clearly document these assumptions in the final report, so the boundaries of the study are always transparent.
Get Started

Ready to Start Your Life Cycle Assessment? Let’s Talk.

Getting started is straightforward. Fill in the form below and one of our certified LCA practitioners will be in touch within one business day to discuss your product, confirm the scope of work and provide a fee proposal. There is no obligation and the initial consultation is free.

Get Your Free Life Cycle Assessment Consultation

Complete the form below and we will be in touch within one business day.

Study Scope
Which system boundary are you interested in? *
Project Context
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