A Product Life Cycle Analysis is a process that measures the environmental impact of a commercial product, accounting for all stages of the product’s life cycle. The process evaluates various environmental metrics and can also be used in wider environmental documentation e.g., Environmental Product Declarations.
Exclusively looking at Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, Green Element defines a product life cycle analysis as the total sum of GHG emissions released in a commercial product’s life cycle.
This blog will review the benefits of conducting a product life cycle analysis and why an organisation may think about undertaking one. We consider what exactly is involved in the process and the benefits for organisations. We will then look at two examples of organisations that have successfully completed the process.
What are the benefits of conducting a product life cycle analysis?
Before delving into the specifics of what a product life cycle analysis entails, it is important to consider why an organisation would want to complete one in the first place. There are many benefits, some of which are categorised here into five main categories:
1. Reducing Environmental Impact
Identifying the phases of a product’s life cycle that produce the most GHG emissions can help to reduce environmental impact in the most effective way. Areas that emit the most GHG emissions within a product’s life cycle are called ‘carbon hotspots’. The carbon hotspots are then used to inform a more targeted approach for reduction.
The entire life cycle of a product is accounted for in this process and so avoids ‘burden shifting’ – reducing one impact by inadvertently increasing another.
2. Cost Savings
Cost savings can often be achieved by organisations that tackle the carbon hotspots of a product and address supply chain inefficiencies. For example, reducing the electricity input during the manufacturing process reduces costs as well as GHG emissions.
3. Tracking and Future Proofing
The first product life cycle analysis that your organisation conducts can be used as a benchmark. With this benchmark, mitigation targets can be set, and performance can be tracked over time. This can help to ensure that the product is compliant with any new legislation that may arise. It also offers opportunities to create forward-thinking and sustainable product designs.
4. Supplier and Customer Stewardship
Transparent communications of a product’s life cycle analysis can strengthen relationships with both suppliers and customers. Organisations often share reductions in environmental impacts and financial costs with both suppliers and customers.
Suppliers can benefit from sustainable product design, such as streamlining the manufacturing process. Open communication surrounding the product’s life cycle can also influence how the consumer uses a product and promotes environmentally friendly consumer behaviour e.g., the I Prefer 30 Campaign.
Both examples reduce the energy inputs required at each respective stage, which in turn decreases the product’s life cycle GHG emissions.
Businesses that advertise their sustainability efforts have an edge over their competitors. Demonstrating the impacts of a product throughout its entire life cycle can help to gain customers’ trust. Additionally, the rigorous nature of the product life cycle analysis process also avoids the potential for greenwashing. Check out KMI Brands’ public commitment to the planet, ecosystems, circularity, and people.
Source: KMI Brands Commitments Report
How can organisations get started?
The key features that organisation should consider when planning to conduct a product life cycle analysis are:
Product Selection and Functional Unit
Organisations should first identify a product that is representative of its business model and strategically aligned with its business goals, i.e., bestselling or ‘hero’ products. Once the product has been chosen, the functional unit (FU) needs to be determined. The FU is the denominator for all life cycle analysis calculations; the final figures will be reported as GHG emissions per FU. The choice of FU should consider a product’s design, purpose, and defining characteristics.
Set the Life Cycle Boundary
Organisations will need to set the boundaries of how far they intend to measure a product’s environmental impacts. Below is an example breakdown of the different stages of a product’s life cycle, starting at the ‘cradle’ and finishing at the ‘grave’.
A product life cycle analysis can be set within 3 boundaries:
- Cradle-to-gate, which stops at the point of sale of the product
- Cradle-to-grave, which incorporates the product’s use and disposal
- Cradle-to-cradle, where the product is recycled back to its original purpose
Cradle-to-grave is usually recommended for products that have significant GHG emissions from the use phase, such as electrical appliances or vehicles. If you want to know more about a product’s end of life, and the possibilities for recycling, reuse, repair, and remanufacturing, then check out our blog: Making the Linear Circular: a short guide to the circular economy.
Identify Attributable Processes/Scoping
When setting boundaries for emissions, it is essential to create a process map that outlines and categories all related activities. This includes but is not limited to, any processes that involve raw materials or energy inputs that therefore have associated GHG emissions.
Below is an example process map for the life cycle of a hand soap product.
Co-product Allocation Methodology (where applicable)
In the instance where the product life cycle analysis produces or uses a co-product, a methodology for allocating ‘common processes’ (processes that cannot be subdivided per co-product) will need to be agreed upon. For example, an organisation conducting a life cycle analysis on a leather product would have to divide the greenhouse gas emissions from cattle farming between meat and leather production.
There are two main allocation methodologies:
Physical Allocation
This allocates the GHG emissions based on the physical amounts of the constituent co-products, e.g., the weight of leather product vs meat product per farmed cow).
Economic Allocation
This allocates GHG emissions based on the market value of the constituent co-products, e.g., the value of leather product vs meat product per farmed cow.
It is suggested that physical allocation should be utilised whenever feasible, especially if the value of the co-products is likely to fluctuate with market changes.
Once the functional unit, scope, and boundary of the chosen product have been classified, the organisation can start collecting primary data to convert into GHG emissions.
For additional help, the GHG Protocol publishes guidance on how to quantify and report life cycle GHG emissions of products in the Product Life Cycle Accounting and Reporting Standard – the most widely accepted standard of its kind. Green Element aligns its Life Cycle Analysis methodologies with this standard.
Below are two examples of organisations that have partnered with Green Element to calculate a product life cycle analysis for a selection of their products.
Case Study 1 – Ocean Bottle
Ocean Bottle manufactures reusable water bottles from recycled materials and recovered ocean-bound plastic. Each purchase funds the collection of 11.4kg of ocean-bound plastic (equivalent to 1000 plastic bottles). Ocean Bottle also offers a refill scheme that customers can use to further contribute to the plastic collection
Green Element worked with Ocean Bottle to help achieve its goal of quantifying and ultimately reducing the environmental impact of its bottles by performing product life cycle analyses for eight key products.
The product life cycle analyses identified transport and distribution throughout the supply chain as the primary carbon hotspot in seven out of eight products. Green Element provided targeted guidance to Ocean Bottle to help reduce the GHG emissions associated with transportation (e.g., changing transport modes, fuel types, and streamlining & consolidating journeys). The impact of these recommendations was assessed with a modelling exercise, the results of which influenced the prioritisation of investment.
Green Element’s guidance also considered the two other largest carbon hotspots: raw materials and the energy required for bottle manufacturing. The results of the product life cycle analyses can now help build Ocean Bottle’s environmental strategy and plan towards reducing the GHG emissions of its products year on year.
Case Study 2 – KMI Brands
KMI Brands manufacture cosmetics products for a handful of different commercial brands, as well as its own product range. Green Element worked with KMI Brands to quantify the GHG emissions of four new products. KMI Brands’ aim was for the result of the product life cycle analyses to support and inform environmental communications to customers.
In planning the launch of its new brand Plantopia, KMI Brands had done a lot of work in crafting its sustainability messaging, particularly around one of its key mottos; ‘wellness for people and planet’. The brand’s mission to drive positive change was rooted in the extensive surveying that was undertaken with its customer base.
The product life cycle analyses were calculated to add credibility and transparency to KMI’s environmental claims, honouring the relationship it had developed with its customers. Sustainability is a big word in the cosmetics industry, but KMI felt that quantifying the GHG emissions for its products would set them apart from the competition. Performing the life cycle analyses ahead of launch also meant that the results could inform the product design.
The results of the product life cycle analyses enabled more effective environmental communications with its loyal customer base, as well as identifying inefficiencies and reduction opportunities in the supply chain (in turn cutting costs and improving product design).
This blog has defined a product life cycle analysis as the measure of a commercial product’s total life cycle GHG emissions. There are several benefits to performing a product life cycle analysis, from tracking and reducing a product’s GHG emissions to improving transparency for customers. These benefits can result in improved efficiency, cost savings, competitive advantage, and increased brand loyalty.
For organisations considering undertaking a life cycle analysis for their products, identifying the product, its functional unit, scopes, and boundary for measurement are the first steps.
For more information about Green Element’s partnerships with Ocean Bottle and KMI Brands, you can access the full case studies here.
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