7. Frequently asked questions

Is LCA a design or redesign tool?

Life cycle assessment provides a quantified environmental evaluation of a product. As such, it must be based on a quantified life-cycle inventory, which is why it can only be applied to existing products. It is therefore more of a redesign tool. However, in certain cases, it can be used in the design of new products, if a sufficiently detailed concept or family of similar products exists to enable the inventory to be carried out.

When can I carry out a simplified LCA?

There are two types of "simplified" LCA:

• The impact assessment does not consider all the impact categories of the chosen method, but only one or more categories. This is the case, for example, with Bilan Carbone®, which considers only the impact category relating to global...