Environmental footprinting & Life Cycle Assessment
Quantifying environmental impact
Each product has an impact on the environment, such as CO2, land use and use of resources. Environmental footprinting, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Carbon Footprinting are methods to investigate the environmental performance of products and supply chains. It allows to compare the environmental performance of different products, including information on CO2 emissions, land use and the identification of 'hotspots'. Furthermore, these methods give insights in possible (environmental) improvements in the supply chain.
Over the years we've supported many companies and organizations with LCAs and Carbon Footprints. We can help you with the full path of an LCA or Carbon Footprint, from drafting towards interpreting the LCAs and Carbon Footprints of your products.
How we can help you
Life Cycle Assessment
Carbon footprint
Product Environmental Footprint
Environmental footprint training
LCA is a technique to evaluate the environmental impact associated with the life of a product or service from cradle to grave.
Quantifying the environmental impact
Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) and Carbon Footprints are research methods to gain insight in the full life cycle of a product. It quantifies all inputs and outputs. This means all phases of a product are taken into account and analysed, from raw materials, packaging, transport, retail and consumer towards disposal or recycling. This means a product will be studied from cradle-to-grave. An LCA shows where the environmental impact in the supply chain takes place. Hotspots are the locations in the supply chain with the highest environmental impact. Disclosure of these hotspots is an opportunity to improve a certain process or product. Eventually, this will lead towards savings in for instance raw materials, energy use and cost and a more sustainable product. In some cases the environmental advantages can also be used as selling point.
Sound basis to monitor environmental performance
Life Cycle Assessments and Carbon Footprints give insights in the environmental impacts in the supply chain of a product. This forms a sound basis for companies and organisations which aim to monitor their environmental performance and develop strategies to reduce their impact. Life Cycle Assessments and Carbon Footprints are executed according to standardised and internationally recognised methods, such as ISO ISO14040/44. Besides that, it is important to use reliable data, in order to reach consistent and transparent results.
Why quantify the environmental impact?
Investigating the impact of a product or process had many advantages. It is an opportunity to tackle various sustainability issues.
Some examples:
- Insights in saving options
You aim to get insights in saving options for energy and materials which are used in the production process. - Increase market value
You want to increase market value, for instance by communication about the sustainability of your products. - Insights in the environmental impact
Your clients or investors want insights in the environmental impact of your products or production process. - Substantiate a strategic decision
You want to make certain strategic decisions, which need supporting information. - Development of innovations
You want to know the environmental advantages of certain innovation ideas.
Different types of LCAs and Carbon footprints
LCA/footprint |
Internal/external use |
Review/verification |
Data |
Deliverables |
Project duration |
| Screening LCA | Internal | Internal review | Company specific | Report and/or presentation | Appr. 1-3 months* |
| Product LCA | External | Independent review (1 expert) | Company specific & supply chain specific | Report and presentation | Appr. 2-5 months* |
| Comparative LCA | External | Independent external review (3 experts) | Company specific & supply chain specific | Report and presentation | Appr. 4-10 month* |
*Depending on the amount and complexity of the system
Examples of our LCA and carbon footprint work
case study
Critically reviewed Life Cycle Assessment studies of Oatly products and comparison with cow’s dairy products
Over the past year, our team has dedicated efforts to conduct a series of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies for Oatly, the global leader in oat-based drinks. Through critically reviewed studies, we have compared the environmental footprint of various Oatly products with their cow’s dairy counterparts.
This article gives an overview of the studies and provides access to the accompanying reports.
case study
Building an accurate footprint strategy with Blonk's Environmental Footprinting Modules
Implementing a consistent footprint monitoring strategy can be challenging, because of for instance complex and largescale data collection, lack of expertise on environmental footprinting calculations. Blonk's multidisciplinary team, skilled in environmental footprint analysis, software engineering, and data generation, is here to support. We support Albert Heijn with CO2-footprint calculations of fruit and vegetable products.
More information
Get in touch
Jasper Scholten
Please get in touch with Jasper if you would like to learn more about our Environmental Footprinting and LCA services.