Strategic sustainability: Creating business value with life cycle analysis

Markets are increasingly demanding more sustainable products and services, as well as more information about the environmental qualities of the products and services they use. To meet market expectations, modern management needs powerful tools that can create an understanding about the environmental traits of products and services and how these products and services can be made more sustainable. The environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) approach is one such powerful tool that can evaluate the environmental aspects and impacts of a product or service from cradle to grave. While LCA was originally designed to support decisions in the environmental engineering area, it is a tool that can also be used managerially to develop valuable and fact-based sustainability strategies within the company regarding its products and services. Recent examples from industry leaders report exciting evidence of the power of LCA. This article introduces the LCA method as a management decision tool, and illustrates its value creation potential through multiple industry examples.