What to do when LCAs are too expensive

Lifecycle Assessments (LCAs) are a powerful tool against greenwashing. They provide the analytical rigour behind claims such as avoided emissions, lower embodied emissions than a competitor, and carbon-neutral products. They can also help improve the accuracy of scope 3 emissions calculations.

What exactly are LCAs? They are a method for calculating the full environmental footprint of a product, from raw material extraction to manufacturing, use, and end-of-life disposal (or a subset of that journey). While any such analysis relies on a series of assumptions, internationally recognised LCA standards help ensure those assumptions are reasonable enough to make the final figures meaningful.

LCAs can be used to assess a range of environmental impacts, but they are most commonly applied to carbon emissions.

Not every business can afford an LCA. Consulting firms often charge at least $50,000 per product, and many projects require assessments for multiple products. At Linden, we use technology and a streamlined process to reduce that cost, but we recognise there are still plenty of businesses that can’t afford our services.

What should those businesses do? The short answer: calculate it yourself and get an expert to validate your work.

To calculate your own LCA, you first need to decide whether to use an online tool or conduct the analysis manually with a spreadsheet.

The trick with online tools is to find one that's user-friendly and covers your sector. For example, One Click LCA is well regarded for buildings and infrastructure projects while Planet Price's Product Calculator is a more universal tool (disclosure: I’m an investor).

For those up for the challenge (and I know many of my readers are), it is feasible to teach yourself how to conduct an LCA with nothing but a spreadsheet, internet connection and coffee. Here is a high-level and wholly inadequate roadmap to get you started in the right direction:

1. Study: Read the GHG Protocol Product Standard
2. Analyse: Map out your product’s full lifecycle (ChatGPT might be helpful here)
3. Research: For each lifecycle stage, find the most relevant, high-quality emissions data (Perplexity can help, but make sure to review the sources carefully)
4. Calculate: Tally the emissions from each stage, ensuring consistency in units throughout
5. Check: Compare your results against the carbon footprint of similar products to see if they are in the same ballpark

Once you’ve developed an estimate, validation is essential. While anyone can get started with LCA, the details matter—there are subtle, often counterintuitive aspects that are easy to overlook, even with a solid grasp of your supply chain. You might be 95% accurate, but it’s the final 5% that can undermine your credibility and increase the risk of greenwashing.

Formal assurance isn’t necessary. What matters is having someone with the right expertise review your calculations. At Linden Sustainability, we offer this as a low-cost service. Alternatively, if you’re willing to share your results publicly, an academic may be able to validate them at no charge.

Vino Cammino is a small wine importer and retailer with a big commitment: to neutralise its climate impact. While they explored commissioning a traditional LCA, they ultimately decided that the high cost required would be better spent on high-quality carbon offsets.

Fortunately, one of the co-founders, Josh, is a former management consultant and more than capable of taking the DIY route outlined above. Drawing on his deep knowledge of Vino Cammino’s supply chain and academic research, he developed emissions estimates for each bottle of red wine, white wine, and brandy the business sells.

To ensure the robustness of their calculations, Vino Cammino engaged Linden Sustainability to independently review the methodology. This included assessing the underlying logic, data sources, calculations, results, and how the findings were communicated, ensuring alignment with best practices and industry norms.

With confidence in their numbers, Vino Cammino has now published a detailed methodology and retired high-quality offsets covering all emissions to date and those anticipated through the remainder of the year.

LCAs often seem complex and expensive—and they can be. But as their applications grow, particularly for carbon accounting, so too do the tools and approaches that make them more accessible. For businesses that need an LCA, there is usually a creative and cost-effective path to getting it done.