Sustainability & Carbon
Environmental impact categories assessed under PEF methodology
EU regulations now requiring LCA-based product data
Of product environmental impact typically sits in the supply chain
Life Cycle Assessment is the internationally standardized methodology for quantifying the environmental impacts of a product across its entire lifecycle—from raw material extraction through manufacturing, distribution, use, and end-of-life. ISO 14040 defines the principles; ISO 14044 specifies the requirements.
LCA has moved from voluntary best practice to regulatory mandate across the EU. The ESPR requires lifecycle performance data for nearly all physical products. CSRD demands lifecycle emissions disclosures. CBAM requires embedded emissions data. The EU Battery Regulation mandates carbon footprint declarations. Digital Product Passports will carry LCA-derived data. Each regulation requires supplier-level primary data—not estimates.
LCA compliance requires granular environmental data from every tier of your supply chain: energy consumption, raw material inputs, transport distances, manufacturing emissions, and waste outputs. When regulations demand primary data over generic databases, your supplier evidence gap becomes a compliance gap.
Key Components / Sub-Frameworks
Manufacturers placing physical products on the EU market under ESPR
Companies reporting under CSRD requiring Scope 3 and lifecycle emissions data
Importers subject to CBAM requiring embedded emissions calculations
Battery manufacturers and importers under the EU Battery Regulation
Companies making environmental claims subject to ECGT enforcement from September 2026
Suppliers required to provide primary environmental data to downstream customers
Key Thresholds
LCA requires primary data from every supplier: energy mix, process emissions, transport modes, raw material origins. You send data request forms to 200 suppliers. Forty respond. Fifteen provide usable data. The rest send generic statements or nothing at all. Your LCA is 80% database proxies—and your regulator wants primary data.
ESPR needs lifecycle performance data. CSRD needs Scope 3 emissions. CBAM needs embedded carbon. The Battery Regulation needs carbon footprint declarations. Each regulation requires overlapping but differently formatted LCA data from the same suppliers. Without a unified collection system, your team runs four parallel campaigns for the same underlying information.
Generic LCA database values satisfy no one. Auditors flag proxy data. Customers demand primary data. PEF methodology requires supplier-specific inputs for foreground processes. But your suppliers operate across 15 countries, use different energy mixes, and measure in different units. Normalizing this data manually is a full-time job for a team of specialists.
Each product group requires Environmental Product Declarations or Digital Product Passport data derived from verified LCA results. Complex products with hundreds of components require component-level lifecycle data—material composition, processing energy, transport emissions—aggregated into product-level footprints. Manual lifecycle data management at this scale is unsustainable.
Certivo In Action
LCA Workflow
Electronics Manufacturing
Pain Point
Complex BOMs; embedded energy in components; DPP requirements imminent
Automotive Manufacturing
Pain Point
Tier-deep supply chains; Catena-X PCF requirements; battery lifecycle mandates
Industrial & Heavy Equipment
Pain Point
Legacy products; global suppliers; OEM lifecycle data requests
Aerospace & Defense
Pain Point
Stringent documentation; prime flowdown for environmental data to sub-tiers
Construction Materials
Pain Point
EN 15804 EPD requirements; whole-life carbon for buildings
Energy & Infrastructure
Pain Point
CBAM exposure; embedded emissions in steel, aluminium, cement
Consumer Goods
Pain Point
High SKU counts; ESPR first wave (textiles, furniture); PEF requirements
Chemical Manufacturing
Pain Point
Process emissions complexity; PEF Category Rules; downstream data obligations
From Manual Data Collection to Automated LCA Evidence
CORA collects and extracts supplier environmental data automatically. Your team focuses on data quality review and regulatory interpretation—not chasing suppliers for emissions factors.
LCA Evidence Package Acceleration
Generate complete, audit-ready lifecycle evidence packages in hours—not the months of manual data aggregation across suppliers and product lines.
Proactive LCA Compliance Monitoring
When new ESPR delegated acts are published, Certivo maps requirements to your portfolio instantly. Know which products need lifecycle data before customer or regulatory deadlines hit.
Key Statistics
Frequently Asked Questions
Which EU regulations require LCA-based product data?
Five major EU regulations now require or reference LCA data: the ESPR (lifecycle performance for nearly all physical products), CSRD (Scope 3 and value chain emissions), CBAM (embedded emissions for covered goods), the EU Battery Regulation (carbon footprint declarations), and the ECGT (substantiation for environmental claims from September 2026). Certivo collects supplier lifecycle data once and validates it against all applicable frameworks.
What is the PEF methodology and how does it relate to LCA?
The Product Environmental Footprint is the European Commission’s harmonized LCA methodology, assessing 16 environmental impact categories including climate change, resource depletion, and water use. PEF builds on ISO 14040/14044 but adds specific rules for comparability, data quality, and reporting. CORA validates supplier data against PEF requirements and flags gaps where primary data is needed.
What are the penalties for not having LCA data under ESPR?
Products that fail to meet ESPR ecodesign requirements—including lifecycle data obligations specified in delegated acts—cannot be placed on the EU market. Non-compliant products may be withdrawn, recalled, or restricted by market surveillance authorities. The ESPR also bans the destruction of unsold consumer products starting July 2026 for large enterprises.
How does Certivo help collect primary LCA data from suppliers?
Certivo launches automated, multi-language supplier campaigns requesting specific environmental data: energy consumption, process emissions, material compositions, and transport information. CORA parses responses in any format, extracts data points to emissions-factor precision, and maps them to your product BOM structure. Data quality scoring distinguishes primary supplier data from generic proxies.
How does LCA data support Digital Product Passport requirements?
Digital Product Passports under the ESPR will carry lifecycle environmental data including carbon footprint, material composition, resource use, and circularity metrics. Certivo generates DPP-ready data exports from validated supplier LCA evidence, formatted for integration with DPP registries and data carriers. This ensures product-level lifecycle data is audit-ready and machine-readable.