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Running your first Life Cycle Assessment can feel intimidating, but the fundamentals are surprisingly approachable when framed as a structured sustainability workflow.
You don’t need deep technical expertise, just a clear question, reliable data, and a tool that helps guide you through each step. This guide walks you through the essentials in a way that supports beginners, students, and small teams exploring data-driven sustainability for the first time. Sustainly’s transparent AI and centralized sustainability data help keep the process clear, credible, and fast.

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1) Define Goal, Scope, and Functional Unit

Start by identifying what your assessment is meant to support. Are you comparing two product ideas? Evaluating a supplier? Exploring packaging options?
The clarity of your initial framing shapes everything that follows. A good setup includes:
  • Goal: the decision your results will inform
  • Scope: how much of the product lifecycle you want to include
  • Functional unit: the measurable service your product delivers
A strong functional unit ensures you create fair comparisons and communicate your results transparently.
In Sustainly: guided prompts help you define boundaries and structure your study so your project starts with clarity, even if you’re new to sustainability analysis.

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2) Build the Life Cycle Inventory (LCI)

Your inventory is simply a structured description of the product:
  • Materials
  • Manufacturing steps
  • Packaging
  • Transport
  • Use-phase assumptions
  • End-of-life expectations
For beginners, the most important thing is to be consistent and transparent about where your information comes from—supplier emails, product specs, or reasonable estimates.
Early LCAs don’t require perfect data. Start with the information you already have and refine as you learn more.
In Sustainly: transparent AI assists with mapping inputs, resolving naming inconsistencies, and harmonizing units, all while keeping full traceability so your decisions are easy to review later.

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3) Select Your Impact Categories

Impact categories determine what you are measuring—climate effects, resource use, water-related impacts, or other environmental indicators.
Many teams begin with climate because it is intuitive, but broadening your view helps avoid oversimplified conclusions. Choose categories aligned with your goals and your audience’s expectations. If you are making design decisions, a more holistic set of indicators often provides better insight. In Sustainly: you can explore multiple impact sets without rebuilding your model, making comparison and learning easier for beginners.

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4) Create Meaningful Scenarios

Scenarios are where your LCA becomes a decision-making tool. Examples include:
  • Recycled vs. conventional materials
  • Regional vs. global sourcing
  • Different product lifetimes
  • Alternative design or packaging choices
Scenarios help you understand not just what is, but what could be. In Sustainly: you can clone your baseline setup and adjust a single variable to see how each change affects the overall impact—ideal for early-stage learners and teams evaluating options quickly.

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5) Run the Assessment and Interpret Your Results

Once your model is ready, calculate the results and study the patterns:
  • Which materials or processes create the biggest impacts?
  • How do scenarios compare?
  • Are any inputs surprisingly influential?
  • Do assumptions need refining?
Interpretation is where sustainability work becomes actionable. Treat results as a conversation starter, not a final verdict.

Hotspot Analysis

Identify which stages contribute most to impact.

Scenario Insights

Compare options and understand trade-offs.
In Sustainly: dashboards highlight hotspots and suggest where deeper analysis or better data could improve your model.

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Optional: Prepare Communication-Ready Outputs

If you need to share findings with teammates, customers, or partners, organize your assumptions and insights clearly:
  • Functional unit
  • Boundary definition
  • Key results
  • Main scenarios
  • Hotspots and uncertainties
  • Next steps
Structured outputs help viewers understand your logic even if they aren’t sustainability experts. In Sustainly: reports are automatically formatted using your model’s data and documented assumptions, making stakeholder communication straightforward.

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Beginner Checklist

  • You defined a clear goal and functional unit
  • Your inventory is consistent and well-documented
  • You selected appropriate impact categories
  • Scenarios reflect real decision options
  • Hotspots and assumptions are transparent
  • Your final notes explain uncertainties and limitations
Don’t chase perfect data for your first assessment. Start with clarity, aim for transparency, and improve as you go.

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Common Challenges and How to Handle Them

Beginners often run into:
  • Missing supplier information: use reasonable proxies and document them
  • Unclear material names: rely on structured data and AI suggestions
  • Unit confusion: convert to consistent units early
  • Overcomplicating the model: focus on what influences decisions most
In Sustainly: automated data cleaning and guided workflows reduce these hurdles, helping you stay focused on learning and interpretation.

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Why Sustainly Supports Beginners So Well

Sustainly is built around transparent AI, centralized sustainability data, and scalable workflows—making LCA more accessible to students, SMEs, and anyone new to sustainability analysis. It simplifies what used to be complex:
  • Clean, guided setup
  • Automated data harmonization
  • Scenario modeling without friction
  • Insightful dashboards for interpretation
  • Collaboration across teams as you grow
These foundations help beginners build confidence while providing experts the depth they need.

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FAQ

What is a functional unit again?
It’s the measurable service your product provides—your entire assessment scales to this definition. Can a screening LCA still be useful?
Yes. Screening studies guide early decisions and help identify where more precise data will matter. Do I need advanced datasets to start?
No. You can begin with common, vetted sustainability data and refine your model as you learn more.

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Conclusion

Your first LCA doesn’t need to be complicated. With the right structure, clear assumptions, and an accessible tool like Sustainly, you can build a credible, decision-ready assessment in an afternoon. Start small. Learn fast. And use your LCA as a foundation for smarter, more sustainable product decisions.