Critical Review of LCA and CO2-footprints

The reliability and credibility of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) results can be increased by an independent review or validation process.  We are supervising LCA projects as external reviewers. Thus, we can support your LCA-projects and improve the reliability based on decades of experience in the field of LCA. Therefore, we offer the following services:

Critical Review according to ISO standards 14040, 14044, 14067

You are elaborating a full LCA or you work together with a consultant? The international life cycle standards (ISO 14040 and others) demands an external critical review panel for comparative studies which are published. Also, other studies can benefit from such an external view. The critical review process shall ensure that:

• the methods used to carry out the LCA are consistent with the international standard
• the methods used to carry out the LCA are scientifically and technically valid
• the data used are appropriate and reasonable in relation to the goal of the study
• the interpretations reflect the limitations identified and the goal of the study
• the study report is transparent and consistent

Comparative assertions in LCA

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) (2006:6.3) states the following concerning the procedure for the review of a comparative study planned for publication:

“A critical review may be carried out as a review by interested parties. In such a case, an external independent expert should be selected by the original study commissioner to act as chairperson of a review panel of at least three members. Based on the goal and scope of the study, the chairperson should select other independent, qualified reviewers. This panel may include other interested parties affected by the conclusions drawn from the LCA, such as government agencies, non-governmental groups, competitors and affected industries.”

How to proceed for getting an offer for a critical review

We offer you a critical review according to the ISO 14040, 14044 or 14067 standard by experienced LCA practitioners. Furthermore, we can also review against standards like the greenhouse gas protocol, SBTI or PAS 2050. Therefore, we will give feedback to the four main stages of such a study: goal & scope, inventory analysis, impact assessment and interpretation. For comparative studies, we can collaborate with other LCA experts in a review panel. The procedure and results of the processes are documented in a final review statement for the commissioner, which will also be part of the published study. Among others, we supported more than 100 LCA studies on the several different subjects as reviewers.

To provide a detailed offer, we need some information about the goal and scope of your study. Please provide the information in your Email request. Or book the date for an online meeting if you wish to speak with us directly:

• Full legal address of the commissioner for the critical review or data validation?
• Standard against which the review is performed (ISO 14040/44 (LCA), ISO 14067 (Carbon Footprint), Greenhouse gas protocol, etc.)?
• Key questions of the study?
• Are comparisons are planned? Will this be internal or external comparisons? (If comparative assertions disclosed to the public are planned, a critical review panel would be mandatory according to ISO 14040/44.)
• Number of pages in the LCA report, summary, documentation, etc. to be read?
• Number of newly modelled process steps (foreground data)?
• Format and documentation of the life cycle inventory data (preferably a complete export from SimaPro)?
• Individual review or panel (with chair or panel member in addition)?
• Stages of the review (individual review of the 4 LCA stages or review of the complete draft report)?
• Personal meetings, online meetings, etc. desired?
• Name, affiliation, and number of studies previously authored by the main author that have gone through a peer review, validation, or verification?

Internal and external Validation of LCI data

You would like to check your life cycle inventory analysis for completeness, consistency, and errors? Our experience allows an efficient validation of your data. We have validated several of the ecoinvent data. It was checked if these unit process raw data fulfil the quality guidelines of the ecoinvent centre.

Peer Reviews for Scientific Journals

Members of ESU-services Ltd. comprise the peer review of scientific papers on LCA related issues in the following scientific journals:

• Agricultural Systems
• AMBIO
• Biosystems Engineering
• Building and Environment
• Chemie Ingenieur Technik
• Ecological Economics
• Ecological Indicators
• Energy
• Energy for Sustainable Development
• Environmental Impact Assessment Review(EIA)
• Environment International
• Environmental Science & Technology (ES&T)
• Food Research International
• Fuel
• GCB Bioenergy
• GAIA - Zeitschrift für transdisziplinäre Umweltforschung
• International Dairy Journal
• International Journal of LCA
• Journal of Cleaner Production
• Journal of Industrial Ecology
• Land Use Policy
• Solar Energy
• Sustainability
• Waste Management
• Resources, Energy and Development (REaD)
• Energy: The International Journal