Calculating life cycle assessment, carbon footprints and other indicators
LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) software is essential for evaluating the environmental impact of products, processes, and services throughout their entire lifecycle. A good software offers more than just results. Here’s why it’s crucial if you want to explore the full power of LCA:
- Comprehensive Environmental Analysis – It helps assess impacts from raw material extraction, production, usage, and disposal, providing a full picture of sustainability.
- Efficiency & Accuracy – Manual LCA calculations are complex and time-consuming. Software streamlines the process and minimizes errors.
- Regulatory Compliance – Many industries must meet environmental standards. LCA software helps track emissions, energy use, and ecological footprints.
- Decision Support – Businesses and policymakers use LCA data to make informed choices about product design, material sourcing, and sustainability initiatives.
- Benchmarking & Certification – Companies aiming for eco-labels (like “naturemade star”), environmental product declaration (EPD) or carbon footprint reduction use LCA software to prove compliance.
- Cost Optimization – Identifying high-impact areas allows organizations to refine processes, reduce waste, and cut costs while improving environmental performance.
Essentially, LCA tools transforms raw data into actionable insights, making sustainable choices more accessible and effective. Are you looking for specific software recommendations, or are you working on an LCA project yourself? Contact us for advice on the LCA software that meets your needs.
Professional LCA software SimaPro
Since 1998 ESU-services applied and compared several software products for life cycle assessment such as Gabi (Sphera), Umberto, SimaPro, Gemis, OpenLCA or ecoMC.
The best known in the international leading LCA software, is SimaPro. It is under the top 5 leading software tools. Based on our experiences, we choose and use SimaPro for most of our consultancy projects and are a partner in the global SimaPro network.
SimaPro is the LCA software chosen by consultants, environmental managers of companies and research institutes. The tool offers all features that LCA experts do expect from a professional LCA software package. The software was created by PRé Sustainability.
SimaPro is a widely used LCA software tool that provides a comprehensive framework for conducting Life Cycle Assessments. Furthermore, it with its possibilities for automation, it is used as environmental product declaration creation tool. SimaPro has a comprehensive database of life cycle inventory (LCI) data that contains data on thousands of materials and processes, making it easier to collect and analyze data throughout a product’s life cycle. Most relevant are background data like ecoinvent or Carbon Minds.
SimaPro allows users to customize the modeling of their LCA by adjusting parameters and inputs to reflect specific industry or regional factors. This feature makes it easy to conduct LCAs that are tailored to specific applications, such as peer-reviewed LCA or verified EPDs.
SimaPro allows users to generate customized reports that summarize the results of their LCA in a clear and concise manner. This makes it easier for stakeholders to understand the results of the LCA and make informed decisions.
Businesses, governments, and research institutions use SimaPro to conduct LCAs of products and processes in a range of industries, including food and beverage, construction, and energy. It is a powerful and flexible tool that can help organizations make informed decisions about their environmental impact and improve their sustainability performance.
Simplified tools for calculation of LCA, carbon footprint and EPD
ESU-services offers several software tools for the calculation of life cycle assessment, carbon footprint or other indicators. Some examples for simplified tools include:
- Excel Key parameter models like our Christmas trees calculator
- Web calculators for online applications
- Software for EPD (environmental product declaration) calculation and reporting
- Sector specific tools e.g. for LCA of packaging or buildings
- Country specific software, e.g. with more inventory data for the US
- Indicator specific tools, e.g. for only calculating carbon and CO2 footprints of products
- Ecodesign programmes, for quick checks of development ideas
- Educational tools, e.g. for introducing LCA ideas to students in different subjects
- Social hotspot identification tools
- Cooperation tools for LCA data acquisition in up- and downstream supply chains
- Advanced applications of SimaPro with a web interface and operating SimaPro on a server
With this broad range of possibilities, we can guarantee to offer you the most suitable tool for the purpose you will need it. Please contact us if you are interested in a presentation of LCA software tools, and you are located in Switzerland, Austria, Germany or Liechtenstein.
Subpages with more detailed information
Key parameter model for simple life cycle assessment
ESU-services offers a range of tools which allow the easy calculation and analysis of the environmental impacts of products or services. The idea of a key parameter model (KPM) is to allow a simplified calculation of environmental impacts or carbon footprint for a specific type of product or services. They are based on the knowledge gained with a detailed LCA case study. We offer Excel spreadsheet or web-based solutions. This helps to minimize the project costs if several equivalent products or services shall be analyzed or compared. The KPM are easy to handle for SME operators, designers, or manufacturers.
Webtools to easily communicate LCA results
The calculation of environmental impacts is facilitated by the design of advanced tools. ESU-services has developed several webtools with the help of data investigated by us. Check out the following calculators for estimating environmental impacts:
- Climate footprint calculator for Switzerland
- Climate calculator for Germany
- Personal CO2 Emissions and cumulative energy demand in Switzerland
- Mobitool. Mobility in Companies Swiss Railways Timetable
Christmas trees calculator for carbon footprint
In the period before Christmas, the question often arises, ”Which Christmas tree is the most environmentally friendly option?” This simple Excel key parameter tool was developed by ESU-services with the goal to find the best option. The tool identifies the factors, which have the highest influence on the environmental impacts during the lifetime of a Christmas tree. Different scenarios e.g. on transport distances and usage time can be compared for natural and artificial Christmas trees. For the comparison of the trees, different alternatives were considered.
