The LCA Commons-How an Open-Source Repository for US Federal Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Data Products Advances Inter-Agency Coordination

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a flexible and powerful tool for quantifying the total environmental impact of a product or service from cradle-to-grave. The US federal government has developed deep expertise in environmental LCA for a range of applications including policy, regulation, and emerging technologies. LCA professionals from across the government have been coordinating the distributed LCA expertise through a community of practice known as the Federal LCA Commons. The Federal LCA Commons has developed open data infrastructure and workflows to share knowledge and align LCA methods. This data infrastructure is a key component to creating a harmonized network of LCA capacity from across the federal government.

Automated summary

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a tool for quantifying the environmental impact of a product or service from production to disposal. The US federal government has developed expertise in environmental LCA for policy, regulation, and emerging technologies. The Federal LCA Commons is a community of LCA professionals from different government agencies, coordinating and sharing knowledge through open data infrastructure and workflows.