Product development Life cycle assessment allows sustainable decisions

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Sustainability is no longer just a trend, but a long-term development. Consumer behavior has changed and is causing companies to rethink. The implementation of the circular economy has become established in this process. Life cycle assessment helps to implement this complex concept.

Numerous environmental problems cause a variety of issues: On the one hand, resources are becoming scarce, while some parts of the world are buried under mountains of garbage—without professional disposal and reprocessing. As a result, important resources are lost. Resources that are urgently needed.

With life cycle assessment to circular economy

To cope with these challenges, the establishment of a sustainable form of economy plays an essential role: With the circular economy, it's about keeping existing materials and products in a cycle as long as possible—so reusing, repairing and recycling them.

The first considerations towards a sustainable circular economy can be various: Which product design and materials are sustainable? Which raw materials have a good CO₂ balance? And with which manufacturing and delivery strategies is a self-contained circular economy possible?

Life cycle assessment solutions allow the quantification of environmental impacts of a product, component, or service with the entire ecosystem during the life cycle. These solutions are based on numerous sources and databases, which calculate the environmental compatibility. This brings measurability and clarity at each point in the value chain.

An example of such life cycle assessment is Dassault Systèmes' cloud-based solution Sustainable Innovation Intelligence. This follows a holistic and multi-criteria approach to assess the environmental impact of a product. The solution accesses the integrated environmental database ecoinvent, considering more than 18,000 data records on impacts of industrial and agricultural processes in various sectors. At the same time, depending on the approach, five different methods for data evaluation—including EF 3.0—can be used. This alone includes 16 different impact categories such as CO₂ emissions or water consumption.

The design phase is crucial

The comprehensive insights make life cycle assessments particularly relevant in the design phase, as this is where the greatest influence on the subsequent product is possible. Decisions in the development phase determine about 80 percent of the later environmental impact. This is where it is determined, for example, whether the product should be repairable. If detachable screw connections are present, individual components can be replaced in case of a defect, instead of discarding the product. The choice of environmentally friendly materials is also important, while the end product must still have a marketable price.

A lightweight material with low energy costs, for example, can have a good life cycle assessment in manufacturing, but may not be mature or durable in terms of recycling. A heavier material, on the other hand, can potentially cause more energy costs—especially in logistics—but overall have a better balance because it can be reintroduced into the cycle. Negative environmental impacts should not just be shifted, but avoided entirely if possible. Changes that initially appear positive may, upon a second look, come at the expense of sustainability.

The four phases of life cycle assessment

The process of life cycle assessment is based on four phases and is standardized by DIN EN ISO 14040. These phases can also be represented in the Sustainable Innovation Intelligence life cycle assessment solution.

• Scope definition: Without a target, there can be no action. In the first phase, it must be determined which environmental KPIs are to be achieved. What is the target value for CO₂ emissions? Is the entire product or just a component being considered—for example, the car or a single seat? Is only a certain section of the product life cycle relevant or are all sections important—Cradle-to-Gate (without use and disposal) or Cradle-to-Cradle? Which method of data evaluation is suitable?

• Inventory Analysis: In this phase, all relevant data are compiled—e.g., bills of materials, which are based on the use of a digital twin or on data from external suppliers. Depending on the life phase, it is possible to analyze individual activities or processes. For example, if a product is in production and is going to be milled next, the cut-off or the energy consumption of the milling machine is taken into account. Another example is transportation. If a product is delivered by truck, the properties of the vehicle, such as the type of drive or the consumption and the route, can be included in the solution. In this way, individual process steps are listed so that ultimately the CO₂ output for a product is determined.

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  Date: 08.12.2025

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• Impact Assessment: In this phase, the environmental impact is evaluated and assessed. Therefore, a holistic picture of the environmental compatibility of a product results from individual substeps. Graphs are created from the determined values in order to be able to compare them better.

• Trade-off Analysis: In the final phase, the reality check for the environmentally friendly product comes, as it must also be able to prove itself on the market. An "over-optimization" may make the CO₂ balance positive, but the product may be too expensive. The principle here is: Economic efficiency and environmental protection must be compatible. If a satisfactory result is not reached in this phase, further optimization possibilities are determined until the final product meets all the requirements.

Roles allow clear responsibilities

To keep track of the individual, sometimes very demanding, phases of the life cycle assessment, the solution is divided into role functions.

• The overall management, essentially as project manager, is taken over by the Sustainable Innovation Manager. This person should be very familiar with current environmental standards and know internal processes well, as this role also acts as an interface to the engineers.

• The Eco Design Engineer is a product specialist and provides bill of materials or weight specifications in order to calculate the KPIs. Therefore, he should be an expert in materials and materials technology.

• The Sustainable Innovation Analyst is particularly involved in the last two phases, ultimately checking the economic viability of the final product.

Rethinking required

The transition to a circular economy as a response to resource scarcity and environmental problems requires a rethink on the part of companies. Life cycle assessment is a crucial tool for enabling sustainable decisions. Life cycle assessment solutions like Sustainable Innovation Intelligence from Dassault Systèmes allow companies to analyze the ecological footprint of their products and define sustainable requirements early on.