ecoinvent

Darwin uses ecoinvent 3.10 to transform product and commodity data into environmental pressures through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).

What is Life Cycle Assessment?

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a standardized methodology (ISO 14040/14044) for evaluating environmental impacts throughout a product's entire life cycle.

LCA Stages

Raw Material    →    Manufacturing    →    Distribution    →    Use    →    End of Life
Extraction           & Processing          & Retail             Phase       & Disposal

LCA tracks:

• Resource inputs: Energy, water, materials
• Emissions: To air, water, and soil
• Impacts: Climate, ecosystems, human health

ecoinvent Database

ecoinvent is the world's most comprehensive LCA database:

Geographic Coverage

ecoinvent provides data at multiple geographic levels:

How Darwin Uses ecoinvent

Product Data Processing

When you enter product data (e.g., "150 tonnes of paper"):

1. Product matching: Your product is matched to ecoinvent activities
2. Life cycle inventory: All inputs and emissions are calculated
3. Pressure extraction: Environmental pressures are aggregated
4. Geographic refinement: Region-specific data is applied when available

Commodity Data Processing

For commodity data (e.g., "50 tonnes of copper"):

1. Commodity mapping: Direct match to ecoinvent elementary flows
2. Production processes: Extraction and processing included
3. Supply chain: Upstream impacts captured

System Model: Attributional Cut-off

Darwin uses ecoinvent's attributional cut-off system model:

This approach is appropriate for:

• Corporate footprinting
• Product comparisons
• Regulatory reporting

Data Quality

ecoinvent ensures high data quality through:

• Peer review: All datasets reviewed by experts
• Documentation: Full transparency on data sources
• Uncertainty: Quantified uncertainty ranges
• Updates: Regular database releases

Quality Indicators

Each ecoinvent dataset includes quality metadata:

Product Categories

Examples of ecoinvent coverage: