Orientation · Lesson 3 · 6 min

Timetable

The school opens one class at a time. Live means ready to use. Building means work has started and parts may appear soon. Planned means on the roadmap, not started.

Orientation Live

Why learn LCA?: unit costing for the environment, and the three things every LCA needs
Welcome, new students: how the school is organised
Timetable: this page

LCA 101 · Foundations Live

#	Lesson	You’ll be able to
1	What is LCA?	Tell an LCA from a carbon footprint, an EPD and a PCF, and know when each is needed
2	The ISO 14040/44 framework	Name the four phases and explain why LCA is iterative
3	Where emission factors come from	Trace a database emission factor back to its elementary flows and read the label before you use it
4	Goal and scope	Define a functional unit, draw a system boundary, and apply the ISO allocation hierarchy
5	Life cycle inventory	Build an inventory, choose between primary and background data, and judge data quality
6	Impact assessment	Explain classification and characterisation, and pick an LCIA method
7	Interpretation	Run contribution, sensitivity and consistency checks, and write honest limitations
8	Worked example	Calculate a cradle-to-gate footprint by hand

LCA 201 · The drivers Live

#	Lesson	You’ll be able to
0	Overview: one method, many drivers	See which driver asks what, and who in the company feels it
1	How EPDs work	Explain programme operators, PCRs, verification, and EN 15804+A2 modules and indicators
2	How to read an EPD	Check any EPD against a ten-point list and set up a fair comparison
3	The Construction Products Regulation	Explain how environmental declarations reach each product family, and what to do now
4	CBAM	Apply the 50-tonne threshold, explain embedded emissions, and ask suppliers for the right data
5	Product carbon footprints	Answer a customer PCF request with the unit, boundary, method and data stated
6	Which standard applies?	Choose the standard from what the result is for and who will read it

LCA 202 · Data Live

#	Lesson	You’ll be able to
0	Overview: the two inputs you bring	Know what you need from your own systems and from a database
1	From bill of materials to inventory	Turn a costing BOM into an inventory, with scrap, packaging, transport, energy and waste
2	Choosing a database and emission factors	Pick datasets, record data quality, and check licence terms before sharing or using an AI tool
3	Supplier-specific data	Ask suppliers for the right data and check what comes back

Skills class and skills cabinet Live

How to use, and then build, skills for Claude, Claude Cowork and ChatGPT that draft LCA work with every number traced to evidence, so your job becomes checking it. Start at the Skills class, where the skills cabinet has each skill as a free download:

Skill	What it is for
`epd-reader`	Summarising an EPD with page references, and flagging expired or non-EN 15804+A2 declarations
`bom-carbon-screening`	Turning a bill of materials into a screening carbon footprint, using only sourced factors
`supplier-epd-compare`	Checking supplier EPDs are comparable, then comparing them like for like
`cbam-data-request`	Screening goods by confirmed CN code, drafting supplier data requests and checking the replies
`cpr-readiness`	Mapping your EPDs and data against the CPR’s environmental requirements, with a gap list
`lca-report-review`	Reviewing an LCA or EPD background report against ISO 14044 and EN 15804+A2

LCA 301 · Advanced method Planned

Multi-output processes, allocation and system expansion in practice
Recycling and end of life: cut-off, 50/50, circular footprint formula
Uncertainty: pedigree matrix, Monte Carlo
Consequential versus attributional LCA
Biogenic carbon

Platform features Planned

Quizzes at the end of each lesson
Progress tracking
Downloadable exercise workbooks
Certificate of completion

Choose your path

You don’t need every lesson to do your job. Start with Why learn LCA?, then follow the path for your role, in order. The skill named for each role is the one to install from the Skills class once you have taken the lessons: the lessons teach you to do the work by hand, so you can check what the assistant does.

You compare suppliers, ask them for data and, for some goods, pay for carbon at the border.

Skills: supplier-epd-compare, cbam-data-request (Skills class)

You build business cases and budgets, and CBAM puts carbon on the cost line.

Skill: bom-carbon-screening (Skills class)

You make the design choices that set most of a product’s footprint.

LCA 101, all eight lessons
LCA 202 lesson 1: from bill of materials to inventory
LCA 202 lesson 2: databases
LCA 201 lesson 1: how EPDs work
LCA 201 lesson 3: the Construction Products Regulation (for construction products)

Skills: bom-carbon-screening, cpr-readiness (Skills class)

Customers and tenders ask you for EPDs and footprints, and your answers have to be right.

Skill: epd-reader (Skills class)

You coordinate the company’s product data and answer to all the drivers.

Skills: bom-carbon-screening, cpr-readiness, cbam-data-request (Skills class)

You check LCA work, whether it was written by a consultant, a colleague or an AI assistant.

Skill: lca-report-review (Skills class)

Next · 1.1What is LCA?

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