Your own assistant knows your role, your industry and your products. Pick a concept and it opens a ready-made prompt that asks for an explanation with examples from your world. The prompt tells the assistant not to invent emission factors or dates, and to finish with a question to check you understood.
“Copy prompt” works with any assistant, such as Gemini, Microsoft Copilot or your company’s own. Nothing is sent anywhere until you choose to.
Every LCA needs three things: a bill of materials, a standard and a database. LCA 201 covered the standards and the rules they set. This class covers the other two, because they are what you bring to the table, and they are where most of the effort (and most of the errors) sit.
Think of it as the difference between knowing the costing rules and actually building a cost model. The rules matter, but the answer is only as good as the quantities and the prices you put in.
Your bill of materials
What goes into the product, how much, and how it is made. You almost certainly have one already for costing and production. It needs some work before it becomes an inventory: units, scrap, packaging, transport, energy and waste all have to be added.
A database
The emission factors that play the part of unit prices: kg CO₂-eq per kg of steel, per kWh of electricity, per tonne-kilometre of trucking. Some databases are free, some are licensed, and the choice changes your answer and what you are allowed to do with it.
And a third source that sits between the two: supplier-specific data, such as a supplier’s EPD or product carbon footprint. When it is good, it beats a database average, just as a supplier’s quoted price beats a list price.
Every LCA needs three things
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Three ingredients
A bill of materials, a standard and a database.
Three boxes on the board: 1, the bill of materials; 2, a standard; 3, a database. Every life cycle assessment needs all three.
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1. The bill of materials
What goes into the product, how much, and how it is made.
The same list you use for costing.
The first ingredient is the bill of materials: what goes into the product, how much, and how it is made. Most companies already have it for costing and production.
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2. A standard
The rulebook: what to include, how to allocate, how to report.
ISO 14044ISO 14067EN 15804a PCR
The right one depends on what the result is for.
This is where most people get stuck. Verdatir helps you choose.
The second ingredient is a standard, the rulebook the analysis follows, such as ISO 14044, ISO 14067, EN 15804 or a product category rule (PCR). The right one depends on what the result will be used for. This is where most people get stuck, and Verdatir helps companies choose.
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3. A database
Emission factors for materials, energy, transport and waste.
The “price list” for carbon.
Licensed databases cost money. Good free ones exist.
The third ingredient is a database of emission factors for materials, energy, transport and waste: the price list for environmental cost. Licensed databases are costly, but good free ones exist.
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Before LLMs
BOMStandardDatabaseLCA softwareSpecialist
Software brought the three together, and someone trained had to drive it.
Before large language models, you also needed dedicated LCA software and a specialist trained to drive it. They were what brought the three ingredients together, and a large part of the cost.
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Now
BOMStandardDatabaseAI assistant + learnLCA skills
In Claude, Claude Cowork or ChatGPT.
No programming. No Python.
You still need to understand the method. That is why the school comes first.
Now an AI assistant with learnLCA skills, installed in Claude, Claude Cowork or ChatGPT, can bring the three ingredients together, with no programming. You still need to understand the method to name the right standard and check the result, which is why the school comes first.
| # | Lesson | You’ll be able to |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | From bill of materials to inventory | Turn a costing BOM into a complete inventory, with scrap, packaging, transport, energy and waste |
| 2 | Choosing a database and emission factors | Pick a database, match datasets to your inputs, and check what the licence lets you do |
| 3 | Supplier-specific data | Ask suppliers for the right data, and check what comes back before you use it |
Before you start, make sure you are comfortable with lesson 5 of LCA 101 (life cycle inventory) and the worked example. This class builds on both.
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