Databases

There are many possible sources for life cycle assessment (LCA) data. This page lists useful direct sources of data, as well as some lists of databases, that may be helpful to those conducting LCA.

The list is not comprehensive as there are many possible sources of the kind of data necessary to conduct LCA, but it should be helpful for getting started. If you would like to recommend a source to be added to this page, please contact us.

Emissions and Energy Data

Specific Materials

Lists of Databases

License-Based Databases

  • ecoinvent
    • Largest life cycle inventory database with thousands of individual datasets
  • Google Scholar
    • Source for academic and grey literature that may contain useful LCA parameters
  • openLCA Nexus with tutorial
    • Massive online repository of various free and premium LCA datasets from many different providers that can be integrated into openLCA
  • SimaPro Databases with tutorial
    • SimaPro is a premium LCA software and features a wide variety of life cycle inventory databases
  • GaBi Databases
    • GaBi is a premium LCA software and features many of its own datasets along with some external ones
  • cm.chemicals
    • Life cycle inventory data for various common chemicals and plastics

Other