Guidance Documents

This page features guidance documents to help with conducting life cycle assessments. Most of the information on this site was sourced from the Global CO₂ Initiative’s guidelines, and there are different approaches or emphases in other guidance.

However, both the Global CO₂ Initiative’s guidelines along with those from the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) are consistent with the ISO 14040 and 14044 life cycle assessment guidelines. This article expands on this subject.

• Global CO₂ Initiative Techno-Economic Assessment & Life Cycle Assessment Guidelines for CO₂ Utilization
  • This document provides guidance on conducting techno-economic assessments (TEAs) and life cycle assessments (LCAs), with particular emphasis on carbon utilization technologies. Integration of assessment results and reporting are discussed as well.
• Global CO₂ Initiative Making Sense of Techno-Economic Assessment & Life Cycle Assessment Studies for CO₂ Utilization
  • Deriving from the Techno-Economic Assessment & Life Cycle Assessment Guidelines, this report describes how decision-makers can use results from TEA and LCA along with how commissioners of such studies can shape the process.
• U.S. National Energy Technology Laboratory Carbon Dioxide Utilization Life Cycle Analysis Guidance
  • NETL’s guidance document provides information on how to conduct life cycle assessments specifically for carbon utilization technologies.
• The carbon footprint of the carbon feedstock CO₂
  • This article is a follow-up to the Techno-Economic Assessment & Life Cycle Assessment Guidelines that describes how to approach life cycle accounting for captured carbon dioxide used in carbon-utilizing processes.
• ISO 14040
  • This ISO standard describes the principles and framework for standardized LCAs, including various LCA phases and limitations.
• ISO 14044
  • This follow-up to ISO 14040 specifies requirements and guidelines for conducting and analyzing LCAs.
• International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) Handbook – General Guide for Life Cycle Assessment
  • Published by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, this document provides guidance and rules for conducting life cycle assessments.
• Best Practices for Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Direct Air Capture with Storage (DACS)
  • Published by the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management at the U.S. Department of Energy, this report provides general best practices for performing LCA of DAC systems.
• Life Cycle Assessment: Quantitative Approaches for Decisions That Matter
  • This free textbook on LCA was written by professors at Carnegie Mellon University and is available in several languages. Each chapter covers a different LCA topic in depth.
• Handbook on Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment
  • This collection of articles provides a state-of-the-art overview of developments, issues, and opportunities across the field of industrial ecology and LCA.
• Life Cycle and Techno-Economic Assessment Templates for Emerging Carbon Management Technologies
  • This article offers background information on carbon management and technology assessment and proceeds to develop Excel-based LCA and TEA templates for various technologies that are also available on the Templates and Videos pages on this site.
• Adapting Technology Learning Curves for Prospective Techno-Economic and Life Cycle Assessments of Emerging Carbon Capture and Utilization Pathways
  • This article describes the concept of technology learning curves, introduces a framework for applying them to costs and emissions CCU technologies, and offers a related case study on CO₂ mineralization.