Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) for Services: How to Go Beyond your Organisational Carbon Footprint for service businesses

Introduction

As climate awareness continues to grow, organisations are increasingly looking to understand and reduce their environmental impact. While many are familiar with calculating operational carbon footprints, more are now turning to Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) to gain a deeper insight into how their services contribute to emissions and broader environmental issues.

Traditionally associated with manufactured goods, LCA is just as applicable—and increasingly relevant—to services, from consultancy and IT provision to logistics and professional cleaning. In this blog, we explore how LCA can be applied to services, how it differs from standard carbon reporting, and why greater data granularity can lead to more effective and actionable sustainability strategies.

What Is Life Cycle Analysis (LCA)?

Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) is a structured method for assessing the environmental impacts associated with all stages of a product or service’s life cycle. This includes everything from raw material extraction and production through to use and end-of-life.

When applied to services, LCA captures both direct and indirect environmental impacts—such as energy used in service delivery, materials consumed, equipment used, and waste generated. The result is a holistic view that goes beyond organisational carbon footprint calculations.

LCA is increasingly being adopted by forward-thinking businesses aiming to strengthen their sustainability credentials, deliver more accurate reporting, and build services that are environmentally responsible.

LCA of a Service vs. Carbon Footprinting

Most organisations start with an operational or organisational carbon footprint assessment, which typically focuses on:

Scope 1: Direct emissions from company-controlled sources
Scope 2: Indirect emissions from purchased electricity and heat and cooling
Scope 3: Emissions across the value chain, such as commuting, procurement, and waste

This type of carbon reporting is an excellent foundation for sustainability planning. However, a full Life Cycle Assessment allows you to dig deeper into a particular product or service.

Carbon-Only LCAs

It is entirely possible to conduct an LCA that focuses only on carbon emissions. This is often referred to as a carbon life cycle assessment or simply a carbon footprint across the life cycle. In this case, the analysis still covers every stage of a service’s life—from materials and delivery through to end-of-life—but it only accounts for emissions contributing to global warming potential (GWP), usually expressed in CO₂-equivalent.

This approach can be especially useful when:

Your primary focus is climate impact
You’re reporting against net zero targets or carbon reduction goals
You need a more streamlined, cost-effective assessment
You’re communicating to non-technical stakeholders

While a carbon-only LCA doesn’t offer a complete environmental picture, it can still yield powerful insights and enable strategic decisions and provide customers with the emissions related to what they are purchasing from you.

Broader Impacts in Full LCA

In contrast, a multi-impact LCA expands the scope to assess a wider set of environmental issues, such as:

Acidification (e.g. from NOx/SOx emissions)
Eutrophication (nutrient pollution in waterways)
Resource depletion
Water use
Human and ecological toxicity

This broader perspective is helpful when redesigning services, preparing for environmental declarations, or evaluating complex environmental trade-offs. For example, a switch to a lower-carbon material may unintentionally increase water use or toxicity—something only a full LCA would reveal. This approach can also set you apart from your competitors and provide your clients with superior data.

Both approaches have their place, and the right choice depends on your goals, stakeholders, and resources in both time and money. Whether focusing exclusively on carbon or taking a wider view, data quality and granularity remain key to producing meaningful results.

Defining a Functional Unit for Services

A core step in any LCA is defining the functional unit—a quantifiable measure of what is being assessed. This provides consistency and ensures that results are meaningful and comparable.

Examples of functional units for service carbon footprints include:

One hour of legal or consulting service delivered
One shipment delivered per kilometre
One kilogram of laundry processed
One IT ticket resolved or hour of cloud server use

Clear definitions allow service providers to measure impact per unit of service, making it easier to benchmark, compare, and improve.

Setting System Boundaries

Determining the system boundaries—what to include or exclude in your LCA—is crucial, particularly for services that may involve many indirect elements.

A service LCA might include:

Core service delivery (energy, staff time, direct materials)
Upstream processes (e.g. production of office supplies, cloud infrastructure)
Supporting services (e.g. commuting, facilities management)
End-of-life (e.g. disposal of equipment or materials used)

Transparency in boundary-setting ensures accuracy and enables you to clearly communicate your carbon reporting methodology to stakeholders.

The Importance of Data Granularity

High-quality, granular data is vital for producing a useful and credible service carbon footprint. Too often, organisations rely on generic estimates, which can mask the true environmental hotspots within a service.

More detailed data enables:

Greater accuracy in identifying carbon-intensive activities
Targeted carbon reduction strategies
More effective client communication and carbon consultancy support

For example:

A general estimate may show a consultancy emits 2 tonnes CO₂e per month
Granular data could reveal that 50% comes from flights, 30% from cloud computing, and 20% from office energy use—highlighting where interventions would have the greatest impact

By working at this level of detail, your sustainability strategy becomes more specific, data-driven, and actionable.

Data Collection and Inventory for Service LCAs

When conducting an LCA for services, key data inputs might include:

Energy consumption (electricity, heating, vehicle fuels)
Travel and commuting (including staff mileage and transport type)
Equipment and technology (embodied emissions in computers, servers, vehicles)
Consumables and materials (office supplies, uniforms, packaging)
Third-party services (e.g. outsourced logistics or cleaning)

At AccountCarbon, we help clients identify relevant data sources, ensure quality control, and align inputs with internationally recognised protocols like the GHG Protocol’s and ISO.

Interpreting the Results

Once analysed, LCA results can help answer key sustainability questions, such as:

What proportion of emissions come from service delivery vs support activities?
Are there any unintended environmental trade-offs?
How can services be redesigned or delivered more efficiently?

These insights underpin more strategic decisions around service design, procurement, and even client relationships. And because the LCA covers the full service lifecycle, it supports more transparent and robust carbon reporting.

From Insight to Action

With meaningful insights from your service carbon footprint analysis, your business can pursue actions such as:

Transitioning to renewable energy sources
Reducing travel-related emissions through remote services
Optimising equipment use and lifespan
Choosing suppliers with strong environmental credentials
Educating staff on low-carbon behaviours

Whether you’re aiming to meet net zero targets, respond to client demands, or simply operate more efficiently, LCA can provide a big part of the puzzle.

LCA or Carbon Footprint: What’s Right for Your Service?

For many service businesses, an LCA carbon footprint assessment will offer a valuable and efficient starting point—particularly when focusing on carbon reduction strategies and regulatory reporting.

However, a full LCA adds depth by considering the full lifecycle and broader environmental impacts. It is particularly useful when:

Designing or refining services
Seeking environmental certifications
Responding to ESG reporting pressures
Differentiating your offer with sustainability credentials

With AccountCarbon’s flexible approach, we’ll help you determine what level of assessment will deliver the most value for your business and stakeholders.

Conclusion

A full Life Cycle Analysis can be a useful tool for understanding and improving the environmental impacts of services. While an Service carbon footprint often covers much of the necessary ground, LCA adds richness, context, and nuance—especially for organisations with complex services, evolving delivery models, or ambitious sustainability goals.

Whether you’re looking to gain competitive advantage, meet client expectations, or refine your carbon reporting, knowing the footprint of your services provides clarity and confidence. And with expert guidance from AccountCarbon, the process becomes manageable, meaningful, and action-oriented.

Ready to Explore Your Service Carbon Footprint?

At AccountCarbon, we specialise in helping service-based organisations measure and reduce their carbon and environmental impact. Whether you need a carbon LCA or a full service LCA, or strategic guidance, we’re here to help.

Get in touch today to see how we can support your sustainability goals.

AccountCarbon

Service Carbon Footprints and Service LCA