About the webinar
Simplifying LCA findings for procurement and operations in the humanitarian sector
Tuesday 30 June 2026
12:30-13:30 CEST (Geneva time)
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Humanitarian actors and suppliers have increasingly been conducting life cycle assessments of products to identify levers to reduce environmental impacts, compare products, and improve emission factors. Yet, different methodologies and scopes hinder comparability and knowledge transfer. Output documents are also often difficult to understand for practitioners that lack the expertise and time to take a deep dive on LCA results.
This webinar explores the approach to the latest life cycle assessment project conducted by the Climate Action Accelerator, made possible with the support of the French Crisis and Support Centre (CDCS).
To make LCA data available to the humanitarian sector in an efficient manner, the Climate Action Accelerator is currently developing an approach to assessing climate, environmental, and human health hotspots for a set of products with similar impact profiles. Instead of performing individual LCAs, impact hotspots will be identified for a set of products, such as single-use plastic items. This approach provides enough information for practitioners to act on the main levers to reduce climate, environmental, and human health impacts. It also proves pragmatic and efficient, as it avoids having to perform LCAs for a multitude of products, while easing the burden to produce new LCAs by humanitarian organisations and suppliers, given that all results will be made available in open access.
For organisations that wish to ask for LCA data from their suppliers or that would like to contribute to the growing knowledge base of LCA data in the sector, the project also developed a draft sector-wide LCA framework to support the harmonisation of LCA results and improving comparability of results. The framework comes with explanations for practitioners that contract consultants to conduct LCAs.
When and where
📆 Tuesday 30 June 2026 | 12:30-13:30 CEST (Geneva time)
💻 Online on Zoom
🇬🇧 Language: The webinar was conducted in English and translated simultaneously into French via a Zoom plug-in
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Meet the speakers
Sarah Joseph, Post-doctoral researcher, Center for Humanitarian Logistics and Regional Development (CHORD)
Sarah Joseph is a post-doctoral researcher at the Center for Humanitarian Logistics and Regional Development (CHORD). Sarah was previously a PhD candidate in the field of Sustainable Food Systems at Kühne Logistics University under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Hanno Friedrich. She successfully completed her doctoral studies in June 2022, with “summa cum laude”. Sarah received her Master of Science in Resource Efficiency in Architecture and Urban Planning from the HafenCity University in Hamburg, Germany in May 2016 and her Bachelor of Science in Business Management and Administration from Mount Saint Mary College in Newburg, New York, USA in May 2012.
Sarah’s research focuses on using interdisciplinary data-driven approaches (such as case study, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), and spatial statistics) to measure and improve the environmental sustainability of supply chains.
Sonja Schmid, Head Climate Solutions & Analytics, Climate Action Accelerator
Sonja Schmid is leading the Climate Action Accelerator’s Solutions & Climate Analytics team and is one of the thematic focal points for procurement and supply. She has almost 15 years of experience in the field of sustainability, specialising in purchasing and procurement standards. She was previously Corporate Responsibility Manager at a major retailer in France and Senior Manager of the Sustainable Supply Chain Initiative at a private sector association. Prior to that, she worked for a leading consultancy on climate, environment, and development based in Germany. Sonja holds a Master of Arts (M.A.) in Political Science from the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich.
Quentin Roques, Junior Climate Analytics Officer, The Climate Action Accelerator
Quentin is a digital engineer specialising in data and artificial intelligence. He joins the metrics team to help our partners quantify their footprint, calculate their trajectory and choose their targets to achieve their goals.
Quentin holds a master’s degree in data science from Telecom Paris and a master’s degree in innovation and digital design from Sciences Po Paris. In his previous professional experience, he specialised in estimating Scope 3 emissions, working in the industrial sector for EDF.
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Repository of life cycle assessments
Life cycle assessments (LCAs)
Accelerating the reduction of the environmental impact of humanitarian action
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