Simplifying LCA findings for procurement and operations in the humanitarian sector

Part 2: Tuesday 20 October 2026

Part 1: Tuesday 30 June 2026

12:30-13:30 CEST (Geneva time)

Part 2 - Register now Part 1 - Watch the recording

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.  

These webinars explore 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.   

In June, the Climate Action Accelerator introduced its approach to a sector-wide life cycle assessment project, made possible with the support of the French Crisis and Support Centre (CDCS), aimed at making LCA data accessible in a harmonised manner, and actionable for the humanitarian sector. 

This webinar presents the results of that work. Rather than performing individual LCAs for a multitude of products, the project identified climate, environmental, and human health hotspots across categories of products with similar impact profiles — providing practitioners with enough information to act on the main levers for reducing impact, whilst avoiding having to perform analyses for every product. 

The session will cover the product categorisation approach developed through the project, including a presentation of the final product categories. An overview of the LCA results by product category will be presented, as well as the key levers identified and the resulting practical guidance for practitioners to reduce impacts.  

All results, along with the sector-wide LCA framework introduced in June, will be made available in open access on our website. 

The presentations will be followed by a Q&A session, including a live poll on which product categories practitioners would like to see analysed next. Join us to hear the project’s findings and help shape its next phase. 

When and where

📆 Tuesday 30 October 2026 | 12:30-13:30 CEST (Geneva time)

💻 Online on Zoom

🇬🇧 Language: The webinar will be conducted in English and translated simultaneously into French via a Zoom plug-in

Photo: Ryan Klaus/Pexels