“ISO 14040:2006 Environmental management — Life cycle assessment — Principles and framework”

ISO 14040:2006 cover Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies and life cycle inventory (LCI) studies. It describes the principles, framework and various phases, including: definition of the goal and scope of the LCA, the life cycle inventory analysis (LCI) phase, the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) phase, the life cycle interpretation phase, reporting and critical review of the LCA, limitations of the LCA, the relationship between the LCA phases, and conditions for use of value choices and optional elements.

The intended application of LCA or LCI results is considered during definition of the goal and scope, but the application itself is outside the scope of this International Standard.