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Overview & walkthrough

In Certify, a Lifecycle Assessment (LCA) is an ex-ante carbon accounting projection for your project, demonstrating how greenhouse gasses (GHGs) are quantified to calculate net CO₂e removal. The LCA is calculated from representative sample data, scaled up to the full project scope. You can start your LCA from a default template: this contains typical GHG sources, sinks and reservoirs for the protocol your project is being certified against. You should then edit the default template to make it specific to your project:
  1. GHGs related to project operation phases should be added or updated in the Project operations section of the LCA page
  2. GHGs related to project establishment and end-of-life phases are known as “project emissions” and can be managed in the Project emissions section of the LCA page or on the separate Project emissions page.
Individual GHGs in an LCA are represented by components created from component blueprints that specify how the flux is calculated.
Example: emissions related to a truck journey could be represented with a component using the Transport emissions blueprint, which defines the emission calculation as:mass * distance * emission_factor
Watch this walkthrough to understand the process and read the documentation below.

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Tutorial

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Settings

The LCA calculates net CO₂e removed over the project’s full lifetime using data from a representative sample. Choose one of two calculation methods:
This option normalizes your LCA inputs by a representative measure of your project’s output. Supported options are dependent on the protocol the project is crediting under. Examples of functional units include tonnes of biochar stored, tonnes of mineral feedstock dosed or hectares of land reforested.Enter a value for both the sample amount and lifetime amount of your functional unit in order to determine the LCA’s scaling factor.You should choose an appropriate magnitude for your sample based on your project specifics and the availability of data that you will use to determine projected totals for each component in your LCA. Project totals will then be calculated based on the ratio of the sample amount to the lifetime amount of the functional unit.

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​Project operations

The default LCA template provides a suggested structure for projects under each protocol, but it should be customized to match the specific structure of your project. Refer to Isometric’s Protocols and Cross-pathway Accounting Modules for more information on how GHG accounting should be conducted.
1

Delete components that are not applicable to the project

For example, if the component Biomass handling via loader was created from the default template but a loader is not used in the project, the component can be removed by clicking the Delete button on the bottom left of the component view.
2

Add components that are applicable to the project

Click the + Add button under the relevant component group title to add a new component and select the component from the list of available blueprints. See Identifying components for guidance on selecting an appropriate blueprint. You may need to expand the Unused groups section if you can’t see the relevant component group in your LCA.
3

Check that components are calculated correctly

Component calculations are defined by a blueprint. If the component calculation and inputs do not match your project data, you can delete the component and replace it with a new one created from another blueprint.
Example: the default template models transportation by truck with the Transport emissions blueprint. The inputs for the calculation are mass, distance and an emission factor.In your project, transportation emissions are calculated based on measured fuel consumption. In this case, the component should be replaced with the Fuel usage by volume emissions blueprint.
4

Rename components to be specific to your project

On creation, components will have generic names based on their blueprint. These should be replaced by descriptive names that match steps in your process. For example, the default “Transport emissions” display name could be updated to “Transport from pyrolysis facility to spreading site”.
5

Provide values for inputs

Add values and sources for inputs. Values should be normalized for your sample reporting period: if the sample time period is 1 month, then provide the quantity of electricity that would be consumed in 1 month. Values for monitored inputs may be estimates if the project is not yet operational.
Shared datapoints should be used if the same value is used in multiple places in your LCA (such as a mass of feedstock or commonly used emission factor). This saves time and ensures that any sensitivity analysis is calculated correctly.

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Selection of components

To learn more about how to identify and create the correct components, read Identifying Components. It is always preferable for your project’s LCA to include components created from the most specific component blueprint available to accurately reflect your project’s operations and what data is being collected. In the LCA builder, component blueprints can be filtered by tags: direct emissions, electricity, embodied emissions, energy, fuel, or transportation. This helps identify the applicable blueprints when adding a new component.

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Components using sample data

Component blueprints are available that determine GHG calculations based on sample project data (e.g. measurement samples). While these blueprints should be used for crediting calculations for a specific reporting period, relevant project data is often not available or appropriate for reporting project projections in the LCA. In these cases, a simpler component blueprint should be used during LCA validation and replaced by the more granular component after creating a Removal Template.
ExampleA Biochar project is crediting under the 200-year durability label. The LCA uses the Carbon rich substance sequestration blueprint in the LCA and swaps to the Biochar sequestration, 200-year durability blueprint after creating a Removal Template and uploading production batch sample data for the project’s first reporting period.
Projects of any type may use the Off-platform sequestration blueprint to base the sequestration value in the LCA on a single calculated value. Any calculations used to derive this value should be attached to the input via a source.

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​Project emissions

Project emissions are GHGs from project establishment and end-of-life phases, for example the embodied emissions related to constructing a facility. As project emissions are one-time emissions, they must be allocated to a specific reporting period. This can either be the first GHG statement for the project, or they can be amortized over the project’s lifetime. You can add, edit and delete project emissions using the Project emissions page. These emissions are then automatically applied to your LCA following the amortization rule selected. If you intend to manually amortize project emissions, Certify will allocate 100% of emissions to the sample reporting period in your LCA for simplicity as manual amortization is only possible via the Certify API. We recommend describing your custom amortization schedule in the component description instead.

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Submitting data

Data and supporting sources submitted as part of your LCA is used during project validation, and some is additionally used for later credit verifications. LCA data that forms part of later GHG submissions includes:
  • All inputs on Project Emissions
  • Fixed inputs in the LCA’s Project Operations section that are saved to a Removal Template (e.g. emission factors)

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Validation

Once an LCA draft is finalized it is submitted to Isometric for pre-screen. After any noted issues are resolved during pre-screen, it will be passed on to the verifier assigned to your project for validation. Ex-ante estimates can be provided for LCA validation if your project is not yet fully operational.

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Verification and templating

After finalizing your LCA structure, the Project Operations data can be converted to a template for easy re-use as the data schema for your future removals. To create the template select “Convert into a new template” under Project operations. When creating Removals, select your template to pre-populate the removal with the components, fixed inputs (such as emission factors) and component descriptions required for calculations. Ex-ante values provided for the monitored datapoints in your LCA, such as electricity consumption by a facility, are not populated in your removals. For credit verifications, monitored inputs require ex-post measured values for the specific reporting period as well as supporting evidence for the use of the value.
Removal templates created from the LCA are also used as the data schema when creating removals via an API integration. The removal template schema can also be fetched via API.