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Overview & walkthrough

In Certify, a Lifecycle Assessment (LCA) represents a sample reporting period for your project, demonstrating how greenhouse gasses (GHG) are quantified to calculate net CO₂e removal. Start your LCA from a default template containing the expected GHG sources, sinks or reservoirs for the protocol your project is being certified against. Then, edit your LCA to make it specific to your project:
  1. GHGs related to project operation phases should be added 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, which are created from component blueprints that specify how the flux is calculated.
Example: emissions related to a truck journey can be represented with a component created from the Transport emissions blueprint, which defines the emission calculation as multiplying a distance, mass and emission factor.
Watch this walkthrough to understand the process and read the documentation below.

A video walkthrough of the process of building an LCA template

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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 sample reporting period, or based on a functional unit:
  • Sample time period: define the length of the sample time period (e.g. 1 month) that you will provide representative data for, and your project’s full lifetime.
  • Functional unit: define a representative measure as well as your project total. This will be a standard measure based on the protocol the project is crediting under. Examples include tonnes of biochar stored, tonnes of mineral feedstock dosed or hectares of land reforested.
All other inputs in your LCA should be normalized based on the sample time period or functional unit selected. The project total values will then be scaled based on the ratio of your representative time or functional unit magnitude to the total for the project.

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​Project operations

The default 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 should 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 for monitored inputs, such as the quantity of electricity used by a facility, 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.
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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​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 in order to account for GHGs from project establishment and end-of-life.

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Submitting data

Data submitted as part of your LCA is used both during project validation and for later credit verifications.

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Validation

Once an LCA draft is finalized it can be 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

Your LCA’s project operations data can also 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.