TOTAL provides designers with PLA LCA data to quantify product environmental impact

To support product designers, Total Energy France has made Sphera's Product Sustainability (formerly GaBi) database accessible to users of Luminy PLA eco-products, it has been announced.The ECO profile allows designers to quantify the environmental impact of PLA in the design and production of their products, choosing Luminy PLA.

Sphera's product sustainability software is the world's leading Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) modelling and reporting software, with intuitive data collection and results analysis capabilities.

Life Cycle Assessment is a science-based technique that optimises the environmental impact of a product by providing a comprehensive assessment of its life cycle. From the extraction of raw materials to their post-use treatment and preparation for recycling, all relevant factors affecting the environment are considered quantifiable.

Luminy PLA's eco-products are now available to product designers.

According to the report, Sphera's product sustainability database has by far the largest industry coverage of Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) data in the world, containing regional use data for water and land.

François de Bie, senior marketing and supply chain director at TOTAL, said: "Making our life cycle assessment data available in a leading database will make our data accessible to every Sphera LCA software user worldwide. All users will be able to add our data to their own models to refine their view of the environmental impact of their supply chain."

Informed decisions on production, set-up and design will help achieve sustainability goals across industries and Sphera's product sustainability database provides a clear picture of a product's environmental performance through scenario analysis.