Primary and Secondary Data
To make an LCA of your product(s) you need data. Think of the energy usage for your manufacturing and waste processes, data on your purchased & used raw materials, etc. Much data can be found in your own finance or purchase department, but not all.
Primary data: The ‘foreground’ system
The European Commission defines primary data as “directly measured or collected data representative of activities at a specific facility or set of facilities”.
Primary data is (highly) specific and accurate raw data that’s directly collected/measured from main sources. In the case of LCA this covers:
- raw process- and site-specific data
- raw data from suppliers and distributors
- raw data on the use phase of your product (how your product is used by consumers)
For example, think of the emissions that are directly related to a specific process. Or your exact purchased and used raw materials, your energy use, your waste processes, etc. Or how often your product is used by consumers. You can collect this data using invoice bills (bookkeeping), metered data, manufacturing site visits, surveys, etc.
However, often a large chunk of this data can be found at suppliers or distributors. To get this information, you can request inventory data from these important value chain stakeholders. Yet, the best option is to ask for LCA’s of their products.
In LCA terms this primary data is called your ‘foreground’ system. It includes all the necessary raw inputs of your product’s lifecycle that are then connected to corresponding impacts in an LCA.
Secondary data: the ‘background’ system
Secondary data, however, are already existing scientific databases collected by previous researchers. The European Commission defines secondary data as “data that is not directly collected, measured, or estimated, but rather sourced from a third-party life-cycle-inventory database”
These existing databases are made available for companies to use for their own research. In the case of LCA, this is called the Life Cycle Inventory database.
LCI Databases
The LCI database gives you already existing (average) environmental background data on supply chains – without having to really dive into your raw supply chain data. In LCA terms this secondary data is called your ‘background system’. Companies often don’t have access to all their primary data (yet), secondary data then functions to fill these gaps. https://www.openlca.org/
LCI databases are often used by "Carbon/Sustainability" platforms like:
