Italian LCA Database (Life Cycle Assessment)

ENEA – Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development
The project stems from the need to establish a National Database for Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies, containing representative, verified and high-quality datasets. The Italian LCA Database supports public administrations and businesses in sustainability-oriented decision-making, ecodesign and the circular economy by providing reliable data for the application of the LCA methodology. It supports national and European environmental tools and policies, such as Minimum Environmental Criteria, the Digital Product Passport and environmental labels. The database currently covers the construction, energy, wood and furniture, agri-food and events supply chains, with the aim of progressively expanding into the textile, waste management and chemical sectors.  
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Bioeconomy
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Ecodesign
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Low-impact Textiles
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Artificial Intelligence
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Digital Product Passport
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Traceability
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Circular Business Models
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Life-Cycle Thinking
The Italian LCA Database is a strategic tool for strengthening the sustainable competitiveness of Italian businesses, in line with major international initiatives for the harmonisation and sharing of LCA data, such as the Global LCA Data Access Network and the UNEP initiative. By providing high-quality inventory data representative of national production, it enables environmental sustainability assessments through a holistic approach covering the entire life cycle of products. This makes it possible to identify and quantify environmental impacts across the different stages of the supply chain, avoiding the transfer of environmental hotspots from one stage to another and supporting ecodesign. The database promotes the application of ecodesign principles introduced by the European ESPR Regulation. It enables the identification of more sustainable and circular material solutions and the assessment of related end-of-life scenarios. It also supports the quantification of impacts associated with waste management within the product system, contributing to circular strategies aligned with the European waste hierarchy.  
The project is distinguished by the creation of a public, free-of-charge national LCA database representative of the Italian production system, which was previously unavailable. Reliable and harmonised datasets create a shared information resource accessible to all businesses, with particular benefits for SMEs, which often face difficulties in accessing advanced environmental assessment tools. The database is expected to contain approximately 450 datasets by 2026. The design choice is supported by measurement through a complete LCA. The Italian LCA Database is a free infrastructure for conducting reliable LCA studies of products, services and technologies. It also supports the assessment of avoided emissions, material recovery and waste reduction. The database has a high level of scalability, as it is designed to be expanded with new datasets and economic sectors. It will be further expanded and consolidated through the Collaboration Agreement between MASE and ENEA, currently ongoing and scheduled to continue until 2029. During this period, a technical, economic and financial management model will also be defined to ensure its long-term sustainability. The database is the subject of numerous scientific publications.  

TEAM 
Caterina Rinaldi (project coordinator), Antonella Andreini, Cristian Chiavetta, Valentina Fantin, Flavia Frisone, Pier Luigi Porta, Flavio Scrucca, Alessio Traverso.