Life Cycle Assessment (LCA): Method and Importance

Why an LCA? - Transparency as a Key Element

At the heart of fainin's mission is a commitment to revolutionise the sharing economy by offering a sustainable platform for renting and lending items. In a world where products and appliances often go underutilised, fainin recognises the urgent need to tackle overconsumption and reduce our environmental footprint.

By partnering with ESCP Business School's Lighthouse Consulting student society, fainin and Lighthouse co-conducted an Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to understand the carbon footprint differences between the sharing model that fainin proposes and the general consumption model. The results of the LCA highlight fainin's positive environmental attributes and its strong commitment to sustainability matters. This blog post provides a condensed overview of the key findings and unique aspects of fainin's approach.

This white paper has been made by Lighthouse to show how this LCA was carried out and to showcase the environmental impacts of this sharing model.

Unique LCA methodology

What makes this LCA study stand out? Unlike some competitors who rely on subjective surveys to estimate CO2 emissions, Fainin's study delves into the real impact of the platform on the environment. It goes beyond surface-level assessments and presents a detailed analysis of the emissions saved for each product rented through the platform. This specificity related to the calculations plays a huge role in understanding the real impact that fainin is able to achieve through its operations. Below are two examples of two commonly shared products on fainin's app, a three-person tent and a GoPro, with their respective amount of CO2 emissions saved per rent. By considering these 80 different product identifier classes, the study surpasses rivals' work; it stands out in uniqueness and accuracy.

Defining Saved Emissions

The concept of "Emissions Saved" is central to understanding fainin's environmental impact. It quantifies the CO2 not emitted due to renting a product instead of buying it for one use (KgCO2e/unit).

For example, a video projector has an average useful life of 40.5 uses. By knowing what the embedded emissions of a projector are, the LCA is able to breakdown the emissions linked to one use of the projector. This number then shows the amount of CO2 emissions that have been avoided through sharing the product once instead of buying new for this one use

Methodology in a nutshell

To understand the emissions saved from renting a product instead of purchasing it, the following methodology was used:

LCA (Life Cycle Assessment), umfasst eine methodische Analyse der Umweltauswirkungen von Produkten während ihres gesamten Lebensweges, von der Herstellung bis zur Entsorgung, bekannt als

Product identifier classes are determined to differentiate impact depending on the specific product class.
For each product identifier class, the average LCA emissions is taken (excluding consumer use and EOL)
Additionally emissions stemming from the last mile delivery of the shared product are calculated for the Hamburg area.
The average use span of each product identifier class are also established based on external databases
Based on this, lifetime emissions of the product were divided by their use span to obtain the emissions that have been saved by borrowing the product once instead of buying it for one

Methodology Highlights

Determining product identifier

An extensive list of 80 product identifier classes was set up. This lists ranges from car trailers to clothing.

The table below shows a selection of product identifier classes and their respective saved emissions for one rental in the second column. The other data points are the 3 parameters required to reach the final share of total emissions saved.

Drei Grundpfeiler der Nachhaltigkeit umfassen die Bereiche Umwelt, Wirtschaft und Sozialwesen

Cradle to gate emissions

For the "Cradle to gate" parameter around 50% of the data is sourced from ADEME (French ministry for the environment and energy management). The remaining data sources have been extracted by specific websites depending on the specific identifier class.

Product usage over its lifetime

The next phase of the LCA considers the average number of times that a specific product of an identifier classis used over its lifetime. This data is obtained from various datasets depending on the specific product identifier class. Given the absence of institutional data, Lighthouse has extended its research beyond conventional data platforms.

Last mile emission (gate to consumer)

To calculate the last mile related emissions (gate to consumer) that are equal for all products. The emissions are specific for the Hamburg area given that this is fainin's largest market. The average pickup distance is 2 km and six different transportation modes including cycling, public transport and private car usage are taken into account.

These last mile transportation emissions are added onto the emission calculation to give a holistic analysis of the whole process from product cradle to the consumer. Cradle to consumer emissions are presented as KgCO2e/ unit.

Calculating emissions saved

Based on the cradle to consumer emissions that have been established for each identifier class and on the average useful span use length uses of the same product identifier class, emissions saved from the purchase of a single good can be calculated with the following formula.