UBA “Evaluation in Life Cycle Assessments” Method: Interpreting Life Cycle Assessment Results

Overview

The UBA “Evaluation in Life Cycle Assessments” method (1999), developed by Germany’s Federal Environment Agency, provides a structured way to interpret Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) results. It focuses on the most difficult step in LCA: comparing different types of environmental impacts—such as climate change, air pollution, or resource use—which cannot be directly measured against each other. The method is aligned with ISO 14040–14043 standards and was created to support consistent decision-making in both policy and industry contexts. It builds on the idea that LCA results must be interpreted using not only scientific data but also clearly defined value judgements.

Assessment methodology

The UBA method builds on standard Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) results but introduces a structured approach to interpreting them. Rather than presenting multiple impact indicators separately, it seeks to aggregate and prioritise environmental impacts to support decision-making. At its core, the method evaluates environmental indicators using three main dimensions:

• Distance-to-target: how far current environmental impacts are from defined policy or sustainability targets

• Ecological hazard (or relevance): the potential severity of the impact on the environment

• Specific contribution: the relative share of a product or system in contributing to the overall environmental burden

These elements are combined to weight LCA results, making different environmental impacts comparable and, where useful, summarised into a single score. This helps turn complex results into clearer conclusions. The method does not prescribe one fixed outcome. Instead, it recognises that value-based choices are involved, so results may differ depending on the assumptions and priorities applied.

Current status

The UBA method was published in 1999 as part of early efforts to standardise LCA interpretation alongside ISO 14040–14043. It is not a regulatory standard or certification scheme, but remains a recognised methodological framework for evaluating LCA results, particularly in policy and research contexts.

The method has also been operationalised in software tools, notably the EPD Analyzer platform. In this implementation, LCA results from Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) are automatically evaluated using the UBA criteria—ecological severity, distance to target, and specific contribution—allowing users to rank and interpret environmental impacts in a consistent way.

Resources

• https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/system/files/medien/publikation/long/3620.pdf

• https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-12266-9_2