From LCA to LCSA: a recap of the Life Cycle Assessment 2025
- 24.11.2025
- News Study Program
Participants and speakers at the 20th Life Cycle Assessment at Pforzheim University.
The LCA workshop coordinated by TU Darmstadt took place at Pforzheim University of Applied Sciences at the end of September 2025. Around 40 young researchers from all over Germany and Austria came together to present and discuss their current research and developments in the field of life cycle assessment.
For 20 years now, young researchers from the field of life cycle assessment have been meeting annually to discuss current topics and developments. Each year, the event focuses on a new topic and is hosted by a different university - this year's topic was: From Life Cycle Assessment to Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment! This change creates a varied forum for knowledge transfer, networking and scientific exchange. Prof. (FH) Dr. Miriam Lettner, who teaches at FH Kufstein Tirol, took part in the LCA workshop back in 2016, followed ten years later by one of her students, Franziska Boroviczény, MA.
Franziska Boroviczény, MA, during the poster session.
TWO DAYS OF SUSTAINABILITY, KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER AND NEW PERSPECTIVES
One keynote that Franziska particularly remembered was the presentation by Prof. Dr. Mario Schmidt, co-founder of the LCA software Umberto and lecturer at Pforzheim University. In his presentation, he highlighted an aspect that has often been neglected in life cycle assessment: the dimension of time.
While conventional life cycle analyses are usually static and equate environmental impacts over the entire life of a product, the speaker argued for a greater focus on temporal dynamics and changes. The keynote speech stimulated lively discussions and made it clear that the further development of life cycle assessment lies not only in methodological depth, but also in broadening the perspective - towards a dynamic, future-oriented sustainability assessment.
RESEARCH IN DIALOG: FROM BARCAMP TO POSTER SESSION
A particular highlight was the BarCamp held during the LCA workshop, which enabled an open exchange on current issues relating to planetary boundaries and life cycle analyses. There was intensive discussion on how global sustainability goals can be linked to specific assessment methods and what responsibility life cycle assessment has in this transformation process.
As part of the poster session, participants presented their research projects - from new methodological approaches to practical applications. Franziska presented her master's thesis on lithium-ion batteries and the circular economy, which dealt with the complex question of how end-of-life (EoL) scenarios can be realistically mapped in an LCA. During the subsequent discussion round, exciting discussions arose about the extent to which EoL scenarios can be modeled at all and where the methodological limits of an LCA lie. It became clear how important it is to critically reflect on the assumptions and limitations of an LCA.
Overall, the two days were characterized by intensive discussions and an enriching exchange on current developments, challenges and future priorities in the field of life cycle assessment. The opportunity to network with researchers from various institutions was particularly valuable.