A Life Cycle Assessment is an integral part of a system study. In simplest terms, it means the impact of a particular product or activity over its entire life cycle. Hence, for example, if we are studying the overall resource impact of a metal, we would have to consider the impacts while it is being mined (in which ever part of the planet), during transportation (as ore or after processing), during the processing, through the conversion of the metal into usable products, through its use as a part of the usable (or as a component) product, through any process of recycling and through its ultimate disposal (in a landfill). Studying the impact at the time the metal is manufactured from the ore or studying the impact at the stage of mining is just not enough.

LCA are now routinely carried out in many parts of the world for a range of products and services.