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UBC Sauder’s Centre for Climate and Business Solutions launches new Life Cycle Assessment Clinic for SMEs

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Posted ─ 2025-02-20
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The Centre for Climate and Business Solutions at UBC Sauder School of Business launches its Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Clinic, an innovative program designed to support Canadian small and medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in assessing and reducing their environmental impact, while training UBC Sauder students in practical sustainability skills. 

This is the second flagship program from the Centre aimed at supporting SMEs, following the success of the SME Climate Clinic, which focuses on carbon accounting and emissions reduction strategies. 

With support from the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP), the LCA Clinic is able to expand its reach, empowering even more Canadian SMEs to take meaningful steps toward sustainability. 
 
“Our LCA Clinic empowers Canadian SMEs to proactively approach sustainability and prepare for evolving regulatory standards,” says Kookai Chaimahawong, Executive Director of the Centre for Climate and Business Solutions. “With NRC IRAP’s support, we’re able to provide a practical program that readies companies for global market requirements while offering students invaluable hands-on experience.”

The LCA Clinic for SMEs builds on the SME Climate Clinic’s hands-on learning model while teaching students the fundamentals of life cycle assessments.

 
NRC IRAP's Industrial Technology Advisors (ITAs) play a pivotal role referring SME clients that would benefit most from LCA calculations. By accessing these services, businesses gain essential insights and resources to meet global environmental standards and lead by example in their industries.

Benefits of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)

  • Foundational for Carbon Footprint and Embodied Carbon Assessments: LCA serves as the basis for creating product carbon footprints and measuring embodied carbon, increasingly required for companies exporting to North America and Europe.
  • Preparing for Regulatory Standards: As global standards for environmental reporting tighten, LCA enables businesses to meet anticipated requirements, keeping them competitive in international markets.
  • Strategic Environmental Impact Analysis: LCA provides a comprehensive view of environmental impacts throughout a product's lifecycle, allowing businesses to target specific areas for sustainability improvements.
  • Proactive Positioning for Future Markets: LCA equips SMEs to substantiate their sustainability claims with robust data, providing the transparency that future markets will demand. 
SMEs represent over 99 per cent of all employer businesses in Canada.

 
SME participants in this program receive a preliminary LCA report, which helps them understand the environmental impact of their product or service and offers a foundational assessment to guide further calculations and a deeper understanding of their operations. 
 
The program also provides invaluable experiential learning for UBC students. In the summer of 2024, the Centre successfully ran a pilot, completing LCA reports for 10 startup companies across diverse industries, including energy, agriculture, technology and consumer packaged goods.