Our experience with LCA critical review

At Ecomatters, conducting critical reviews is central to how we help companies improve the credibility, transparency, and reliability of their Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies. Over the past few years, we’ve supported a broad range of review projects—from LCA studies and PEFCR development to carbon footprint tools. In this article, we reflect on some of the highlights of our review experience.

An overview of critical review

A critical review is a structured expert evaluation of an LCA study or a study based on LCA methodology (e.g. a tool or standard). By having an independent party review your study, you ensure that claims made about a product’s footprint are transparent and reproducible. Without this, you could risk reputational damage, regulatory push-back or customer distrust. A critical review is therefore considered a powerful quality-assurance tool.

ISO 14071 outlines best practices for conducting LCA critical reviews, including reviewer qualifications and review procedures. It covers compliance with relevant standards (e.g., ISO 14040/44, ISO 14067, EN 15804 +A2, PEF Rules), methodological consistency, data quality, and clarity of conclusions and communication of limitations.

Usually, the review is a linear process and proceeds as follows:

Planning of the review, which will be tailored to your project.
Preparation of templates for comments in order to structure the feedback and responses.
Review meetings. Often a kick-off meeting specifically for the review and at least one meeting to discuss the feedback.
Review round(s), in which the LCA practitioner shares the study report and the reviewer(s) provide(s) written feedback.
Review statement. A concise statement or certificate confirming that the LCA meets the chosen standard and that its results can be used with confidence.

If you would like to learn about the review process in more depth, or gain a greater understanding of ISO 14071, you can visit our knowledge page.

A look at our recent review projects

At Ecomatters we have been steadily building our experience and expertise with critical review. Through doing this, we have had the opportunity to complete critical reviews for several different industries, both alone and as part of a review panel. These reviews not only provide valuable feedback to the company or industry but also strengthen our internal understanding of high-quality LCA work and methodological frameworks. Below is a selection of review projects we recently completed.

ESTC (2022-2024) – Review of PEFCR and PEF calculation tool for synthetic turf products. For the European Synthetic Turf Council (ESTC), Ecomatters chaired a review panel that critically reviewed the PEFCR for Synthetic Turf. The review followed the PEFCR development process spanning multiple years and included draft versions, two representative product (RP) studies, multiple PEF supporting studies, and a PEF calculation tool.

Synthomer (2024) – Review of PCF methodology, TFS and ISO 14067. Synthomer has developed a working process to calculate Product Carbon Footprints (PCF) for a wide range of their products. Ecomatters performed a critical review of the PCF methodology to evaluate the compliance with the Together for Sustainability (TFS) methodology and ISO 14067 standard.

Shin Etsu (2025) – Review of ISO14040 & ISO14044 LCA. Shin-Etsu, the global market leader in PVC production, has performed two LCA studies. Ecomatters were commissioned to conduct a critical review of those studies according to ISO 14040/44.

EuBA (2024) – Review of ISO14040 & ISO 14044 LCA. European Bentonite Association (EuBa) updated its LCA of sodium-activated bentonite in 2023 to include unprocessed bentonite. Ecomatters independently reviewed this update to verify its quality and credibility.

Blackburn chemicals (2023) – Review of CO2 tool. Blackburn Chemicals Ltd developed a carbon calculator for one of their products. Ecomatters were asked to provide expert opinion and comments on the carbon calculations and tool, and provide suggestions for improvements.

Owen Mumford (2024) – Review of ISO14040 & ISO 14044 LCA. Owen Mumford, a producer of pioneering health care devices, asked Ecomatters to conduct the review of their LCA study for one of their products consisting of 2 variants.

TDMA (2024) – Review of LCI for titanium dioxide. The Titanium Dioxide Manufacturers Association (TDMA) has been working on developing a Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) for titanium dioxide (TiO2). Ecomatters reviewed the LCI dataset according to ISO 14040/44, ILCD requirements, and PEF requirements.