Swedish Life Cycle Center provides life cycle data in the CPM LCA Database. It all started as a project engaging partners in the Competence Centre for Environmental Assessment of Product and Material Systems, CPM (today Swedish Life Cycle Center).

Now the administration is mainly managed by Environmental Systems Analysis at Chalmers University of Technology.

The CPM LCA Database is developed within the Swedish Life Cycle Center, and is a result of the continuous work to establish transparent and quality reviewed LCA data. The Swedish Life Cycle Center with its partners owns the CPM LCA Database, which is today maintained by Environmental Systems Analysis at the Department of Technology Management and Economics.

All LCI datasets can be viewed in in three formats: the SPINE format, a format compatible with the ISO/TS 14048 LCA data documentation format criteria, and in the ILCD format. Three impact assessment models: EPS, EDIP, and ECO-Indicator, can be viewed in the IA98 format. Also a simple IA calculator is provided where the environmental impact of each LCI dataset can be calculated based on the three different IA methods.

Database development

The Database is built on the information model called SPINE. SPINE is an information model that describes how to structure environmental data in a meaningful and transparent way. The name SPINE, short for Sustainable Product Information Network for the Environment, first appeared as an LCA database format developed in 1995. It worked as the seed that initiated a collaboration between major Swedish companies to share information and experiences on environmental information on products and materials. The national competence centre CPM was founded by the companies together with Chalmers University of Technology and with Vinnova as major financier.

Within CPM the SPINE format was used to create the Swedish national LCA database, a.k.a. the SPINE@CPM database. Over the years data has been documented, quality reviewed, and added to the database. The data was published online and datasets could be purchased through a web browser tool. The SPINE data format was also extended to include data on impact assessment models according to ISO 14042. This extension of the format was named IA98. Some commonly applied impact assessment models was documented according to the format and published online in 2000.

The LCI data in the database is provided by different organizations and also funded by different funding agencies and companies. VINNOVA, Sweden’s innovation agency, was the major financier between 1996 and 2006. Since 2006 the Database has no financial support and the database development has been dependent on specific projects based on external funding.

Terms of use – License agreement 

The data in the CPM LCA Database is open and accessible for free to researchers and practitioners. User restrictions and guidelines are regulated within the licence agreement.