Australian Life Cycle Assessment Society

What Australian Life Cycle Assessment Society does

Australian Life Cycle Assessment Society (ALCAS) is a not-for-profit professional membership organization established in 2001 that operates as Australia's peak body for Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) practitioners. It serves individual practitioners, corporate sustainability teams, academic researchers, and government policy bodies across Australasia through membership programs, professional certification, and standardized LCA methodology. The organization is headquartered in Australia, with operating geographies spanning Australasia and credentialing partnerships extending to the United States.

ALCAS's core technology and product portfolio centers on three pillars: the AusLCI Australian National Life Cycle Inventory Database, a publicly-accessible national database providing sector-specific environmental inventory data; the Australasian EPD Programme, launched in 2014 in partnership with the International EPD System to register verified Environmental Product Declarations; and a three-tier certification stack comprising LCACP (Life Cycle Assessment Certified Practitioner), LCCCP (Life Cycle Carbon Certified Practitioner, launched July 2023), and CLE (Certified Lifecycle Executive, ISO 17024-conformant). Supporting offerings include the Best Practice Impact Assessment Guide, monthly webinars, and the biennial Australian Conference on LCA. Member-certified practitioners are employed across sustainability consultancies (Lifecycles, thinkstep-anz, Edge Impact, Perspektiv, Start2See), corporates (BlueScope, Laing O'Rourke Australia, GrainCorp), government (NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment; CSIRO), and academia (Deakin University).

Revenue is generated from individual and corporate membership fees (subscription recurring), certification application, examination and re-certification fees (professional services, with member vs. non-member and Australia vs. New Zealand pricing tiers), and biennial conference registration and sponsorship. Go-to-market is community-led, with the website, monthly webinars, the biennial conference, an email newsletter, and LinkedIn serving as primary engagement channels. Distribution is primarily direct via membership and conference registration, with certification exams available online globally. The organization is independently operated by a Board of Directors with no parent company or external ownership.

Name

Australian Life Cycle Assessment Society

Legal name

Australian Life Cycle Assessment Society

Website

https://alcas.asn.au

Company type

Private

Founded year

2001

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

ALCAS is Australia's peak not-for-profit professional body for Life Cycle Assessment, serving practitioners, corporates, government, and academia through LCA certification programs (LCACP, LCCCP, CLE), the AusLCI national inventory database, and the Australasian EPD Programme.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Environmental Professional Certification and LCA Services

NAICS

Business Associations (813910)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Product Sustainability & LCA/EPD (Eco-design, PCF) (EUAHAJAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

Circularity Consulting & Program Management (EPR, Design-for-Circularity, LCA) (EUAIANAH)

Keywords

• Life cycle assessment
• Environmental product declarations
• Professional certification
• Sustainability methodology
• Life cycle inventory

Headquarters

HQ city

Fitzroy Crossing

HQ country

Australia

HQ region

Oceania

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Membership Fees: ALCAS has individual and corporate members who pay membership dues. Members receive access to certification programs, webinars, conferences, and professional development resources.
2. Professional Certification Services: Revenue from LCACP (Life Cycle Assessment Certified Practitioner), LCCCP (Life Cycle Carbon Certified Practitioner), and CLE (Certified Lifecycle Executive) certification fees including application, examination, and recertification fees.
3. Conference and Event Registration: Revenue from hosting LCA conferences and symposiums including registration fees, sponsorship packages, and conference dinners.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

ALCAS is Australia's peak professional membership organisation for Life Cycle Assessment. It delivers the AusLCI national life cycle inventory database, the Australasian EPD Programme in partnership with the International EPD System, and three paid professional certification programs (LCACP, LCCCP, CLE), supported by monthly webinars, a biennial LCA conference, and standards guidance for practitioners.

Product overview

ALCAS (Australian Life Cycle Assessment Society) is Australia's peak professional organization for Life Cycle Assessment, operating as a not-for-profit membership body that offers a portfolio of interconnected programs and certifications rather than a single software product. The core offerings include the AusLCI (Australian National Life Cycle Inventory Database), a publicly-accessible national database providing environmental inventory data for LCA practitioners; the Australasian EPD Programme, operating in partnership with the International EPD System to register Environmental Product Declarations; and three professional certification programs (LCACP for LCA practitioners, LCCCP for carbon footprint practitioners, and CLE for executives who interpret LCA results). Supporting these are the Best Practice Impact Assessment Guide, AusLCI Carbon Emissions Factors data resources, monthly webinars, and the biennial ALCAS LCA Conference. The organization was established in 2001 and has grown to support a professional community across industry, government, academia and service organizations in Australasia.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• AusLCI: Australian National Life Cycle Inventory Database - a major initiative delivered by ALCAS providing national, publicly-accessible database with environmental information on Australian products and services.
• Australasian EPD Programme
• LCACP
• LCCCP
• CLE

Products and services

• AusLCI (Australian National Life Cycle Inventory Database) A national, publicly-accessible database providing authoritative, comprehensive and transparent environmental information on Australian products and services over their entire life cycle, with consistent guidelines, principles, methodologies, and sector-specific protocols for LCA processes.
• Australasian EPD Programme A platform for environmental information operating in alignment with the International EPD System, providing registered Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) that deliver relevant, verified and comparable information about the environmental impact of goods and services.
• LCACP (Life Cycle Assessment Certified Practitioner) Certification A practitioner certification targeted at individuals actively undertaking Life Cycle Assessment studies, delivered through a closed-book 3.5-hour multiple choice exam covering General LCA knowledge, ISO standards, LCI, LCIA, Project management, Data quality management, Post-impact calculations, LCA modeling/software, Statistics, Ethics, and Emerging issues. Certification is valid for three years with continuing education requirements.
• LCCCP (Life Cycle Carbon Certified Practitioner) Certification A certification program for GHG accounting professionals focused on lifecycle-based carbon footprinting, offering two levels: Experienced (5+ years GHG accounting with lead auditor experience) and Practicing (2+ years GHG accounting with provisional certification subject to successful study reviews).
• CLE (Certified Lifecycle Executive) Certification A certification developed in conformity with ISO 17024 standard demonstrating that individuals understand the basics of LCA and can interpret and communicate LCA results to the general public. Targeted at architects, product specifiers, purchasing agents, environmental managers, sustainability managers, educators and individuals hiring LCA contractors.
• AusLCI Carbon Emissions Factors Emissions data in kg CO2e drawn from the AusLCI database, available across multiple impact assessment methods (Carbon Neutrality Assumption, Total Carbon, Fossil Carbon, Biogenic Carbon methods), provided both with and without infrastructure, with a separate construction sector version combining AusLCI data with selected factors from a shadow database.
• ALCAS LCA Conference Biennial Australian conference bringing together green building designers, product manufacturers, government, researchers and LCA professionals, featuring keynote and plenary speakers, presentations on metrics for net-zero, global best practice in impact assessment, agricultural LCA projects, EPD processes, and practitioner experiences.

Quantifiable outcome

• LCA methodology standardization enabling consistent environmental assessments across the construction sector
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• AgriFutures AustraliacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 31 October 2023Joint project 'Equipping Australian agriculture with sustainability metrics' (LCAgMetrics) part of Federal Government's Sustainability Reporting Uplift Grant Round with $4 million funding. Project aims to update and broaden AusLCI database for agricultural sector.
• LifecyclescoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 31 October 2023Leading sustainability consultancy partnering with AgriFutures Australia on LCAgMetrics project. Tim Grant, Director of Lifecycles, is founding President of ALCAS. Lifecycles is sponsoring ALCAS conferences.
• Life Cycle Assessment New Zealand (LCANZ)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2014Sister organization that worked with ALCAS to identify gap in market for Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) programme in 2012, leading to launch of Australasian EPD Programme in 2014 in partnership with the International EPD Programme. Jointly offers certification programs including CLE.
• International EPD ProgrammecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2014The Australasian EPD Programme operates in alignment with the International EPD Programme, providing registered documents with verified and comparable environmental impact information for goods and services.
• American Centre for Life Cycle Assessment (ACLCA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for LCACP certification recognized in Australia, New Zealand, and USA. Exam and certification fees payable through ACLCA. CLE certification developed in conformity with ISO 17024 standard.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• American Centre for Life Cycle Assessment (ACLCA): US-based peer professional society for LCA practitioners with which ALCAS partners on LCACP certification reciprocity across Australia, NZ, and the USA. Operates the same membership + certification + conference model.
• EPD International AB (International EPD System): Operator of the International EPD System with which ALCAS partners to operate the Australasian EPD Programme. Provides the underlying EPD methodology and registry standards that ALCAS extends regionally.
• Life Cycle Association of New Zealand (LCANZ): ALCAS's sister organisation in New Zealand, jointly launched the Australasian EPD Programme in 2014 and co-offers CLE certification. Most direct geographic peer in terms of mandate and offerings.
• Forum for Sustainability through Life Cycle Innovation (FSLCI): Global multi-stakeholder forum promoting LCA capability building, methodology harmonisation, and practitioner networks. Comparable mission to ALCAS at a global scale, particularly aligned on capacity-building and emerging-economy LCA work.

Regional players

• Climate Active (Australian Government): Australian government-backed carbon neutral certification programme that intersects with ALCAS's LCA/LCCCP work and was the subject of a recent ALCAS member submission. Drives demand for LCA-credentialed practitioners.
• European Platform on Life Cycle Assessment: European Commission/JRC-hosted platform coordinating LCA reference data, methods, and networks across Europe. Comparable role to ALCAS at the regional level for a much larger geography.
• GHG Protocol: Global standard-setter for corporate and product-level greenhouse gas accounting. ALCAS's LCCCP carbon practitioner certification aligns with GHG Protocol scopes and methodologies, making it a complementary (sometimes competing) authority.

Broad incumbents

• Sphera (formerly thinkstep): Owner of the GaBi LCA software platform and a broad sustainability product portfolio. Parent of thinkstep-anz (a major ALCAS corporate member), so it is both a competitor in LCA tooling and a strategic partner channel.

Emerging players

• PRé Sustainability (SimaPro): Developer of SimaPro, one of the leading commercial LCA software tools widely used by ALCAS-certified practitioners. Adjacent player whose software ecosystem competes with / enables ALCAS's methodology guidance.

Others

• Green Building Council of Australia (GECA/GBCA): Australian green building and sustainable product certification body whose product certification schemes increasingly reference EPDs — a complementary ecosystem player that drives demand for ALCAS's EPD Programme and AusLCI data.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/australian-life-cycle-assessment-society
• Xx.com/ALCAScommunity

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Australian Life Cycle Assessment Society