The Environmental Footprint database is now available for openLCA and can be downloaded through openLCA Nexus, where you can also find the documentation for the integration of the database into openLCA (under the “documents” tab).
Users wanting to use the EF database for openLCA will have to have a licence of the Database Analyser and Launcher (DAL), which can be obtained here.
Steps to obtain the EF database for openLCA with the Database Analyser and Launcher:
You can acquire the EF database in Nexus (above links), where a zip file will download.
- Unzip the file
- Open the executable file
Licence information for the databases can be found in the welcome page, and additional details for DAL licence can be found under Help > Licence:
3. You can already browse and see the database using the File > Content function:
4. To start using the database with openLCA, File > copy to workspace. This will directly include the database in your openLCA, and you will be able to see it and access it once you open again openLCA.
Alternatively, you can use File > export as .zolca. This will export the full database into a .zolca file that can afterwards be uploaded into your openLCA with the “restore” function. This second way takes much longer.
Background
The Environmental Footprint (EF) database is provided under the guidance of the European Commission and its Joint Research Centre in its newest version 3.1 (as of June 2023).
The available EF data for the representative products is in line with the current product environmental footprint category rules (PEFCR) as well as the organization environmental footprint sector rules (OEFSRs). The EF 3.1 database is based on the EF 3.1 reference package and holds secondary life cycle inventory datasets adhering to EF standards from various providers. It was built on available data from the EF reference package including the EF method package and EF compliant datasets from the respective EF nodes.
EF node: https://eplca.jrc.ec.europa.eu/LCDN/contactListEF.xhtml