Reflections on LCANZ Summit 2025: From Insight to Impact

The LCANZ Summit took place on March 27, 2025, at the John Lysaght Building, Grid AKL, Auckland. As an annual event hosted by the Life Cycle Association of New Zealand (LCANZ), the summit provided a platform for dynamic discussions on the evolving role of life cycle assessment (LCA) in the industry. This year’s theme, “From Insight to Impact: Leveraging LCA for Business Success,” highlighted how businesses are using LCA to navigate key challenges such as mandatory disclosures, organisational reporting, and strategic governance. The event focused on translating LCA insights into practical, actionable strategies, enabling businesses to drive meaningful change across their operations.

The summit opened with a keynote presentation by Barbara Nebel, President of the Life Cycle Association of New Zealand (LCANZ), highlighting the growing momentum of sustainability initiatives both locally and globally. She emphasised the evolving role of LCA as a powerful tool for driving meaningful change, not only in environmental impact assessment but also across various business and policy domains. Barbara underscored that LCA’s benefits extend far beyond traditional applications, playing a crucial role in areas such as responsible procurement, modern slavery prevention, employee engagement, product innovation, supply chain collaboration, marketing and sales, regulatory compliance, and circular economy initiatives. Her insights reinforced the expanding influence of LCA in helping businesses make informed, strategic decisions that balance sustainability with economic success.

Following Barbara Nebel’s keynote presentation, the summit featured an engaging case study presented by Pasindu Samarakkody (Edge Impact) and Caitlin Mowatt (Auckland Transport). Their presentation showcased the application of LCA in evaluating the whole-of-life environmental impacts of Auckland Transport’s ferry fleet, comparing six different scenarios, including the existing fleet and alternative options. A particularly compelling quote from their slides stated, “We can’t manage what we haven’t measured.” This message underscored the crucial role of LCA in enabling businesses to quantify their environmental impacts, offering data-driven insights that drive strategic decision-making and long-term sustainability success. In their case study, LCA played a key role in guiding Auckland Transport’s transition toward low-carbon emission technologies by providing a clear comparison of alternative solutions.

Image: LCANZ Summit 2025

Next, Andrea Edwards from Eco Choice Aotearoa led an insightful presentation on ecolabelling and the importance of a life cycle approach in certification. She provided a comprehensive introduction to ecolabels, explaining the different types, the standards they follow, and their examples. Life cycle thinking was emphasised as a crucial aspect of ecolabelling, offering a holistic perspective on a product’s long-term environmental impact. Andrea highlighted the business value of ecolabels, noting that they enhance consumer trust and loyalty due to their rigorous assessment criteria. She also stressed the importance of clear and responsible messaging, cautioning against the use of vague or misleading terminology. To ensure a clear and accurate message, she recommended avoiding buzzwords or unrelated claims, using precise and transparent language, and supporting statements with scientific, third-party verification. For example, she advised using “environmentally preferred” instead of “environmentally friendly” and “lower carbon product” rather than “low carbon product”, demonstrating how word choice can impact consumer perception and trust.

The summit also featured key updates from the building and construction industry, with speakers from the concrete and steel sectors sharing their organisations' environmental initiatives.

Tim Kleier from Concrete New Zealand presented the challenges facing the concrete industry under the latest Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) requirements. He highlighted a significant hurdle: EPDs only cover specific products, with a maximum allowable carbon variation of ±5% between the specified and reported product. Given the diverse technical requirements of concrete across different projects and the various factors influencing concrete mixes, meeting these requirements poses a real challenge. To navigate this, Concrete NZ has introduced the use of pre-verified tools for generating LCA self-declarations or environmental data sheets, such as the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) tool. This tool helps the industry comply with Green Star certification requirements while also addressing project time constraints. An internal quality management system, a Concrete NZ plant audit scheme, and spot checks by the NZGBC are expected to be implemented, ensuring the credibility of the results.  As part of these initiatives, Concrete NZ will provide training to its members on using the GCCA tool. However, Tim emphasised that while this initiative is a short-term solution to adapt to changing EPD requirements, the long-term strategy remains focused on expanding the number of EPDs available for concrete products.

Furthermore, Andrew Mackay presented the latest update on New Zealand Steel’s decarbonisation project. His presentation highlighted the introduction of the electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking process, its LCA outcomes, and the latest developments in the EPDs for New Zealand Steel products. Andrew announced that the EAF is expected to be fully operational, delivering its first tonnes of steel to the New Zealand market by March 2026. This transition is projected to bring significant benefits, including approximately 50% less coal use, a reduction of more than 45% in total Scope 1 and 2 emissions, and the elimination of 1% of the country’s annual emissions. This initiative also includes a strategy to incorporate external scrap in steel production. In unlocking the potential of EAF and external scrap use, Andrew presented the LCA modelling outcomes from different steelmaking scenarios. He compared the standard “everyday” steel, made from a 40:60 blend of internal and external scrap, with a lower-emission steel produced using 100% scrap. The results showed that the lower-emission steel has approximately four times lower embodied carbon than the standard “everyday” steel. Additionally, the updated EPDs for New Zealand Steel products—covering both standard and lower-emission steel—are expected to be published around May this year.

Image: LCANZ Summit 2025 Key speakers

Lastly, Jeff Vickers, representing LCANZ, presented the association’s 2025 work plan, highlighting key initiatives aimed at enhancing environmental transparency in business practices. A major focus of his presentation was the introduction of new environmental claims guidance designed to help businesses navigate the fine line between legitimate sustainability claims and greenwashing. Vickers stressed the risks associated with misleading environmental claims and demonstrated how businesses could inadvertently engage in greenwashing. To address this challenge, the new guidelines were developed to ensure that companies can make accurate and credible claims while maintaining transparency and accountability. Two key components of the guidance were introduced: a risk matrix that categorises different types of environmental claims based on their level of risk within the communication domain and a flowchart outlining the structured process for making LCA-based environmental claims. Once finalised and published, this guideline is expected to play a crucial role in helping businesses substantiate their environmental claims, ensuring credibility while mitigating the risk of greenwashing.

The LCANZ Summit 2025 offered valuable insights into the growing role of life cycle thinking across a range of industries. From practical case studies to updates on sector-wide initiatives, the event highlighted how LCA can be a powerful driver of informed, strategic decision-making. As we continue to support clients and collaborators in applying LCA at Capana Group, we remain committed to turning insight into impact, helping shape a future where sustainability is not just measured but meaningfully embedded in every stage of decision-making.