SimaPro Life Cycle Assessment Software Training Course

Course overview

Environmental teams are increasingly asked to substantiate carbon, circularity and product environmental claims with auditable evidence. SimaPro is widely used to build life cycle assessment (LCA) models, but credible results depend on more than selecting a database and pressing calculate. Practitioners must define an appropriate functional unit, set system boundaries, choose defensible allocation rules, document data quality, interpret uncertainty and communicate limitations. This course helps professionals turn operational, engineering and supplier data into transparent product and process LCAs that can withstand internal review, customer scrutiny and third-party assurance.

Over five days, participants build and analyse LCA models in SimaPro using ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 principles. They learn to structure projects, create processes, connect product systems, import and edit inventory data, use ecoinvent datasets, apply allocation and cut-off choices, run LCIA methods, compare scenarios and conduct contribution, sensitivity and uncertainty analyses. The course also covers selecting impact categories, including climate change, acidification, eutrophication, resource use and toxicity, and translating model outputs into practical improvement priorities without overstating conclusions.

Instruction combines guided demonstrations with hands-on modelling of a realistic product or service case. Participants work through a complete study from goal and scope definition to interpretation, peer review and management-ready reporting. They leave with a completed SimaPro project file, a documented LCA model, a scenario comparison, an interpretation worksheet and an action plan for applying the workflow to a live organisational product, process or procurement decision.

The course is designed for environmental, sustainability, product, engineering and procurement professionals who already understand their organisation's materials, energy, waste or supply-chain data and need to produce or commission more rigorous LCAs.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Define an ISO 14040-aligned goal, scope, functional unit and system boundary for an LCA study
• Build linked process trees and product systems in SimaPro from foreground inventory data
• Select and adapt ecoinvent datasets using documented geography, technology and time-representativeness criteria
• Apply allocation, cut-off and recycling modelling rules to multifunctional processes
• Run life cycle impact assessment calculations using selected midpoint and endpoint methods in SimaPro
• Produce contribution analyses, process contribution charts and hotspot tables for a product system
• Test model robustness through scenario, sensitivity and Monte Carlo uncertainty analysis
• Prepare an ISO-aligned LCA interpretation and management-ready results report with stated limitations

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• Sustainability Managers — who need defensible evidence for product, operations and decarbonisation decisions
• LCA Practitioners — who need structured, hands-on capability in SimaPro modelling and interpretation
• Environmental Managers — who must quantify lifecycle impacts beyond site-level environmental data
• Product Development Engineers — who need to compare material, design and manufacturing alternatives
• ESG and Carbon Analysts — who need to connect product carbon claims with broader lifecycle impact assessment
• Procurement and Supply Chain Managers — who need to assess supplier, material and sourcing scenarios using lifecycle evidence

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have a working understanding of their organisation's products, processes or supply-chain flows and be comfortable using spreadsheets to organise quantities, units and assumptions. Familiarity with basic environmental concepts such as greenhouse gas emissions, energy use, waste, materials and scope boundaries is expected. Prior exposure to life cycle assessment terminology, including functional unit, inventory and impact category, is helpful but not essential. No prior SimaPro experience, coding ability, advanced statistics or environmental science degree is required. Participants should have access to a laptop capable of running the agreed SimaPro version or remote desktop environment.

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor-led briefings followed by supervised SimaPro modelling on a common product-system case. Participants create processes, map flows, connect ecoinvent background data and test modelling decisions as they progress. Worked examples compare alternative materials, transport routes and end-of-life treatments, while small-group reviews challenge functional units, system boundaries and allocation choices. Each day closes with a practical output that feeds the final model. On day five, participants interpret their results and prepare a workplace application plan for a selected product, process or procurement question.

Course outline

Day 1: LCA framing and SimaPro project setup

• ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 LCA phases and decision contexts
• Goal statements, intended applications and critical review triggers
• Functional unit, reference flow and service definition
• System boundary choices including cradle-to-gate, cradle-to-grave and gate-to-gate
• SimaPro interface, project structure and database navigation
• Foreground and background system distinctions
• Inventory data collection templates, units and data-quality indicators

Workshop: Participants define the goal and scope for a selected product case and create a structured SimaPro project with an initial inventory data sheet.

Day 2: Foreground modelling and database selection

• Creating unit processes and entering material, energy and emission flows
• Linking processes through product outputs and intermediate flows
• Using ecoinvent searches, process documentation and dataset parameters
• Geographic, temporal and technological representativeness checks
• Modelling transport, electricity mixes and fuel use
• Handling co-products and multifunctional processes
• Allocation methods including mass, economic and system expansion approaches

Workshop: Participants build and link the foreground manufacturing and transport stages for the case product, documenting dataset and allocation decisions.

Day 3: Impact assessment and hotspot analysis

• Life cycle impact assessment structure: classification, characterisation and normalisation
• Midpoint and endpoint indicator selection in SimaPro
• Climate change indicators and product carbon footprint interpretation
• Acidification, eutrophication, particulate matter and resource-use indicators
• Toxicity-related impact category interpretation and limitations
• Network, tree and process contribution analysis views
• Identifying hotspots, burden shifting and dominant assumptions

Workshop: Participants run LCIA calculations for their model and produce a ranked hotspot table with contribution charts for priority impact categories.

Day 4: Scenarios, uncertainty and model quality

• Scenario manager workflows for design and sourcing alternatives
• Parameter creation and formula-based process modelling
• Sensitivity analysis for quantities, distances, yield and energy assumptions
• Monte Carlo analysis and uncertainty result interpretation
• Pedigree matrix concepts and inventory data-quality assessment
• Recycling allocation approaches and end-of-life modelling choices
• Model checking, documentation fields and internal quality assurance

Workshop: Participants create two improvement scenarios, run sensitivity or Monte Carlo tests, and record the assumptions that materially change the result.

Day 5: Interpretation, reporting and workplace application

• ISO-aligned interpretation: completeness, consistency and sensitivity checks
• Distinguishing comparative assertions from internal decision-support studies
• Results visualisation for technical reviewers and management audiences
• Writing limitations, exclusions and data-quality statements
• Translating hotspots into eco-design and procurement recommendations
• Preparing LCA model handover and reproducibility documentation
• Planning a workplace SimaPro study, stakeholder review and data collection route

Workshop: Participants complete an interpretation pack containing key findings, limitations, recommended actions and a 90-day plan for applying SimaPro to a workplace case.

Tools & standards covered

SimaPro, ecoinvent, ISO 14040, ISO 14044

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions