Emissions from procurement of goods and services account for almost 50% of the sector-wide carbon footprint.[1] For individual humanitarian organisations, this share can be even higher. Given the importance of tackling procurement-related emissions, it is key to focus efforts on top items as well as the most relevant decarbonisation levers.

Whilst some organisations have started to perform lifecycle analyses in order to identify the areas where actions will lead to the highest impact reductions, results are often not public or too specific. This gap in publicly available data makes it difficult for humanitarian
organisations to identify the sources of the environmental impact in their activities and value chains.

This session will provide participants with go-to resources on lifecycle analyses and offer a preview of findings from the joint ICRC/Climate Action Accelerator/EPFL project on LCAs of key items of the sector. It will also feature insights from UNITAID on LCAs of key health products and how results are used to shape markets.[2]Additionally, learnings from a WREC study, conducted in collaboration with KLU and CHORD, on measuring emissions in humanitarian supply chains[3], as well as insights from the WORM project on LCAs of bio-based materials will be shared.

Panellists will explore the opportunities and limitations of LCAs, discussing how these analyses can help logistics and procurement teams reduce the environmental impact of procured items and support market shaping efforts.