Life Cycle Thinking (LCT) is about going beyond the traditional focus on production sites and manufacturing processes to include the environmental, social and economic impacts of a product over its entire life cycle. Life Cycle Thinking can help identify opportunities to reduce the socio-environmental impacts of products and services, while identifying new business opportunities. In tackling the pressing environmental problems of the day, such as plastic pollution, it is becoming paramount for government and business decision makers to understand and apply these approaches, so that the solutions of today do not become the problems of tomorrow.
Life Cycle Initiative’s e-learning courses
A set of free online training courses on Life Cycle Thinking for students, government officials and business people has been developed by the Life Cycle Initiative. The courses introduce Life Cycle Thinking, and demonstrate its value to different kinds of users. The training materials can be used as a complement to teaching curricula.

Three courses are available:
- Introduction to Life Cycle Thinking (in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French and Arabic)
- Life Cycle Thinking in Business Decision Making (in English and Spanish)
- Life Cycle Thinking in Policy Making (in English and Spanish)
Register for our e-learning overview webinars (English and Spanish)
A webinar (Nov 3 in English and Nov 4 in Spanish), is being held to introduce the courses. The webinar will:
- Outline the content of the different courses
- Provide an opportunity to ask questions about the course content and access, and its use in teaching
- Showcase a selection of life cycle thinking case studies carried out with support of the Life Cycle Initiative.
We hope that you will join us!

- On 3 Nov 2020, 10-11 am Central European Time (CET) in English
The English webinar will be delivered by A/Prof Brett Cohen and A/Prof Pippa Notten of TGH Think Space. Moderation will be by the Life Cycle Initiative.
- On 4 Nov 2020, 5-6 pm Central European Time (CET) in Spanish
The Spanish webinar will be delivered by Prof. Dr. Almudena Hospido of the Department of Chemical Engineering, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (USC), Spain. Moderation will be by the Life Cycle Initiative.