The training is built for people who need to use openLCA in a technically meaningful way, not only to find their way around the interface. Typical participants include:

• Sustainability analysts and environmental specialists
• Environmental engineers
• LCA practitioners and technical consultants
• Corporate R&D and product development teams
• Academic researchers and PhD students
• Consulting teams building internal modelling capability

The training follows the order in which an LCA study is actually built, rather than a menu-by-menu software tour. The curriculum runs through:

• Getting started with openLCA and the elements of a database
• Databases and data exchange — creating, combining, importing, restoring, and exporting across formats
• Modelling — processes, flows, product systems, the model graph, and connecting multiple models
• Life cycle scope and end-of-life modelling
• Impact assessment — LCIA methods, inventory results, midpoint and endpoint modelling, normalisation, weighting, and grouping
• Analysis and interpretation — contribution analysis, hotspot analysis, and scenario comparison
• Parameters and uncertainty — local and global parameters, Monte Carlo simulation, and sensitivity analysis
• Advanced modelling, scripting, and social LCA — regionalised LCA, circularity modelling, Python scripting, and basic social LCA with DEISO training processes
• Results and reporting — export to Excel and interactive HTML reports

After completing the relevant plan, participants can:

• Create and manage openLCA databases, and import or restore them from .zolca files
• Build processes, flows, and product systems, and read them in the model graph
• Work with database documentation and judge whether a dataset fits the study
• Apply LCIA methods and import additional ones
• Produce inventory results and impact analysis, at midpoint and endpoint level
• Apply normalisation, weighting, and grouping
• Interpret results and run process contribution analysis
• Export results to Excel and analyse them there
• Generate and share interactive LCA results in HTML

At the higher levels, participants can also:

• Build sub-models and connect them into a primary model
• Work with local and global parameters across a model
• Run Monte Carlo simulation and sensitivity analysis
• Carry out hotspot analysis and product or scenario comparison
• Model end-of-life and material flow logic
• Export across ILCD, Excel, EcoSpold, and CSV matrix formats

At the Master level, participants can also:

• Run regionalised impact assessment, so results reflect where each activity takes place
• Model recycling, reuse, and end-of-life choices and compare circular design options
• Automate process creation, calculations, and result export with Python scripts
• Build a basic social LCA model with DEISO training processes and work through an S-LCA case study

The plans start from different points, so the expected background differs by level.

openLCA is free to download, which means teams often start using it without structured guidance and hit the same barriers. The training addresses:

• Difficulty understanding how openLCA structures databases, flows, and product systems
• Uncertainty about which dataset to select, and how to read process documentation before choosing
• Difficulty importing, combining, or exporting databases across formats
• Limited confidence building product systems that hold together technically
• Difficulty interpreting inventory and impact assessment results
• Analysis that stops at the software’s built-in views rather than going further in Excel
• No capability for uncertainty or sensitivity work
• Repeated manual modelling work that scripting could automate
• Slow learning through trial and error without structured guidance

The training is software-focused, and it follows the four phases of the life cycle assessment framework throughout — goal and scope, inventory analysis, impact assessment, and interpretation. The modules are taught in that order, so the software work maps onto the framework rather than sitting beside it. The framework itself is defined by:

• ISO 14040 — life cycle assessment: principles and framework
• ISO 14044 — life cycle assessment: requirements and guidelines

The training builds capability aligned with these standards.

The training is run by an expert LCA trainer at PhD level and is built for practical use in industry, research, and consulting. It is not limited to interface familiarisation. The approach emphasises:

• Structured progression across four training levels
• Practical, technically grounded modelling work
• Analytical interpretation of results, not only how to produce them
• Case studies drawn from production and waste management, and in Master, social LCA and Python scripting
• Suitability for both industry and academic work
• Flexible training formats and scheduling