ecoinvent

ecoinvent is the world’s most widely used Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) database. It is maintained by a Swiss not-for-profit association and provides process-level emission factors covering thousands of activities across agriculture, energy, transport, chemicals, construction, electronics, waste, and more. If you need detailed, process-level data for product carbon footprints (PCFs), lifecycle assessments (LCA), or material-level comparisons, ecoinvent is typically the go-to source.

We offer ecoinvent data through our Data Studio , API, Excel add-in, and Google Sheets extension. ecoinvent factors are also used automatically by our Mapping Agent and PCF API when included in your plan.

ecoinvent provides over 43,000 emission factors across 338 regions and nearly 15,000 distinct activities. The database covers virtually every sector of the product life cycle at the process level, including raw material extraction, energy generation, manufacturing, agriculture, transport, waste treatment, and construction. Each emission factor represents a specific real-world activity (for example, “steel production, converter, low-alloyed” or “market for electricity, low voltage, DE”). These are much more granular than the often generic activities like “steel” from other sources.

This level of granularity is what sets ecoinvent apart. Where most activity-based sources like government databases (DEFRA, EPA) provide emission factors at a broader category level (for example, “steel” or “plastics”), ecoinvent models individual production processes, technologies, and regional variants (for example, “steel production, electric, low-alloyed, DE”). This means you can calculate the footprint of a specific material produced by a specific process in a specific country, and compare alternatives at a level of detail that broader activity-based or spend-based sources cannot match.

When ecoinvent adds value

ecoinvent is the right choice when you need:

• Product carbon footprints (PCFs): Calculating the cradle-to-gate or cradle-to-grave footprint of a manufactured product requires process-level and material-level data. ecoinvent is widely used and often the baseline database for most standard-compliant PCF studies.
• Detailed lifecycle assessments (LCA): Full LCA studies, material choices, or end-of-life scenarios often rely on ecoinvent for comprehensive background data across the full supply chain.
• Material and process comparisons: When you need to choose between two materials (for example, aluminum vs. steel), two energy sources, or two production methods on an emissions basis, ecoinvent provides the process-level factors to make that comparison meaningful.

When ecoinvent is not the right fit

ecoinvent is not designed for high-level, spend-based corporate carbon footprinting. If you only have expenditure data for purchased goods and services, use EXIOBASE or another MRIO source for scope 3.1 screening. ecoinvent factors are activity-based, meaning they require physical inputs (kg, kWh, km, etc.), not monetary values.

ecoinvent is also not necessary if you only need emission factors for fuel combustion, grid electricity, or fleet transport in a specific country. Standard government sources (BEIS/DEFRA, EPA) cover these well and are included in all our plans at no additional cost.

Methodology

Activity-based

ecoinvent is an activity-based database. Every emission factor is linked to a physical unit of input or output: kg of material produced, kWh of electricity consumed, tonne-km of freight transported, etc. This means you need physical activity data to use ecoinvent factors. The result you get reflects the actual environmental impact of that specific process, not an economic average.

Each emission factor in ecoinvent represents one activity. For example, “clinker production” is a transforming activity that converts raw materials into clinker. An activity includes all inputs (raw materials, energy, transport) and outputs (products, waste, emissions) for a specific process, creating an emission factor. Included inputs can vary depending on the type of emission factor.

”Market for” vs. specific activities

This is one of the most important distinctions to understand when using ecoinvent.

“Market for” activities (also called market emission factors) represent the consumption-weighted average of all producers supplying a given product to a particular geographic market. For example, “market for steel, low-alloyed, Germany” (named “Steel - low-alloyed (market for)” in the EFDB) represents the average mix of all steel production processes (blast furnace, electric arc furnace, etc.) supplying low-alloyed steel in Germany, weighted by how much each route contributes to the German market. Market activities automatically include the transport required to deliver the product from producers to consumers, as well as product losses during distribution.

Specific activities (also called transforming activities) represent a single production process. For example, “steel production, electric, low-alloyed, DE” (named “Steel - low-alloyed (steel production - electric)” in the EFDB) represents steel produced specifically via electric arc furnace in Germany. This does not include downstream transport or market-level averaging.

When to use which:

In most cases, “market for” emission factors are the appropriate default. They provide a representative average and include transport to market. Use specific activities only when you have data about the actual production process.

Reference products and transforming activities

ecoinvent includes some emission factors where the transforming activity producing the emissions is not the same as the reference product, but the activity is measured in units of the reference product. For example: “Maize starch (citric acid production)” refers to emissions from citric acid production used to produce 1kg of maize starch. The quantity of citric acid is not given. If you want an emission factor for producing citric acid, choose “Citric acid (production)”. These types of emission factors are only suitable for advanced users.

System models

ecoinvent offers many different impact categories, indicators, and system models, which determine how the database handles recycling, waste, and by-products. All system models are based on the same underlying process data; they differ in allocation and substitution rules.

Cut-off by classification (the most commonly used model) applies the recycled content approach. Primary production is allocated to the first user of a material. Recycled materials enter the next lifecycle burden-free. This is the model we use in our database, and we focus on one impact indicator: IPCC’s Carbon Footprint.

EN15804 is a variant of cut-off, specifically designed for construction sector EPDs (Environmental Product Declarations) under the European standard EN 15804.

APOS (Allocation at the Point of Substitution) gives recycling credits to the recycler for avoiding virgin material production. Results are similar to cut-off for most activities, but differ for products with significant recycling streams.

Consequential models the market-level consequences of a change in demand. It uses marginal suppliers rather than averages. This model is suited for policy analysis and decision-support studies, not for standard footprinting.

For most corporate use cases or PCFs, the cut-off model is the appropriate choice, and this is the only one that we support at the moment, as it is the most relevant model.

Region definition

ecoinvent covers 338 geographic regions, ranging from global averages to individual countries to sub-national regions (for example, specific US states, Canadian provinces, or Chinese provinces). Many activities also have a “Rest of World” (RoW) emission factor that aggregates data for countries not individually modeled.

Understanding the hierarchy helps you pick the most representative emission factor.

• Country-level emission factors are available for most major economies. For example, “market for electricity, low voltage, FR” provides the French electricity mix, while “steel production, converter, low-alloyed, DE” reflects German steel production specifically. When a country-level emission factor exists for your activity and geography, always prioritize using it.
• Sub-national emission factors are available for selected countries where regional differences are significant. For example, ecoinvent provides state-level electricity emission factors for the United States and province-level data for Canada and China. This matters because the carbon intensity of electricity in Texas is very different from that in California.
• Continental or multi-country emission factors cover broader geographies. For example, “market for electricity, low voltage, Europe without Switzerland” represents a European average. These are useful when your supplier is in Europe but you do not know the exact country.
• Rest of World (RoW) emission factors aggregate data for all countries not individually modeled for a given activity. If you are sourcing a material from a country that ecoinvent does not model individually, the RoW emission factor will be your fallback. RoW factors are less precise because they blend data from many different countries with different energy mixes and production methods.
• Global emission factors represent a worldwide production-weighted average. These are the broadest possible scope and should only be used when no regional data is available.

How to choose: Always use the most specific geography available that matches where your activity actually takes place. The fallback hierarchy is:

1. Country or sub-national emission factor (best)
2. Continental or multi-country emission factor
3. Rest of World (RoW)
4. Global (GLO) (least specific)

Our API and Data Studio allow you to filter ecoinvent data by region. Our PCF API and Mapping Agent apply region fallback logic automatically when a specific region is unavailable.

Update frequency and versioning

ecoinvent releases new versions regularly. We currently offer the following versions:

Each version adds new emission factors, updates existing ones, and may introduce methodological changes. We integrate new ecoinvent versions into our database as they become available through our data versioning system.

Best practice: Pick one ecoinvent version per project or reporting cycle and use it consistently. Avoid mixing versions within the same study, as methodological differences between versions can introduce inconsistencies. Document the version used in your report.

ecoinvent in Climatiq

Through Climatiq, you can use ecoinvent for your calculations, but due to licensing terms and conditions, it is not possible to access the raw factors provided by ecoinvent.

We support the Cut-off model. This is the model most users need for PCFs, corporate footprinting, and scope 3 reporting. We also provide only the impact indicator related to CO2e: “climate change: total (excluding biogenic CO2)” (GWP100). We are in the process of adding “climate change: total (including biogenic CO2)”.

Full dataset license only

ecoinvent is licensed as a complete database through Climatiq. It is not possible to purchase access to individual emission factors, specific sectors, or subsets of the database. When you add ecoinvent to your plan, you get access to the full dataset across all sectors, regions, and system models available in our platform.

The license is managed through us. You do not need a separate agreement with ecoinvent directly. You can query, search, and use ecoinvent factors in your calculations through our API, Data Studio, Excel/Sheets add-ins, Mapping Agent, and PCF Studio. However, you cannot access, export, or redistribute the raw ecoinvent data.

How ecoinvent integrates within Climatiq

To use ecoinvent through any of these tools, you need an active premium subscription via Climatiq.

When standard sources are sufficient

ecoinvent is not always necessary. For scope 1 and 2 calculations (fuel combustion, grid electricity, fleet transport), standard government sources like BEIS/DEFRA or EPA provide well-maintained, frequently updated factors at no additional cost. ecoinvent adds the most value for:

• Process-level material and manufacturing data (PCFs)
• Activities or materials not covered by government sources
• Multi-country calculations where a single consistent source across different regions is needed
• Detailed product comparisons where generic factors are not specific enough

Advantages of using ecoinvent

• Deepest process-level granularity available. Over 43,000 emission factors at the level of individual activities, materials, and processes. No other general-purpose database matches this depth.
• Broadest sectoral coverage. Covers agriculture, energy, chemicals, construction, electronics, transport, waste, water, and more, all in a single consistent database.
• 338 regions. From global averages to country-level to sub-national data for major economies.
• Scientifically rigorous. Peer-reviewed methodology and transparent documentation.
• The standard for PCFs and LCA. Widely accepted for ISO 14067, PACT/WBCSD, and other product-level reporting frameworks. Auditors and verifiers expect ecoinvent as a baseline.
• Available at scale through Climatiq. Search, filter, and use ecoinvent factors through our API, Data Studio, Excel/Sheets, Mapping Agent, and PCF Studio without needing direct access to ecoinvent’s own tools.

Limitations

• Premium license required. ecoinvent is a commercial database and requires a separate license through us. It is not included in standard Climatiq plans.
• Requires physical activity data. ecoinvent factors are activity-based (kg, kWh, km, etc.). If you only have expenditure data, you cannot use ecoinvent directly — use a spend-based data source like EXIOBASE or CEDA.
• Complexity. With multiple regional variants and thousands of activities, selecting the right emission factor requires familiarity with LCA concepts. Choosing the wrong system model or geographic scope can lead to inaccurate results.
• Not suited for broad corporate screening. ecoinvent is designed for detailed, process-level analysis. If you need a fast, high-level corporate carbon footprint, standard government and MRIO sources are more practical.
• Update timing. New ecoinvent versions may not be available in our platform immediately on release. Check the Data Studio for the latest available version.

Best practices

Use “market for” emission factors as your default. Unless you have specific knowledge about the production process or supplier, market emission factors provide the most representative average and include transport and distribution losses.

Choose the most specific geography available. A country-specific factor is always better than a global average. If no country-specific data exists, use a regional or RoW emission factor and flag this as a data quality limitation.

Combine ecoinvent with your own primary data when available. For the most accurate results, use ecoinvent as secondary data and your own measurements or your supplier’s data as primary data (using the private factors endpoint). This is the standard approach for ISO 14067 compliant PCFs.

Do not mix ecoinvent versions within a project. Pick one version at the start and stick with it. If you need to upgrade, recalculate the full study with the new version rather than mixing old and new emission factors.

Document everything. Record the ecoinvent version, system model (cut-off), geographic scope, and specific emission factor used for each input in your calculation. This is essential for audit readiness and reproducibility.

Use ecoinvent where it adds value, not everywhere. For scope 1 and 2 (fuel, electricity, fleet), standard government sources are usually sufficient and more straightforward. Reserve ecoinvent for areas where process-level detail matters: PCFs, material comparisons, and supply chain analysis.

Browse ecoinvent emission factors in the Data Studio . For more on how we use ecoinvent in product carbon footprinting, see our PCF Studio  and PCF API documentation.

For licensing and access, visit the data licensing page  or contact us .