The Icelandic LCA tool is tailored to Iceland's national methodology and upcoming 2025 climate requirements for buildings. This tool is available in all Icelandic licenses and enables life-cycle carbon assessment (LCA) for construction projects in line with the regulation issued by the Housing and Construction Authority (HMS).
Life-Cycle Scope in the Tool
The tool calculates the climate impact across the full building life-cycle: A1–A5, B1–B7, C1–C4, and D.
It allows automatic default value calculations for stages A4, A5, B6, and C1–C4 using either Icelandic national defaults or user-defined data.
Certification & Compliance Scope
As of September 1, 2025, life-cycle carbon calculations are mandatory for most new building permits in Iceland (excluding storage, agriculture, summerhouses, and extensions). Calculations must follow the official Icelandic methodology agreed with HMS.
The tool supports compliance by:
Enabling full life-cycle assessments (A to D stages)
Reporting climate impacts in kg CO₂e/m²/year over 50 years
Applying automatic 25% safety top-up factors for generic datasets, in line with Nordic practice
Data Scope in the Tool
The Icelandic LCA tool includes data from the following sources:
Icelandic national generic emissions data
EPDs alinged with EN 15804+A1 and +A2 standards
Finnish, Swedish, and German generic databases
Icelandic building systems and energy datasets
Users can use EPDs or national data to cover all materials. Emission results are automatically adjusted for comparability with other Nordic standards using a 25% safety margin for generic data.
Creating Your Assessment
1. Create a project and choose the tool
Select "Iceland – LCA Tool" as your calculation method when creating a project.
2. Input building area
Enter the Brutto floor area (BTA). The reference reporting is kg CO₂e/m²/year over 50 years.
3. Add materials
Manually input material data or import from BIM, Excel, or other formats. For each material:
Choose correct building part classification
Set transportation distances (or use Icelandic default values)
Specify service life and wastage rates if known
Indicate reuse status if applicable
4. Energy Consumption
Input annual operational energy use using local Icelandic datasets or EPDs. The tool supports automatic D-stage benefit calculations for exported renewable energy.
5. Water & Site Impacts
Add annual water use and any site-specific construction energy, waste, or emissions.
6. Emissions & Maintenance
Add refrigerant leakage, carbonation, and maintenance scenarios as needed. All contributions are included across relevant stages (e.g., B1–B5).
7. Calculation Period
The standard calculation period for compliance is 50 years, and all results are normalized per year.
Viewing and Downloading Results
Go to the Results page. The tool presents:
Stage-by-stage results (A–D) in kg CO₂e/m²/year
Graphs and tables for both conservative and typical scenarios
Exportable reports with per-material breakdown and comparisons
You can choose to download reports in various formats for submission or internal review.
Use Cases
The Icelandic LCA tool can be used for:
Icelandic building permit submissions (2025+)
Full building lifecycle assessments (A–D)
Early design decarbonization and comparison
Benchmarking with other Nordic buildings