LCA software for chemicals
SimaPro enables robust, transparent life cycle assessment (LCA) so chemical companies can quantify environmental impacts, meet evolving regulatory and customer requirements, and integrate impact modelling directly into R&D workflows. This allows teams to treat environmental performance as a design variable and make informed decisions across product development and portfolios.
Sustainability challenges in the chemicals sector
- Growing regulatory and reporting requirements (e.g. CSRD) requiring auditable, science-based impact data
- Complex Scope 3 emissions tied to energy-intensive processes, upstream feedstocks, and downstream product use
- Highly interconnected supply chains with limited visibility into raw material impacts
- Increasing demand for product carbon footprints (PCFs) and transparent environmental product data
- Increasing requests from customers seeking low impact chemical products
- Need for detailed substance-level modelling to assess toxicity, emissions, and wastewater impacts
- Managing environmental trade-offs across large product portfolios with shared intermediates and multi-output processes.
How SimaPro supports chemicals sustainability and compliance
Scope 3 and supply chain impact analysis
Model upstream feedstock extraction, energy inputs, intermediates, and downstream use phases while integrating supplier data and industry datasets. Build transparent supply chain models to identify emissions hotspots and understand the impacts of raw materials even when direct supplier data is limited.
PCF modelling and product-level reporting
Calculate consistent product carbon footprints across formulations and product lines. Apply standardized system boundaries and allocation rules to ensure comparable results aligned with evolving PCF requirements and customer requests for low-impact formulations.
Substance-level environmental impact assessment
Model emissions, toxicity pathways, and wastewater impacts using detailed life cycle impact assessment methods. Evaluate environmental trade-offs beyond carbon, including human toxicity, ecotoxicity, and resource impacts.
Regulatory and ESG reporting support
Produce auditable, transparent environmental impact calculations aligned with LCA standards and reporting frameworks such as CSRD. Maintain clear documentation of data sources, assumptions, and modelling choices.
Scenario and portfolio decision analysis
Evaluate alternative raw materials, bio-based inputs, recycling pathways, or process improvements using parameter-based modelling. Analyse the effects of changes across shared intermediates, multi-output processes, and interconnected product systems, and compare scenarios across entire product portfolios.
Flexible integration and scalable solution
Incorporate sustainability metrics into your organization’s workflows with seamless integration across various systems. Automate data input and use configurable models and APIs to scale from single product LCA to entire portfolio assessment.
Key use cases for chemicals teams
SimaPro supports sustainability, R&D, and strategy teams across practical, high-impact applications:
- PCF development: Quantify cradle-to-gate or cradle-to-grave emissions for chemical products to respond to customer requests and sustainability-driven procurement.
- Portfolio impact screening: Identify high-impact product groups or formulations to prioritize innovation, reformulation, and decarbonisation efforts.
- Supplier footprint modeling: Estimate upstream impacts where supplier data is limited and improve accuracy as primary data becomes available.
- Eco-design, reformulation, and feedstock transition: Compare materials, catalysts, and process configurations, and assess the impact of reformulation or shifts to bio-based, recycled, or alternative feedstocks.
- Product and corporate reporting: Generate standards-aligned product documentation (e.g. EPDs) and support customer disclosures, ESG reporting, and CSRD requirements with consistent, science-based data.
Each use case builds toward the same goal: decisions grounded in credible data.
From data to decision
A structured workflow makes implementation practical and scalable:
- Integrate supply chain and product data
Import supplier, feedstock, and formulation data, and complement gaps with trusted LCI databases. Build transparent models that reflect real production systems and supply chains. - Create a robust impact model
Apply recognized impact assessment methods within a consistent modelling framework. Harmonised data structures, robust allocation and system boundary logic, and transparent assumptions ensure reliable, audit-ready results. - Identify hotspots and compare improvement scenarios
Analyse environmental hotspots and test reformulation, feedstock, or process changes using scenario comparisons.Obtain environmental insights that teams can trust when making product, process, and portfolio decisions.
From insight to action step by step.
Why chemicals leaders choose SimaPro
For decades, SimaPro has supported practitioners, consultants, and academic institutions working at the forefront of life cycle assessment.
Chemical industry teams choose SimaPro for:
- Methodological rigor: Built on internationally recognized LCA standards and impact assessment methods.
- Trusted LCI databases: Access to leading, regularly updated datasets to model complex chemical supply chains, feedstocks, and intermediates.
- Transparency and traceability: Maintain clear documentation of system boundaries, allocation choices, assumptions, and data sources.
- Flexible process modeling: Model multi-output processes, shared intermediates, allocation approaches, and parameter-driven scenarios.
- Scenario and uncertainty analysis: Explore alternative feedstocks, formulations, and process configurations while understanding result sensitivity.
This combination enables you to move beyond compliance-driven assessments to informed product, portfolio, and innovation decisions.
Explore SimaPro solutions
Continue your sustainability journey:
- Explore the SimaPro product capabilities
- Learn more about available life cycle inventory databases
- Discover SimaPro training and learning resources
Let’s build your foundation for credible impact assessment.
Compliance packs
Corporate carbon footprint compliance pack
Corporate carbon footprint compliance pack following the GHG Protocol – Corporate Standard
Chemical compliance pack
Chemical compliance pack following the PCF guideline from Together for Sustainability
See how SimaPro supports the chemicals industry
Whether you’re calculating product footprints, preparing for regulatory reporting, or redesigning processes for lower impact, SimaPro equips your team with the clarity and confidence to move forward.
Speak with our sustainability specialists to discuss your chemicals-specific challenges and explore what’s possible. Let’s work together toward more transparent, resilient chemical value chains.
