The construction industry's LCA tool for carbon footprint documentation

LCAcollect is a digital tool for the construction industry that is used directly in your web browser.

The tool can be used to collect data about the building and building components for use in calculating the total carbon footprint at building level (LCA), as required by the Danish building regulations for new buildings from 2023.

LCAcollect was originally developed by COWI and Arkitema, who offered to make it available to the industry. It has subsequently been further developed together with Molio, Ramboll and Green Building Council Denmark. A steering group for the tool has been established, which, in addition to the aforementioned companies, also consists of the Danish Association of Consulting Engineers (FRI), Danish Association of Architectural Firms, CG Jensen, The Danish Association of Construction Clients (DACC), DI Byggeri, BUILD and BLOXHUB.

The self-endowed philanthropic association Realdania will finance the further development and customisation of the tool in 2023 and 2024. Concurrently, a fair and sustainable financing model will be established, where payment solutions will enable further development and hosting of LCAcollect.

For now, the tool is made freely available to the industry by Molio and Green Building Council Denmark in a basic version.

The new tool is used to collect information about building components, materials and quantities that can be exported directly to LCAbyg in JSON format to perform the actual LCA calculation.

See guide for importing into LCAbyg from LCAcollect (only available in Danish).

From 1 January 2023, the building regulations require documentation of the climate footprint for all new buildings. The new rules will apply to all new buildings for which a building permit is applied for from 1 January 2023. Buildings for which a building permit has been applied for before 1 January 2023 will therefore not be covered by the new rules.

The new Danish building regulations on the climate impact of buildings are twofold:

• The climate impact of new buildings must be documented with a Life Cycle Assessment for the entire building, also known as LCA.
• New buildings larger than 1000 square metres will have a limit value of 12 kg CO2 equivalents/sqm/year. From 2025, a limit value will apply to all new construction. The actual limit values from 2025 have not yet been politically determined, but it is expected that the limit values will be tightened every two years.

The new legislation places great demands on the entire construction value chain, which in the future must build within the adopted limit values and document the total climate footprint of new buildings.

Licence terms and privacy policy
By registering and using LCAcollect, the current licence terms and conditions as well as Molio's personal data and cookie policy apply, see www.molio.dk, terms are considered accepted when using the product.

Access
Access to LCAcollect is personal and only allows access for one user via login. LCAcollect may only be used for the collection of data in connection with LCA calculations on building and construction projects.

For the time being, the use of the product is free of charge, but Molio reserves the right to introduce paid subscriptions at a later date. Molio reserves the right to terminate subscriptions and user access, e.g. as a result of violations of licence terms or other terms of use.

Use of data

All use of data in LCAcollect is at the responsibility of the user. The user is responsible for the copyright and legality of the data used and that LCAcollect is used as intended. It is also the user's responsibility to handle personal data correctly in accordance with personal data and cookie policy. Molio is not liable for loss of data in connection with the use of LCAcollect.

By registering and using LCAcollect, the user accepts that Molio collects data in anonymised form for the purpose of statistics, analyses, etc. and that this data may be shared with third parties.

Changes to the subscription terms - regulation, etc.
Molio is at any time entitled to change these terms of use, including price changes. Amended subscription terms will appear on www.lcacollect.dk and are accepted by the user at the first subsequent use of LCAcollect.

Copyright
Molio has copyright to the product in accordance with applicable copyright rules.

Mechanical, photographic, digital, or other reproduction of our products and services, both paper and digital or parts thereof, is not permitted.

Liability and responsibility
Molio's services and products are assumed to be used by persons who are technically competent in the individual areas, and the use does not relieve the users of the product of their usual responsibility. Any use of information, solutions, techniques, etc. mentioned in the product is therefore at your own risk and expense. Neither we nor the professionals who have participated in the preparation of the product can be held responsible for the practical application of the product.

Molio and Molio's suppliers, distributors and other partners do not guarantee that the data, formulas, structures and other material or other information contained in the product are correct and error-free, but endeavour to the best of their ability to keep the product updated, correct and error-free.

Molio and Molio's suppliers, distributors and other partners are not liable for product liability, unless otherwise provided by mandatory legislation. We and our suppliers, distributors and other business partners' liability for product liability is thus disclaimed by this agreement to the greatest extent possible in accordance with applicable law.

Force majeure: Neither party shall be liable to the other party under the agreement for circumstances beyond the party's control, which the party should not have considered at the time of entering into the subscription agreement and which the party should not have avoided or overcome, including but not limited to war and mobilisation, civil unrest, natural disasters, strikes, lockouts, epidemics, pandemics, failure of supply of raw materials, fire, damage to production equipment, interruption of general traffic, including energy supply, and import and/or export bans.

Molio and Molio's suppliers, distributors and other partners' liability for loss or damage can in no case, regardless of the basis on which liability is claimed, exceed an amount corresponding to the price of the product and, in the case of subscriptions, the annual subscription fee. However, the limitation of liability shall not apply if this is contrary to mandatory legislation.

LCAcollect has been released in a first version. It will be continuously improved and further developed.

For example, a Danish language version will be launched, and the product's functionality will be continuously improved.

This will be done in a development community in close collaboration with the industry.

If you have questions about the login process, we are ready to help you at molio@molio.dk or by phone +45 70 12 06 00 between 9:00-15:00 on weekdays.

LCA-related questions related to LCAcollect should be directed to Green Building Council Denmark at support@dgnb.dk

You can find answers to general questions about LCA at the Knowledge Centre on Building Climate Impact at www.byggeriogklima.dk, see FAQ.

You can read about the Danish building regulations' LCA requirements here.

You can find information about LCAbyg here.

A more detailed description of what is included in an LCA can be found here.

You can read more about current requirements for environmental product declarations at EPD danmark here.