The UNI EN ISO 14040 standard introduces the topic as follows: "The objectives and purposes of the LCA study must be clearly defined and consistent with the intended application. The objective of an LCA must unambiguously establish the reasons for conducting the study and the intended audience."
For example, the objective of an LCA may be to compare different processes that generate products with the same function to determine which one is better from an environmental point of view. Other examples could include external relations or technological innovation related to a production process. Therefore, defining these two parameters is particularly important as it allows defining the boundaries of the research and thus those of the system under study, as well as expressing the results in the most appropriate form. From the objectives and needs of the analysis user, some fundamental characteristics derive: the extent of the life cycle, any alternatives to consider, integration with non-environmental aspects, data quality, detail of the evaluation and improvement phase.
