September 2025 The Shift e-newsletter

Free Webinar: Leveraging O-LCA in Corporate Sustainability | Advanced Techniques in LCA | O-LCA | ACLCA

Free Webinar:

Leveraging Organizational LCA (O-LCA) as the Foundation of Corporate Sustainability Plans

DATE: Thursday, September 25th, 2025

TIME: 1pm - 2pm EST

PRESENTERS:

Miguel Hernandez and Sarah Donovan EarthShift Global

Description:

This webinar introduces the fundamentals of O-LCA and explores its role as a foundation for corporate sustainability strategy. It explores the differences between O-LCA and corporate GHG accounting and how O-LCA can provide a robust Scope 3 assessment. When complemented by product-level LCAs, sustainable procurement practices, and Scope 3 emissions management, O-LCA becomes a strategic enabler, driving meaningful improvements across the value chain.

About the Presenters:

Miguel Hernandez is an experienced project leader in LCA and consumer packaged goods R&D. He has experience conducting and reviewing LCAs across several industries and worked for six years at Detergentes LTDA in Bogotá, where he helped develop TOP Terra, Colombia’s first eco-friendly home care products brand, oversaw recovery and management of over 50 tons of packaging, and generated millions of dollars in annual savings through improvements in formulation, packaging, and processes. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, and a master’s degree in Environmental Management from the same university’s Business School, where he now teaches LCA and industrial ecology. Miguel is based in Bogota, Colombia.

Sarah Donovan brings both academic and applied LCA expertise, with experience conducting GHG assessments and LCAs for products and organizations across several industries. She has developed regulatory reports on low-carbon fuels in Canada and conducted research on the climate impacts of beef in Nova Scotia and air transport in the Canadian lobster industry. Her work emphasizes drawing actionable insights for companies and policymakers to reduce environmental impacts. Sarah holds a bachelor’s in Biology and Environmental Studies from Davidson College and a master’s in Resource and Environmental Management from Dalhousie University. Sarah is based in Halifax, Canada.

Both Sarah and Miguel will be presenting talks on O-LCA at ACLCA 2025.

EarthShift Global is excited to join sustainability professionals from across the globe at the ACLCA 2025 Conference in Atlanta. As a proud sponsor of the event, our team is looking forward to connecting with practitioners, researchers, students, and industry leaders to advance the practice of life cycle assessment and sustainability.

Our Agenda Highlights

Monday, September 15th (2–5pm): Advanced LCA Techniques (Pre-Conference Workshop with Lise Laurin, Miguel Hernandez, and Reed Miller of the University of Maine)
Tuesday, September 16th (1–2:30pm): Leveraging Organizational LCA (O-LCA) as the Foundation of Corporate Sustainability Plans (Miguel Hernandez and Sarah Donovan)
Wednesday, September 17th (4–5:30pm): Closing the Data Gap: Enhancing Life Cycle Assessments for Packaging (Lise Laurin, Kirti Richa of ExxonMobil co-chairs, Miguel Hernandez, and other packaging experts speaking)
Thursday, September 18th (9–10am): Organizational LCA and Its Potential as the Foundation of Corporate Sustainability Plans (Miguel Hernandez and Sarah Donovan)

If you’ll be at ACLCA, we hope you’ll take part in our sessions and stop by our booth to connect. We look forward to seeing you in Atlanta!

ACLCA 2025 Workshop: Advanced Techniques in LCA

electronic screen showing varying horizontal lines

EarthShift Global’s Lise Laurin and Miguel Hernandez are joining Reed Miller of the University of Maine at ACLCA 2025 to guide a workshop on Advanced Techniques in LCA.

Too often, LCA practitioners shy away from projects with too much uncertainty or before a manufacturing process has reached maturity. They may simply assess an average or typical example, missing the opportunity to provide more nuanced advice. They may not know how to advise a client when there are significant trade-offs or provide broad guidance when there are many variables affecting the results. The ability to provide a higher level of support has the potential to enable decision makers to address the changes needed in this critical time. This workshop aims to help practitioners by sharing techniques that enable us to overcome these challenges.

graphic of Organizational Life Cycle Assessment: A Strategic Tool for Corporate Sustainability

At the upcoming ACLCA 2025 conference, Miguel Hernandez and Sarah Donovan will lead a session to introduce Organizational Life Cycle Assessment (O-LCA) as a framework for building corporate sustainability strategies that go beyond carbon accounting.
As sustainability challenges become more complex, organizations need tools that capture more than just greenhouse gas emissions. O-LCA takes a systems-level view of environmental performance across the entire value chain, giving decision-makers the insight needed to set priorities and take meaningful action to reduce environmental impacts.

What O-LCA Brings to the Table

Unlike product-level LCA, O-LCA evaluates the environmental footprint of an entire organization at a given point in time. This broader lens makes it possible to: Track environmental performance trends year over year. Set and measure progress toward impact reduction goals across multiple impact categories. Identify and prioritize actions in operations and supply chains. Communicate results clearly to stakeholders, from investors and regulators to employees and customers.