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LCA consultancy has been an important factor in the development and application of LCA, especially in Europe and the Americas. The article explores how PRé Sustainability, one of these consultants found its way to develop from an early pioneer to become established in this area, and how this journey determined the cur-rent approach to the market （the DNA） and how it intends to develop in the future. There are some references with regards of the collaboration with Japanese organisations. The main conclusion is that through the strength of sharing a collaboration, a small organisation can become an important supplier of tools in which LCA data is applied far beyond the traditional limits of the LCA community.

Since the introduction of life cycle assessment （LCA） into Japan in 1990s, its applications have been spreading over a wide area. And most of those spreads are caused by various international trends. According to 3 aspects which are deemed to be important elements in LCA studies, i.e. goal, scope and impact categories, changes of trends through a variety of LCA projects that we have been involved will be discussed in this paper.

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the main options available when executing an LCA from the perspective of an LCA consultant and to clarify the roles that LCA consultants play. The new areas that LCA consultants are likely to be active in the future, outside the established framework of LCA are also discussed, using keywords such as materiality assessment and SDGs.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a material for grasping the current state of the existence of various initiatives related to sustainability and to have a future outlook. Focusing on backcasting and life cycle thinking as the basis for companies to realize sustainable development of themselves and society, the history and characteristics of past usage of these ideas, as well as the current movement based on these ideas were overviewed. Focusing on mitigation measures for global warming as an example, it was observed that backcasting is widely spreading into corporate management using the “common language” of SDGs. LCA is expected as a tool to establish quantitative indicators of products or organizations, and to be utilized both in the approach of creating innovation and in the approach of “visualizing” improvements.

Companies need to meet accepted sustainability standards with solutions that are unique to their business’ needs, requiring them to seek out sustainability experts for help. As part of Sphera’s mission to create a safer, more sustainable and productive world, Sphera works with companies around the world to help them along their sustainability journeys. Such a flexible approach allows Sphera to work with businesses without a fixed offering, remaining agile to better cater to any particular company’s needs. This adaptive approach has a complex strategy behind it that combines data, software and consulting to help clients move toward sustainabil-ity independence. The approach emphasizes education and training, which encourages innovation and a shift in business models. This leads to greater transparency in sustainability communication and creates a collaborative model for sustainability expansion along the value chain. This combination is what makes Sphera’s consulting strategy unique. In addition, Sphera’s consulting approach tackles corporate and product sustainability and the topics that arise where the two categories of sustainability meet. The intersection between product and corporate sustainability begins in a space where each side can inform the other. This synthesizing approach is, ultimately, always a life cycle approach. The life cycle of the product includes the value chain, whereas the lifecycle of the company is composed of the value chain of their entire product portfolio, including the com-pany’s operations itself. That combination involves value chain management and transcends simple solutions to lead companies to address bigger-picture topics, such as cooperative business practices, that will move modern economies toward a circular economy, an obligation for every company if we are to meet the rapidly mounting environmental challenges and create a sustainable future for humanity.

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