SM 2013 Impact Assessment Methodology

The science behind our software is a life cycle assessment methodology for evaluating potential ecological and human health impacts from products used in North America. The science and data is from trusted sources including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST).

SM 2013 includes continually updated impact factors from across all product life cycle stages: materials, processes, use stage consumables, transportation and end of life.

Continually updated impact factors allow design teams to perform what-if comparisons based on 10 impact categories, or just global warming impacts, measured in CO2 equivalents.

  • Ecological damage: global warming/carbon emissions, acidification, ecotoxicity, ozone depletion, eutrophication

  • Human health damage: smog, respiratory effects, carcinogenics, and non-carcinogenics

  • Resource depletion: fossil fuel depletion



Documented in an extensive methodology report, SM2013 is transparent, ISO 14044 compliant – formulas & data sources, and industry reviewed.

SM 2013 uses TRACI 2.11 impact categories developed by the U.S. EPA, North American normalization and weighting values developed by the EPA2 and NIST3 respectively, and process inventory data from the most credible sources worldwide.
Learn about SM Single Score results >

1 Tool for reduction and Assessment of Chemical and other Environmental Impacts
For more information, visit the Learning Center.

2 United States Environmental Protection Agency

3 National Institute for Standards and Technology