What term looks at the entire product life: production, use, disposal?

• A. Life-Cycle Assessment
• B. Cost-Benefit Analysis
• C. Environmental Impact Statement
• D. Resource Efficiency Analysis

Answer: (A)

Evaluating environmental impacts across the entire product life from production to disposal is Life-Cycle Assessment. This method traces all stages—raw material extraction, manufacturing, use, and end-of-life management—and quantifies inputs like energy and materials and outputs like emissions and waste. The goal is to compare options and identify stages where improvements reduce overall environmental burden, often using cradle-to-grave or cradle-to-gate boundaries and a structured inventory and impact assessment. The other terms describe different analyses: cost-benefit analysis translates effects into monetary terms primarily for economic decision-making; an environmental impact statement evaluates potential environmental effects of a specific project but not the full lifecycle of a product; resource efficiency analysis focuses on reducing resource use rather than mapping the full lifecycle environmental impacts. So the term that looks at the entire product life is Life-Cycle Assessment.