The definition of goal and scope represents the foundation of life-cycle assessment. As stated in the ISO standard 14041 (1998), the definition of goal refers to; ‘unambiguously state the intended application, the reason for carrying out the study and the intended audience’, i. e. to whom the results of the study are intended to be communicated. The definition of the scope of the LCA sets the boundaries of the assessment, which includes the functional unit to be used, the product system to be studied and the product system’s boundaries.

Since LCA is an iterative technique, the scope of the study may need to be modified while conducting the study as additional information is collected.