Idemat and Ecoinvent, and eco-costs midpoint tables

There are four different ‘background’ datasets (‘scope 2 and 3’):

  • The scope 3 Idemat dataset, with some scope 2 data for heat and electricity, is based on a set of carefully selected LCIs from peer reviewed literature and scientific databases of universities. The most recent version for the new academic year is:
    Idemat 2025RevA6.xlsx
    This dataset is designed for innovation in the technosphere.
    The Idemat datasets contain Simapro output on eco-costs, carbon footprint, ReCiPe points, CED, EF, TRACI and CSRD.
    A proxi LCI table, based on the ClassyFire system (subclasses)  has been added to cope with chemical substances that have no specific LCI data in literature.
  • Background information, i.e. Meta data, and the Data Reference of the LCI,
    as well as data on Foreground Embedded Electricity, temporarily not available here.
    Note 1. Where possible the reference to the scientific paper, report, or database, is given by the URL plus the page or Table with the LCI information.
    Note 2. Embedded Electricity data (of the foreground system only) are provided to replace generic electricity data by regional electricity data. See for explanation on how to use these data Faq 2.17.
  • The Scope 2 and 3 Ecoinvent dataset with eco-costs (EI V3-8 with eco-costs.xlsx) which is available behind password
    Note. Because of license restrictions, the Ecoinvent data sets are only available for students of the Delft University of Technology, with a net id, https://software.tudelft.nl/413/
  • For the Dutch industry: eco-costs and carbon footprint estimates per kWh of the Dutch electricity providers.
    See Dutch electricity data 2021.
    This dataset is based on the actual purchases of electricity, rather than the GO’s
    (GOs are not suitable for LCA, as they are used for greenwashing, see this explanation).
    Note. please contact us in case you think that your company scores better at the moment.

the Idemat excel and Ecoinvent excel have more or less the same structure of LCI lines, so it is easy for students to check the differences. However, both datasets have differences in special areas:
Ecoinvent has a more data on chemicals and chemical processes, Idemat is stronger in the field of product design and engineering (e.g. plastics, textiles, alloys, and wood species). Both datasets are strong in types of electricity in different countries.
Specific features of Idemat are:

  • extra LCIs of alloys (frequently used by designers and engineers)
  • a correction of the “market mix” data of metals
  • extra LCIs of wood types (softwood types as well as hardwood types)
  • LCIs for electricity that are more up-to-date than Ecoinvent
  • newer data on sea and road transport
  • extra LCIs of End of Life (combustion, waste incineration, recycling)
  • transparency: where required, the scientific source (paper, report, or database) is given

Simapro users can download an Import file of Idemat free of charge.
Open LCA commercial users pay a low fee for Idemat (but the software is free). For Academic users, Idemat in Open LCA is free.
The Idemat excel file is CCBY NC open access (for details, see below). It is the basis for the Idemat App for Materials Selection on IOS and Android, as well as the IdematLightLCA App.

Previous versions (to check old reports, theses, and papers) are available on request.

Content

Eco-costs midpoint tables on ‘foreground’ processes (‘scope 1’)

For calculations on “foreground processes” the eco-costs 2023 V1.0 data on emissions (more than 120.000 data lines) and resource depletion can be found in the table below (open access at the internet).

Ecocosts_2025RevA3_midpoint_tables.xlsx excel file (0.8 MB)

Previous versions are available on request

Social eco-costs

A innovative dataset can be found in the S-LCA tool

Database for Simapro 

Only for license owners: eco-costs method, Idemat LCIs, and Ecoinvent ‘for eco-costs’ LCIs :
 The Ecocosts 2025 V2.1 + Idemat2025RevA8  database (zip) for the Simapro Craft Version 9.10.2 (as it is used at the University)

Specific LCIs only on request

Database for OpenLCA

OpenLCA software: eco-costs method, Idemat LCIs, and Ecoinvent LCIs

OpenLCA software is to be downloaded from OpenLCA download. and installed. After that, two files can be downloaded and imported in the OpenLCA software (eco-costs method included):

  1. Idemat 2023
  2. Ecoinvent V3.8 for ecocosts calculations (at the bottom of this Nexus Open LCA page)

Click here for the quick_guide_to_OpenLCA and the
Information on Idemat and advice on Open LCA (essential information for LCA practitioners)

Third party verification

The majority of the LCI data in the Idemat database originate from peer-reviewed scientific papers, scientific books, reports and PhD theses, and highly respected databases. So, the source data of Idemat have undergone an extensive quality check, and they are assumed to be right.
Nevertheless, the board of the Sustainability Impact Metrics Foundation has selected The Footprinters for a third party verification of the idemat data. In this final verification step, it is checked that there are no flaws in the conversion from the the description at the Meta Data page (‘Documentation’) with the source document, and the input tables in Simapro:
(a) are there emissions in the source document that have more than 2% effect on eco-costs, and that are missing in the Simapro LCI list.
(b) if there is any doubt on the completeness of the energy and/or emission data, the Foundation will make an additional check by means of process simulation (Aspen software)
(c) are CO2 data excluding up-take? (i.e. Idemat is not counting up-take of biogenic CO2 < 100 years)
(d) are the embodied fossil fuels in plastics counted in the right way? (i.e. eco-costs must have embedded fossil fuels in ‘input from nature’ for virgin non-degradable plastics)
(e) are CED energy data applied in the correct way? (note that “energy , from coal’, ‘energy, from gas, natural’, ‘energy, from oil’, and ‘energy, unspecified’ in ‘input from nature’ are not only counted in CED, but also counted in ReCiPe as fossil resource scarcity)
(f) when nuclear power is not dealt with in ‘input from technosphere’ electricity/heat, it must be defined (if any) as ‘uranium’ in ‘input from nature’ (note: in ReCiPe it is part of ‘mineral resource scarcity’, in EF it is part of ‘resource use fossil’, in CED it is part of  ‘non-renewable, nuclear’ and in eco-costs it is part of ‘eco-costs of uranium’)

Verifiers will report when they expect that the LCI sources will be outdated soon.

The logging file of the verification process is available at this website, and verification data are given in as well the Meta Data (‘documentation’ page) in Simapro.  Note that the verification is an ongoing process.
The verifiers have no liability in respect of use of the verified data, as defined in the next text block under “Legal”.