New life cycle impact methods require another type of life cycle inventory results.

The article discusses the traditional approach in life cycle assessment (LCA) where characterization factors (CFs) are applied to life cycle inventory (LCI) results to convert them into common units for impact assessment. While this method has been widely accepted and used, there are emerging approaches that deviate from this standard by connecting to intermediate flows or activity variables instead of elementary flows. The article suggests revising LCA standards and software to accommodate these new methods, highlighting the need for a more flexible and inclusive approach in LCA. [Extracted from the article]