Redefining Sustainability: Life Cycle Analysis as a Pillar of Environmental Transformation

The accelerating environmental degradation and climate change have intensified the need for systematic tools to assess and reduce the environmental impacts of production systems. This systematic review examines Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) as a driver of ecological transformation, analyzing its methodological evolution, success factors, and implementation barriers from 2018 to 2024. Following the PRISMA 2020 guidelines, a comprehensive search across the Scopus, Web of Science, and ScienceDirect databases yielded 50 high-quality studies that met rigorous inclusion criteria. Bibliometric analysis using VOSviewer complemented the qualitative assessment. Results reveal LCA's evolution from a purely environmental assessment tool to an integrated sustainability framework, with significant advances including digitalization, regionalization, and circular economy integration. Key findings demonstrate LCA's successful application across renewable energy, construction, waste management, and bioeconomy sectors, contributing notably to Sustainable Development Goals 9, 12, and 13. However, persistent challenges include methodological inconsistencies across studies, limited region-specific data availability, difficulties integrating social dimensions, and gaps between technical rigor and practical applicability for decision-makers. The review confirms LCA's transformative potential as a comprehensive environmental change tool, while highlighting the need for methodological harmonization, enhanced accessibility, and stronger institutional frameworks to fully realize its capacity for driving sustainable production systems and achieving global environmental commitments.