ecoinvent Version 3.12

ecoinvent v3.12 was released on November 5th, 2025. Discover how to upgrade to our latest version.

November 5th, 2025

Version 3.12 introduces new updates to the following sectors: chemicals and plastics, fuels, metals, electricity, forestry and wood, textiles, agriculture, transport, pulp and paper, and batteries.

Sectorial Updates

Agriculture, Fishery, and Animal Husbandry

This year, the agriculture, fishery, and animal husbandry sector focuses on several refinements through technical corrections to improve the quality of the data within the agricultural sector. Adjustments in dry mass, water in wet mass, and water content parameters have been made for several crop datasets. Yield information has been added or moved to the general comments to increase consistency in the datasets' metadata for crop datasets. Emissions mainly to air and water have been harmonized and corrected consistently with the modeling approach from the data provider. Finally, some market composition has been updated for RER or GLO.

Batteries

The batteries sector has been further refined through a series of technical corrections and the introduction of new chemical components. Multiple cathode and anode datasets were harmonized following proxy refinements, including the replacement of intermediate exchanges such as polyvinylfluoride with polyvinylidene fluoride and latex with styrene butadiene rubber.

Exchange properties and documentation were updated across several NMC and NCA chemistries to improve chemical accuracy and transparency. Additional improvements included clarifications on manufacturing scrap, updates of energy inputs to align with recent sources, and the inclusion of chemical formulas in the documentation of hydroxide and oxide precursors.

Finally, several new chemical compounds relevant to battery applications were added to the database, extending the coverage of materials used in alternative formulations of anodes, cathodes, and electrolytes.

Chemicals and Plastics

The chemicals and plastics sector in ecoinvent v3.12 is updated to substantially improve the regional coverage for: (1) ethylene and propylene and their homopolymers (LDPE, LLDPE, HDPE, and polypropylene); (2) vinyl chloride monomer, and its polymers (emulsion- and solution-polymerized PVC); (3) acrylic acid; (4) ethylene oxide; (5) methanol, (6) industrial gases (nitrogen and oxygen); among others. This targeted supply chain enhancement improves the representation of diverse chemical and plastic derivatives and builds on the regional expansion already achieved in the previous versions.

Furthermore, ecoinvent v3.12 replaces previously aggregated data for hydrogen cyanide, polystyrenes (general purpose, high impact, and expandable polystyrene), and polybutadiene from previous database versions with disaggregated unit processes to enable accurate linking to the ecoinvent background data. To complement this disaggregation, new and updated data have been introduced for styrene monomer production and, consequently, propylene oxide via the PO/SM process, encompassing new technologies and additional regional coverage.

Moreover, v3.12 introduces new industry data covering the supply of bromine in Israel, provided by the ICL Group, i.e., a major global producer of bromine and bromine-based products. This collaboration is complemented by an internal assessment to also cover bromine production in other major regions. Additionally, ecoinvent v3.12 features new data for key polymer processing services, provided by Centre Technique Industriel, IPC, i.e., blown film extrusion (several configurations) and plastic bag making, to expand the ecoinvent data coverage in this domain.

Finally, ecoinvent v3.12 builds on the work completed in preceding versions for product portfolio expansion, to include forty new products of varied interest not previously covered. Additionally, six new generic datasets for key organic product groups—covering basic precursors, alcohols, aromatics, carboxylic acids, esters, and unspecified organics—are introduced to replace the legacy and more generic “chemical, organic” flow. Efforts to expand the product coverage further for both specific chemicals and plastics, as well as generic datasets based on functional groups, will continue in future releases.

Electricity

ecoinvent version 3.12 updates the energy sector’s electricity market datasets with the consistent approach applied in ecoinvent versions 3.6 through 3.11. Consistent with v3.11, Enerdata serves as the primary data source for electricity generation across most regions, with exceptions where detailed national data are available, and for European Union (EU) member states, where EuroSTAT database from the European Commission is used. The electricity market mixes generally represent the year 2022, except for Brazil (BR), Canada (CA), China (CN), India (IN), Switzerland (CH), and the United States (U.S.), which are updated to 2023 based on comprehensive national statistics. For India, the update corresponds to the fiscal year of April 2022-March 2023. Additionally, the European electricity residual mix markets in version 3.12 represent the year 2024 using statistics from AIB.

Furthermore, additional minor corrections and harmonization efforts were carried out to update the documentation and meta information of electricity markets, transformation, and import datasets.

Forestry and Wood

The ecoinvent version 3.12 introduces data updates and enhancements to the forestry and wood sector. The geographical coverage of the sector was expanded by the introduction of Finnish forestry data. This data was provided by the Finnish Forest Industries Federation, and the project was done in close collaboration with Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke). Three forestry datasets are introduced: pine, spruce, and birch. The datasets represent rotation forestry. Together, they cover 97% of the annual harvested area in Finland.

Furthermore, the product naming conventions across the sector are harmonized. The goal of the update is to eliminate confusion between physical product characteristics and measurement basis, which are not always equivalent. The new naming convention more clearly states four key attributes for each primary forestry product: physical bark presence (with bark or debarked), physical moisture state (green/dry), measurement basis as related to bark if bark is present (under bark/over bark), and measurement basis for moisture (green/dry).

Fuels

The new ecoinvent version 3.12 in the fuels sector builds on the extensive oil and gas overhaul in versions 3.9.1 (2022), 3.10 (2023), and the addition/update of supply mixes of natural gas and petroleum in v3.11 (2024). The v3.12 brings an update for data on the extraction or production of crude petroleum oil and natural gas, with a geographical coverage of 40 countries for onshore production and 36 countries for offshore production, based on the reference year of 2023. Additionally, version 3.12 includes regionalization of natural gas liquids production and fractionation datasets, adding 18 new geographies covering 95% of global natural gas liquids production and subsequent fractionation. Five new geographies have also been added, for a total coverage of 96% of global helium production in this latest version.

Metals

In the metals sector, comprehensive improvements in steel, aluminium, and zinc alloy production address important gaps in specialized material modeling.

In the steel sector, seven new datasets for specific steel alloys based on 100% scrap input via Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) production have been added, providing differentiated modeling for bearing, carbon, case hardening, high-strength low-alloy, structural, and weathering steels. These datasets support more accurate environmental assessments in sectors where material selection is critical to performance and sustainability outcomes.

The aluminium production chain has been comprehensively updated with 2019 data from the International Aluminium Institute, covering the entire value chain from bauxite mining to ingot casting. This update includes improved geographical coverage, updated electricity consumption patterns for the aluminium industry, and better representation of import/export flows through enhanced market composition data.

New datasets for Zamak production in Europe, developed with the International Zinc Association, provide detailed inventories for this widely used zinc alloy manufactured primarily from secondary zinc. The dataset represents approximately 76% of European Zamak production and supports environmental footprint modeling for automotive components and consumer products.

Additional improvements encompass corrections to various metal processing datasets, including updates to energy inputs in metal working factories, corrections to zinc oxide production exchanges, and refinements to steel production documentation. These enhancements collectively strengthen the technical rigor and applicability of the Metals sector data for life cycle assessment practitioners.

Textiles

The ecoinvent database v3.12 expands the textiles sector by introducing new hemp datasets based on primary data from French hemp producers and processors. France dominates both European (60%) and global (50%) hemp fiber production. The modelled data is representative of over 98% of the national French production. Disaggregated unit processes are introduced for agricultural cultivation of the hemp crop, decortication of the hemp stems, and cottonization of the fibres (cutting fibers to 40-50mm lengths suitable for textile spinning). Our project partner, InterChanvre, supplied the data.

Additionally, existing European flax data was updated through the introduction of new valuable by-products in the scutching process, as well as other minor corrections to improve the documentation. Changes to the European flax datasets were carried out in collaboration with the original project partner, the Alliance for European Flax-Linen & Hemp. Other corrections include various minor updates for existing cotton and polyester datasets to eliminate identified errors & inconsistencies. ISIC & CPC classification codes were also aligned for multiple textile activities and products.

Transport

The v3.12 transport sector benefits from updates and corrections for three of its five modes: rail, road, and sea shipping. The main objective was to enhance the data quality of the sector through targeted improvements with newly available information, or by discovered errors. The smallest update relates to the addition of waste and waste handling in tram tracks and railways; meanwhile, the road benefited from a correction due to an error in an amount of brake wear for both passenger cars and lorries. Sea transport was the one with the highest level of improvement: the new emission limits of HFO were included, together with the fleet composition reported by the latest International Maritime Organization GHG report. The update covered the production, maintenance, and use of the ships.

Waste Management and Recycling

The scope of the waste management and recycling sector updates for version 3.12 was mainly minor corrections and updates as a result of the large dataset additions made for versions 3.9-3.11. These corrections are based on both internal and external feedback, e.g., users highlighting minor errors or improved assumptions. These enhancements allow for more representative and consistent inventories for ecoinvent users.

Users highlighted a large Chromium VI emission from electric arc furnace slag going to residual material landfill, leading to high toxicity values in LCIA. Based on more recent measurements of the specific slag (BAFU & Carbotech, 2021), the availability of Chromium to leach as Chromium VI was reduced in the model (as it is rather more stably bound as Chromium III). ecoinvent users in the waste and metals sectors will find reduced impact scores in the ecotoxicity as well as human toxicity categories due to this update.

Internal consistency was improved by aligning the ISIC classifications of treatments and their respective markets, and EN15804 waste inventory indicators were added to datasets that previously had them omitted. The implementation of these indicators is still being aligned with different stakeholders; however, their inclusion is now consistent across the database.

The large project of plastic recycling in Europe for v3.11 led to recyclable polymers being available for other datasets to incorporate. A comprehensive assessment and implementation were made, so that specific European datasets generating plastic wastes would send (some or all of) their waste polymers to these recycling facilities. Other corrections were made to amend errors in carbon mineralisation of sludge use on land and in plastic recycling VOC emissions, as well as transport consumption. Direct disposal of wastewater from textile production was re-added to geographies (IN and BD), which used it previously. Meta documentation typos and references to wrong activities were amended.

LCIA Methods Updates

There were no major updates to LCIA methods for v3.12. However, several minor fixes were implemented for the IPCC and EF methods, and a unit error in the USEtox method was corrected. Additionally, characterization factors for new elementary flows were added. For more details, consult the Report of Changes in the Relevant Documents and Files below

Relevant Documents and Files

Report of Changes

This report covers all changes made in the ecoinvent database between version 3.11 (2024) and version 3.12 (2025). It reflects both database-wide changes, as well as sector-specific changes.

See Report of Changes

Correspondence File

The correspondence file is a spreadsheet that lists all datasets in versions 3.11 and 3.12 and matches corresponding datasets between versions.

See Correspondence File (3.11 to 3.12)

Database Overview File

The database overview file describes the contents of the database. The following information is contained in the file:

Activity Overview(s)

The lists of datasets contained in each of the three system models, including the list of unlinked and unallocated datasets.

ecoinvent Geographies

The geographies used in the ecoinvent database. Each geography is assigned a classification, and the geographies contained in each geography are indicated.

LCIA Methods

The list of the LCIA methods for which ecoinvent calculates impact scores. The version of the methods is indicated, and the original source used for defining the characterization factors is provided.

See Database Overview File

LCIA Implementation Report

The LCIA implementation report documents the implementation of LCIA methods for version 3.12.

See LCIA Implementation Report