A Foundational Synthesis of Ecosystem Services Knowledge to Critically Assess and Structure Their Integration into Life Cycle Impact Assessment

Purpose: The integration of ecosystem services in life cycle assessment has gained increasing attention. Its operationalization remains limited and inconsistent, particularly within the impact assessment phase. This study provides the first comprehensive and structured critical review that bridges foundational ecosystem services knowledge with life cycle assessment modeling needs. Method: We performed two complementary literature reviews: (i) a foundational synthesis of ecosystem services concepts informing (ii) a critical review of existing proposals to integrate ecosystem services into life cycle assessment. By combining and enhancing existing classifications, we provided a refined typology of integration approaches and map 43 studies onto this structure. Results and discussion: Our analysis reveals conceptual ambiguities, inconsistent modeling purposes, insufficient consideration of ecosystem services area of protection interlinkages, and an overreliance on land-use impacts at the expense of other critical pressures. The inherent connection between natural resources and provisioning ecosystem services is overlooked by the life cycle impact assessment community. Conclusion: This review highlights the need for a coherent, harmonized, and globally accepted framework to facilitate the integration, in life cycle impact assessment, of impacts on ecosystems’ capacity to provide services. We outline key priorities for model developers, including terminology harmonization, explicit modeling purposes, improved coverage of ecosystem services categories, better representation of pressure pathways, and clarified relationships between ecosystem services and existing areas of protection. By establishing a structured foundation for future model development, this work provides a roadmap to advance the integration of ecosystem services in life cycle impact assessment.