Proposal to establish a new Mutual Resolution concerning Automotive Life Cycle Assessment (A-LCA) to provide an internationally harmonised methodology for determining the carbon footprint of light-duty vehicles across all life cycle stages—material production, parts production and vehicle assembly, use, and end-of-life—considering energy use pathways from production to disposal, with a Level Concept offering four detail levels depending on data availability and study purpose, including definitions, abbreviations, system boundaries, data collection requirements, energy modelling approaches for electricity and fuels, allocation rules, waste treatment and recycling modelling using Circular Footprint Formula or Recycled Content Method, maintenance assessment, and verification procedures. The methodology applies to light-duty vehicles, uses a functional unit of 1 passenger per kilometre over vehicle lifetime, includes service life values from official data by Contracting Parties or peer-reviewed reports, accounts for discrepancy and deterioration factors in use phase calculations, addresses traction battery and fuel cell deterioration, specifies reporting requirements for all life cycle stages including biogenic emissions separately, and requires external third-party verification for Level 3 and Level 4 studies based on GRPE/86/Rev.1 through the Working Party on Pollution and Energy at its 93rd session.

OICA comments on SG4 Use Phase inputs to GRPE/2025/17 concern vehicle service life definitions, discrepancy and deterioration factors for real-world energy consumption, battery state-of-health degradation for off-vehicle charging hybrid electric vehicles, hydrogen and methane leakage quantification, refrigerant emissions from air conditioning systems, and maintenance parts replacement methodologies. OICA advocates for regional flexibility in service life determination, OEM-specific data for discrepancy factors at Level 4, standardized approaches for battery and fuel cell deterioration, and structured hierarchies for assessing maintenance part replacements over vehicle operational lifetime.