TotalEnergies Corbion releases life cycle assessment for Luminy® PLA

TotalEnergies Corbion releases new Luminy® PLA life cycle assessment (LCA) results, highlighting major progress in low-carbon bioplastics.  The newly published whitepaper and supporting materials reveal that Luminy® PLA delivers up to 85% lower carbon footprint than conventional plastics and can further reach carbon neutrality with 30% recycled content and even achieve negative carbon footprint with 100% recycled PLA, when considering biogenic carbon.

Using 2024 production data from the TotalEnergies Corbion plant in Thailand, this third-party verified LCA, conducted in line with ISO 14040/14044/14067 standards, quantifies environmental impacts across 16 key categories, following the EU’s Environmental Footprint (EF) method. The assessment covers both virgin PLA—derived from sugarcane—and recycled PLA sourced from post-consumer and post-industrial waste.

Virgin Luminy® PLA has a cradle-to-gate carbon footprint of 0.29 kg CO₂-eq per kg, including biogenic carbon stored in the product - an 85% reduction compared to conventional plastics.

With 30% recycled content, Luminy® PLA already achieves carbon neutrality (0.01 kg CO₂-eq per kg).

100% recycled Luminy® PLA goes even further, with a footprint of -0.65 kg CO₂-eq per kg, - a negative carbon footprint.

“Thanks to years of innovation and process optimization, we’re now offering PLA grades with even lower carbon footprint,” said Thomas Philipon, CEO of TotalEnergies Corbion. “This is a major step forward for bioplastics and our mission to deliver solutions that enable our customers on their sustainability journey.”

Maelenn Ravard, Sustainability Manager, added: “This new LCA proves that Luminy® PLA can play a critical role in building a circular bioeconomy - being biobased, industrially compostable, and recyclable.”

As part of its commitment to transparency and action, TotalEnergies Corbion continues to drive the circular bioeconomy through innovation, responsible sourcing, and transparency in environmental reporting. TotalEnergies Corbion invites industries, consumers, policy makers, media, civil society and beyond to explore how we can transition to scientifically validated, low-carbon materials.

The results of the LCA whitepaper can be accessed at: https://totalenergies-corbion.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/2025-LCA-of-Luminy-PLA-from-TotalEnergies-Corbion.pdf