The methodology for calculating a building's total environmental impact across its whole life - material extraction, construction, operation, and demolition - which embodied and whole-life carbon figures are the output of. LCA is the calculation framework itself (defined by standards like EN 15978), while embodied carbon and whole-life carbon are the specific numbers it produces - a Revit model's quantities and material assignments are what actually feed an LCA tool, making accurate material data entry a sustainability task, not just a documentation one.