122 Universities Are Using China’s Native LCA Database — Is Yours on the List?
As of July this year, faculty, graduate students and research teams across 122 universities rely on this China-native LCA dataset library. It is widely adopted across materials, chemical engineering, energy, mechanical engineering, steel, non-ferrous metals and nearly all disciplines focused on carbon footprint accounting, eco-design and low-carbon sustainability research. Scroll down to check the full list of participating institutions and find peers working in your research field.
Chances are, someone in your research group is already running studies with HiQLCD.
As of July this year, faculty, graduate students and research teams across 122 universities rely on this China-native LCA dataset library. The user base includes comprehensive top universities such as Tsinghua, Fudan, Zhejiang and Shanghai Jiao Tong University; industry-specialized institutions like Northeastern University and China University of Petroleum; plus 29 overseas, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan universities including the National University of Singapore, Monash University, Duke University and HKUST. It is widely adopted across materials, chemical engineering, energy, mechanical engineering, steel, non-ferrous metals and nearly all disciplines focused on carbon footprint accounting, eco-design and low-carbon sustainability research.
Scroll down to check the full list of participating institutions and find peers working in your research field. (A complete university user list graphic is attached at the bottom for quick reference.)
1. One Database, Two Access Modes
HiQLCD serves such a broad range of disciplines and global universities thanks to its two-tier access model tailored to different research demands.
Entry Tier: Fully Free for Academic Use
Students and faculty can sign up for HiQLCD Academic Edition at no cost, unlocking over 1,200 datasets covering mainstream materials, energy sources and manufacturing processes. The free resources fully support classroom teaching, thesis preliminary research and routine LCA calculations with zero learning friction.
No database purchase, institutional approval or supervisor research funding is required. The Academic Edition was built specifically to lower barriers and make native Chinese LCA data accessible to all academic researchers.
Advanced Tier: Pay-Per-Dataset for Industry-Aligned Research
For publishable papers and industrial benchmarking projects, granular, China-specific industrial datasets are essential. Instead of purchasing the entire database upfront, HiQLCD offers flexible pay-per-dataset licensing — researchers only pay for the specific datasets they need, keeping costs affordable even for labs with limited research budgets.
Its greatest value lies beyond detailed data granularity: it bridges academic research and real-world industrial operations.
l Universities focused on steel research (e.g., University of Science and Technology Beijing) use the dedicated steel industry dataset, which delivers authentic Chinese steel manufacturing metrics instead of generic global approximations.
l Nanchang University leverages the battery industry dataset for battery supply chain research.
l Institutions studying non-ferrous metals adopt HiQLCD-AL, the specialized aluminum industry database, for eco-design and cross-industry benchmarking.
Targeted datasets are available for power, chemical, construction materials and many other sectors to match your research focus.
HiQLCD now spans 8 major industries and 26 sub-sectors — your research field is almost certainly covered. For engineering academics, every calculation draws on real Chinese factory and production line data, aligning lab analysis with on-site industrial practices and equipping students with industry-relevant insights.
2. Beyond Classroom Projects: Top-Tier Journals Trust HiQLCD for Chinese Regional Baselines
HiQLCD background data underpins the China-specific scope of two high-impact published studies:
1. A research paper on embodied carbon in global copper trade, published in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering
2. A methane catalysis study published in Nature Communications, led by teams from Xiamen University, Tsinghua University and the Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Its validation in world-leading scientific journals confirms HiQLCD as a credible, authoritative data foundation for routine academic research.
3. Sign Up for a Free Account Today
If your work covers LCA, carbon footprint assessment or eco-design, register for a free academic account right away.
Visit www.hiqlcd.com and sign up with your university affiliation to instantly access the free HiQLCD Academic Edition, featuring 1,200+ datasets calibrated to China’s domestic industrial supply chains.
If you find this resource valuable, share this post with your lab group, alumni network or social media to help fellow researchers check if their university and research field are covered. Thousands of academics already use HiQLCD — create your account and explore its capabilities.
Sound research raises new questions; robust, transparent data makes your conclusions credible.