What is new in VoLCA

Calculation correctness

Immediate groundwater emissions are characterized again

Emissions to immediate groundwater now inherit the method’s unspecified-water factor, as river and lake emissions already do. They previously scored zero in affected toxicity categories.

• Immediate and long-term groundwater remain explicitly distinct.
• Two additional pesticide synonym bridges prevent silent zero scores with EF 3.1 adapted 1.03.
• Bulk impact scoring and the MCP scoring tool can now exclude long-term emissions when the workflow requires it.

Methods and auditability

Declarative characterization-method patches

Method adjustments can now be declared in the TOML configuration and reapplied to the freshly parsed source whenever the collection loads.

• Match factors by category, flow name or prefix, CAS number, or subcompartment.
• Rescale or replace matched factors without modifying the original method file.
• A patch that matches nothing is reported instead of being silently ignored.

Export and compatibility

Large exports use less memory and finish reliably

Database exports are now transferred as raw bytes rather than base64-encoded JSON: about one third less data on the wire and substantially lower memory use for large files.

• Large zipped ILCD and EcoSpold 2 exports no longer stall while archives are packed.
• Multi-product activities imported from SimaPro CSV can be exported to ILCD.
• Wire-format version 2 lets clients detect incompatible engine versions clearly.

0.9.0 · 6 July 2026

Characterization accuracy and database lifecycle

A characterization-accuracy release that brought EF 3.1 results on Agribalyse and ecoinvent much closer to published references.

• Load and unload databases through the web UI, HTTP API, MCP, and CLI.
• Improved CAS, synonym, compartment, region, density, and resource-flow matching.
• Optional exclusion of long-term emissions and clearer scoring-set labels.
• Faster first scoring through prebuilt method tables and parallelized mapping.

VoLCA 0.9.0 release notes →

0.8.0–0.8.1 · 24 June 2026

Import, export, editing, and dependency linking

VoLCA became a more practical interoperability layer for moving, inspecting, and adapting LCA databases.

• Export to SimaPro CSV, EcoSpold 1/2, ILCD, and Brightway Excel.
• Copy, filter, delete, and relink database content under a new database identity.
• Load partial EcoSpold 2 datasets against their matching background dependency.
• Stream large uploads and detect client/engine wire-format mismatches.
• Correct aggregate single scores for JRC ILCD method collections.

VoLCA 0.8.1 release notes →

0.7.0 · 29 May 2026

Regionalized LCIA, waste flows, and broader access

A major engine milestone adding new data formats and deeper modeling capabilities while turning silent calculation gaps into explicit information.

• Brightway Excel import and openLCA JSON-LD characterization methods.
• Regionalized LCIA and explicit waste-flow modeling.
• Sensitivity analysis, uncertainty data, and configurable upload limits.
• Batched MCP scoring, typed pyvolca returns, and large LCIA speedups.
• One-line installers plus Linux, macOS, Windows, and ARM64 distribution work.

VoLCA 0.7.0 release notes →

Measured workload

Batch LCIA moved from minutes to seconds

In an EF 3.1 adapted batch workload covering 911 products across 7 databases, the scoring phase fell from about 25 minutes to about 24 seconds - roughly 26 ms per product in that specific run.

This is a workload-specific measurement, not a general promise for every database, method, or machine.

Mapping

Flow-mapping audit workflow

The mapping audit guide shows how to identify missing characterization, inspect weak matches, and close gaps with traceable synonym, CAS, and mapping changes.

Open the Flow Mapping Audit guide →

Distribution

Hosted, desktop, and self-hosted paths

The same engine can support browser exploration, a local desktop workspace, integrations through HTTP and Python, CLI automation, and MCP-connected assistants.

See how VoLCA fits into an architecture →