The NWO NAC 2026 Conference (Dutch Earth and Environmental Sciences Conference) is one of the main interdisciplinary forums for researchers working across Earth and Environmental Sciences, bringing together academia, research institutes and industry to discuss emerging scientific challenges, sustainability, environmental impact assessment and technological innovation. It took place last 9–10 April 2026 at the NH Noordwijk Conference Centre Leeuwenhorst in Noordwijkerhout, the Netherlands, and it focused on fostering collaboration and showcasing innovative research approaches addressing major societal and environmental challenges through advanced scientific methodologies and interdisciplinary exchange.

Lasers4MaaS was present at the confernce, with the participation of Alice Mondello from Leiden University and Sander van Nielen from Leiden University.

Alice presented the recent work on the application of parametrized Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodologies to advanced laser welding and post-processing workflows. The study evaluated the environmental impacts associated with two different post-processing routes across multiple welding process iterations, highlighting how distinct processing strategies can lead to different impact distributions and variability patterns. This study demonstrates the potential of parametrized LCA to model iterative and uncertain R&D workflows.

Sander presented work by from Leiden University on the development of a Digital Product Passport (DPP) database with integrated Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) functionalities. The study introduced a structured DPP data collector tool designed to organize product information hierarchically, streamline data storage, and reduce the administrative burden on manufacturers while enabling meaningful insights for consumers and policymakers. By combining legislative requirements with database modeling and a calculation layer, the framework supports automated data completion, including material composition, product metadata, and environmental impact calculations using Brightway. The results demonstrate how smart data structuring and the integration of LCA can enhance traceability, reproducibility, and circularity assessment across product life cycles, highlighting the potential of DPP systems to support scalable and data-efficient sustainability monitoring.