Import databases · BAFU
Import BAFU 2026v1 from EcoSpold 1
BAFU is the German acronym for Switzerland's Federal Office for the Environment, referred to as FOEN in English. FOEN publishes a public life-cycle inventory database as EcoSpold 1 XML. This page covers getting that archive into VoLCA as a loaded database, distinct from inspecting it once loaded.
Where the archive comes from
Download the Swiss Federal Administration inventory database from BAFU on openLCA Nexus. Choose the EcoSpold 1 archive rather than the openLCA-specific .zolca file, and record the exact release. Review BAFU's published terms there before redistributing or republishing anything derived from the data.
Or start from the shared demo
The free shared VoLCA account already carries BAFU 2026v1, loaded and ready. No upload is required to inspect it first: sign up or log in and open the shared engine.
Upload your own copy
If you hold your own BAFU archive, upload it the same way as any EcoSpold 1 source. Uploading stages the archive; it becomes queryable once it is also loaded.
CLI
Upload, then load
volca --config volca.toml database upload ./bafu-2026-v1.zip \
--name "bafu-2026v1"Upload makes the database available but not loaded. Load it with load = true in the matching [[databases]] entry, or a one-time POST /api/v1/db/bafu-2026v1/load against a running server. See the database CLI reference for the full command set and archive formats.
Verify what loaded
After loading
Search the imported database
After loading, search for a known activity and inspect its reference product and direct exchanges. This earlier BAFU walkthrough capture illustrates the search view, not a new BAFU 2026v1 import measurement.
Historical benchmark, not a BAFU 2026v1 measurement
An earlier BAFU 2025 archive (37,892,032 bytes, SHA-256 e38b682077932421ac8d3e1d0d97174d45c378877f2c5f00989c06a003897d37) was measured at 11,747 processes, 9.288 seconds median across three fresh imports (9.173, 9.288, and 9.359 seconds), each including archive extraction, parsing, supplier linking, matrix construction, and server startup. This is historical timing data from that earlier release, not a measurement of BAFU 2026v1.
BAFU 2026v1, the version this guide covers, contains 11,947 processes in our inspection examples. The historical timing above must not be used as a measurement of this newer archive.
Import, inspect, and characterize are separate questions
Loading BAFU builds searchable activities, exchanges, and calculation matrices from the EcoSpold 1 source. It does not by itself establish which impact assessment method applies, or that flow mappings are complete. For fast browsing and inspection after loading, see the BAFU inspection walkthrough. For scoring against BAFU's own published results, see the BAFU oracle comparison.
Frequently asked questions
Does VoLCA include the BAFU database?
No, but it is public. Get the archive from BAFU's life-cycle inventories page, or use the free shared demo account, which already has BAFU 2026v1 loaded and ready to inspect.
What archive format does BAFU import need?
A plain EcoSpold 1 XML file, or that XML packaged as ZIP, 7z, tar.gz, or tar.xz. The BAFU 2026v1 archive the shared demo uses is a ZIP.
Is the BAFU dataset free to use?
It is published as open public data by Switzerland's Federal Office for the Environment. Review BAFU's own published terms before redistributing or republishing derived data.
Does importing BAFU include an LCIA method?
No. EcoSpold 1 import builds activities, exchanges, and matrices from the inventory data. A characterization method is imported and validated separately.
How is BAFU different from ecoinvent?
BAFU is Swiss public inventory data distributed as EcoSpold 1. ecoinvent is a licensed international background database distributed as EcoSpold 2. See the EcoSpold chooser to compare the two formats.