A proposal to measure absolute environmental sustainability in life cycle assessment

Bjørn, Anders; Margni, Manuele; Roy, Pierre-Olivier; Bulle, Cécile; Hauschild, Michael Zwicky

doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2015.11.046

Cited by 91 publications

(95 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…As a result, use of LCA and other related life cycle thinking approaches to support decision-making has become common within the business and academic communities [6]. However, although the outcomes of these studies guide eco-efficiency improvements, the overall progress achieved in mitigating environmental problems still remains slow and insignificant [7][8][9]. One contributing factor is that conventional ESAMs like LCA do not benchmark the environmental sustainability performance of a system against a set of environmental boundaries (or standards).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One contributing factor is that conventional ESAMs like LCA do not benchmark the environmental sustainability performance of a system against a set of environmental boundaries (or standards). Instead, they rank a particular system in relative terms, by comparing it with a reference system that is relevant to the nature or the function of the system under investigation, and thus, the variations in the consumption and production patterns of the examined products and services are overlooked [7][8][9]. For example, Product A may be superior (or more sustainable) than Product B in terms of eco-efficiency, but neither could be sustainable on an absolute scale due to the predicted growth in global production and consumption volumes of the product [7, p. 325].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, recently, the scientific community began to focus on the so-called concept of absolute sustainability. Absolute sustainability is focused on how human societies can operate within the carrying capacity of the Earth system [8,9]. Here, the term "carrying capacity" refers to "the maximum sustained environmental interference a particular system can withstand without experiencing negative changes in structure or functioning that are difficult or impossible to revert" [6, p. 1007].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Exploring the Linkages Between the Environmental Sustainable Development Goals and Planetary Boundaries Using the DPSIR Impact Pathway Framework

Chandrakumar

McLaren

2018

Designing Sustainable Technologies, Products and Policies

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Most of the conventional environmental sustainability assessment methods, such as Life Cycle Assessment and environmental footprints, evaluate economic goods and services in terms of the nature or the function of the studied systems. As such, these methods overlook the variations in the overall magnitude of production and consumption patterns for the examined systems. As a result, the progress achieved in mitigating global environmental problems is likely to be slow and may be insignificant. Hence this study explores the interlinkages between the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Planetary Boundaries (PBs) using an DPSIR (Drivers-Pressures-State of the Environment-Impacts-Responses) impact pathway framework-in support of developing an absolute sustainability assessment method (ASAM). The study demonstrates that there is a substantial overlap between the SDGs and PBs. The science-based thresholds listed in the PBs can therefore be adopted as a complementary set of environmental boundaries for the SDG indicators. Overall, the study lays the foundation for advancing an ASAM that can guide policy-and decision-makers to operationalize the SDGs effectively. C. Chandrakumar

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Exploring the Linkages Between the Environmental Sustainable Development Goals and Planetary Boundaries Using the DPSIR Impact Pathway Framework

Chandrakumar

McLaren

2018

Designing Sustainable Technologies, Products and Policies

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“…As identified by Sala et al [61], further research and development of the methods in the LCA field are needed in order for the indicators to better reflect the carrying capacity and planetary boundaries. First LCA-based approaches that integrate carrying capacities into environmental performance indicators and enable analyses to move from relative to absolute environmental sustainability were recently developed (e.g., [62][63][64]). Also, Repar et al [7] developed conceptual considerations on how to integrate carrying capacities into the indicators of the local and global environmental performance they proposed.…”

Section: Limitations and Future Research Needmentioning

confidence: 99%

Local versus Global Environmental Performance of Dairying and Their Link to Economic Performance: A Case Study of Swiss Mountain Farms

et al. 2016

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Abstract:Complying with the carrying capacity of local and global ecosystems is a prerequisite to ensure environmental sustainability. Based on the example of Swiss mountain dairy farms, the goal of our research was firstly to investigate the relationship between farm global and local environmental performance. Secondly, we aimed to analyse the relationship between farm environmental and economic performance. The analysis relied on a sample of 56 Swiss alpine dairy farms. For each farm, the cradle-to-farm-gate life cycle assessment was calculated, and the quantified environmental impacts were decomposed into their on-and off-farm parts. We measured global environmental performance as the digestible energy produced by the farm per unit of global environmental impact generated from cradle-to-farm-gate. We assessed local environmental performance by dividing farm-usable agricultural area by on-farm environmental impact generation. Farm economic performance was measured by work income per family work unit, return on equity and output/input ratio. Spearman's correlation analysis revealed no significant relationship, trade-offs or synergies between global and local environmental performance indicators. Interestingly, trade-offs were observed far more frequently than synergies. Furthermore, we found synergies between global environmental and economic performance and mostly no significant relationship between local environmental and economic performance. The observed trade-offs between global and local environmental performance mean that, for several environmental issues, any improvement in global environmental performance will result in deterioration of local environmental performance and vice versa. This finding calls for systematic consideration of both dimensions when carrying out farm environmental performance assessments.

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“…Firstly, PBs could be used within Life Cycle Impact Assessment, e.g., to develop a 'PB-informed' approach which will be particularly relevant for establishing 'PB-compliant' assessments of products and services. Several research groups and companies are already working on this topic [25][26][27][28][29]. A second approach is to develop a range of complementary indicators or tools, particularly relevant for strategic company, portfolio and sectorial assessment and management.…”

Section: Planetary Boundaries For Business Applicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Challenges of Applying Planetary Boundaries as a Basis for Strategic Decision-Making in Companies with Global Supply Chains

et al. 2017

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Abstract:The Planetary Boundaries (PB) framework represents a significant advance in specifying the ecological constraints on human development. However, to enable decision-makers in business and public policy to respect these constraints in strategic planning, the PB framework needs to be developed to generate practical tools. With this objective in mind, we analyse the recent literature and highlight three major scientific and technical challenges in operationalizing the PB approach in decision-making: first, identification of thresholds or boundaries with associated metrics for different geographical scales; second, the need to frame approaches to allocate fair shares in the 'safe operating space' bounded by the PBs across the value chain and; third, the need for international bodies to co-ordinate the implementation of the measures needed to respect the Planetary Boundaries. For the first two of these challenges, we consider how they might be addressed for four PBs: climate change, freshwater use, biosphere integrity and chemical pollution and other novel entities. Four key opportunities are identified: (1) development of a common system of metrics that can be applied consistently at and across different scales; (2) setting 'distance from boundary' measures that can be applied at different scales; (3) development of global, preferably open-source, databases and models; and (4) advancing understanding of the interactions between the different PBs. Addressing the scientific and technical challenges in operationalizing the planetary boundaries needs be complemented with progress in addressing the equity and ethical issues in allocating the safe operating space between companies and sectors.

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A proposal to measure absolute environmental sustainability in life cycle assessment

Cited by 91 publications

References 34 publications

Exploring the Linkages Between the Environmental Sustainable Development Goals and Planetary Boundaries Using the DPSIR Impact Pathway Framework

Exploring the Linkages Between the Environmental Sustainable Development Goals and Planetary Boundaries Using the DPSIR Impact Pathway Framework

Local versus Global Environmental Performance of Dairying and Their Link to Economic Performance: A Case Study of Swiss Mountain Farms

The Challenges of Applying Planetary Boundaries as a Basis for Strategic Decision-Making in Companies with Global Supply Chains

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