Modelling sustainability performance to achieve absolute reductions in socio-ecological systems

Nunes, Breno; Alamino, Roberto C.; Shaw, Duncan; Bennett, David

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.08.037

Cited by 23 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…A large number of tools, indicators, and models have been designed and identified to assess an organisation's sustainable performance or the integration of sustainability in an organisation, based on different approaches and areas of knowledge. These approaches can be classified based on their objectives, performance [34,35], strategy [36,37], or management [9,17,32,[38][39][40][41]. They can also be classified depending on the tools proposed for quantification [42][43][44][45][46][47][48], communication [49][50][51][52], or integration [12,13] (Table 1).…”

Section: Sustainable Organisationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrating Sustainability in Organisations: An Activity-Based Sustainability Model

Rodríguez-Olalla

Avilés-Palacios

2017

Sustainability

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Organisations have become interested in using integral management systems to increase their sustainable value. Although global integration models address sustainability in organisations, these models present shortcomings and limitations and do not describe how to achieve the integration of sustainability. This paper proposes an Activity-Based Sustainability (ABS) integration model that complements other models from an inside-out perspective. Its assessment follows a procedure similar to that proposed by the Activity-Based Costing (ABC) model of cost accounting. The model assigns impacts from activities in the value chain of a process to the objects of impact (products, services, clients, or markets) that must be managed in terms of sustainability. The main limitations of the ABS model are the need to identify and describe processes, to locate every activity that constitutes the value chain, and to quantify the impacts of these activities. The ABS model is presented as an alternative to link sustainable management accounting and sustainable communication, as well as sustainable management control and sustainability assessment. It connects these sustainable elements through the bilateral identification of the linkages among skills, processes, and practices. It also links these aspects with the contribution to sustainable development and the development of competitive advantages.

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Section: Sustainable Organisationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrating Sustainability in Organisations: An Activity-Based Sustainability Model

Rodríguez-Olalla

Avilés-Palacios

2017

Sustainability

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“…Actions to limit resource consumption therefore risk being delayed, possibly until serious irreversible damages have already occurred. System dynamics such as the above are reflected in the paper by Nunes et al (2014) on modelling sustainability performance of systems.…”

Section: Why Absolute Reductions: Detangling System Complexitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ossified materialism: introduction to the special volume on absolute reductions in materials throughput and emissions

Akenji

Bengtsson

Bleischwitz

et al. 2016

Journal of Cleaner Production

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Drawing from papers in this special volume (SV), this introductory paper on absolute reductions argues that the magnitude, scope and urgency of the sustainability challenge require a drastic change in global civilisation, including a radical transformation of the institutional arrangements and socio-technical systems that facilitate the pursuit of wellbeing. The authors of this paper identify four main challenges to absolute reductions, including: the resource-intensive conventional template for development, macroeconomic structures and trade policies creating burden-shifting and inequality, a resource-efficiency improvements fallacy, and the dominant consumerist culture and lifestyles. The paper demonstrates the complexity of translating planetary boundaries into boundaries for resource use and targets for absolute reductions, proposing a practical approach starting with defining footprints for water, land and materials, and then proceeding to set resource boundaries. In seeking potential solutions, the paper highlights research addressing materials and product substitution, ecological fiscal reform with measures such as carbon taxation, sustainable lifestyles, design for sustainability, eco-innovation, and management of power dynamics in the production-consumption system. We then propose six domains in a research agenda for future research. These include: moving from niches and demonstration projects to broader norms; addressing reductions targets and indicators to guide policy and action; including policy design reflecting complexities such as time-lags, the resource nexus, and positive feedback loops; global resource governance; and convergence pathways between overconsuming and under-consuming societies. These areas will provide the science that will inform policy and business decisions and guide the engagement of practitioners to work towards sustainability transitions to equitable, sustainable, post-fossil carbon societies.

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“…The selection of the indicators to be included in the CSI was based on the representation of the sustainability dimensions shown in Figure 1 [17]. In Figure 1, inner and outer circles connect the dimensions of sustainability.…”

Section: Representation Of Sustainability Dimensionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such boundaries are determined by the thresholds set for each individual indicator included in the CSI. The thresholds must be set so as to ensure that the vulnerability to potential crises in each dimension is minimized [17]. However, identifying all potential crises is not an easy task.…”

Section: Representation Of Sustainability Dimensionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Methodology for Monitoring Sustainable Development of Isolated Microgrids in Rural Communities

et al. 2016

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Microgrids are a rapidly evolving and increasingly common form of local power generation used to serve the needs of both rural and urban communities. In this paper, we present a methodology to evaluate the evolution of the sustainability of stand-alone microgrids projects. The proposed methodology considers a composite sustainability index (CSI) that includes both positive and negative impacts of the operation of the microgrid in a given community. The CSI is constructed along environmental, social, economic and technical dimensions of the microgrid. The sub-indexes of each dimension are aggregated into the CSI via a set of adaptive weighting factors, which indicate the relative importance of the corresponding dimension in the sustainability goals. The proposed methodology aims to be a support instrument for policy makers especially when defining sound corrective measures to guarantee the sustainability of small, isolated microgrid projects. To validate the performance of the proposed methodology, a microgrid installed in the northern part of Chile (Huatacondo) has been used as a benchmarking project.

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Modelling sustainability performance to achieve absolute reductions in socio-ecological systems

Cited by 23 publications

References 57 publications

Integrating Sustainability in Organisations: An Activity-Based Sustainability Model

Integrating Sustainability in Organisations: An Activity-Based Sustainability Model

Ossified materialism: introduction to the special volume on absolute reductions in materials throughput and emissions

Methodology for Monitoring Sustainable Development of Isolated Microgrids in Rural Communities

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