Indicators and life cycle thinking

Meeri Karvinen27.11.2019

Agenda for today

13.00 Indicators and life cycle thinkingWarm-up exerciseIntroductory lecture

------ Break -------14.00 Case example from construction sector: LEED, Ali Amiri------ Break -------

~15.00 LEED-case example continues~15.40-16.00 Delivery of the BAT/BREF online task and the Company Task

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Key learning outcomes for thefollowing 2 weeks: societal impactAfter today’s & online sessions & Task 5 you should be able to: 1. describe key elements of a sustainability indicator and understand the need

for indicators2. understand what challenges indicators used in LCA include3. recognize different LCA-based activities, programs and tools used in

sustainability management and communication4. understand basic characters and usage of BAT and BREFs5. discuss what different regulative and voluntary factors drive corporate

responsibility actions6. evaluate how to have societal impact with relevant indicators and life cycle

thinking

Warm-up 1/2

Discuss in your group briefly:• What is an indicator?• Why do we need indicators?

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5 min

An indicator is:1. OECD: ”a parameter, or a value derived from parameters, which points to, provides information about, describes the state of a phenomenon/environment/area, with a significance extending beyond that directly associated with a parameter value” 2. Sustainability measures*: ”An indicator is something that helps you understand:- where you are,- which way you are going, and- how far you are from where you want to be. A good indicator alerts you to a problem before it gets too bad and helps you recognize what needs to be done to fix the problem.”

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*http://www.sustainablemeasures.com/

Why do we need indicators

• Indicators have many uses • Do not just measure progress • Explain sustainability by making it more concrete • Educate community about what is important • Show linkages between different parts of community • Motivate people to act • Focus action on critical issues

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Warm-up 2/2Based on our previous sessions: what do we know about indicators?

• Find out how indicators are used in the different themes discussed so far during our sessions (1 theme / group):

A. PBs, social boundaries, SDGs, Nexus approachB. Sustainability appraisal methods, such as CBA, MiPS, MFA, MCDAC. Hybrid LCA, rebound & circular economy

• What kind of activities the indicators are related to? To whom are they targeted at?

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What is an effective (environmental) indicator?According to ISO (2013)• relevant to the environmental policy and the important environmental aspects;• appropriate to the management activities, operations or the environment;• useful to and representative of the environmental performance criteria;• understandable to internal and external stakeholders;• easily obtainable, measurable and informative;• adequate in relation to data quality and quantity; and• responsive to changes in environmental performance.

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ISO (2013). International Organization for Standardization. ISO 14031:2013: Environmental management – Environmental performance evaluation – Guidelines.

*ISO (the International Organization for Standardization)

A good sustainability indicator:

• Addresses carrying capacity • Is relevant to the community • Is understandable to community • Is useable by the community • Takes a long term view of progress • Shows links between economy, environment and society

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http://www.sustainablemeasures.com/

Sustainability indicatorsSustainability needs multidimensional indicators

• Pointing to the interlinkages between ecological, social and economicalparameters

Traditional Sustainability Emphasis of SD ind.

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http://www.sustainablemeasures.com/node/89

Economic

Ecological

Social

From life cycle thinking & indicatorsto societal impact

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Different levels of policy instruments

Some policy instruments during life cycle

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Towards sustainability troughlife cycle thinking and approaches

Fava J. 2011. Framew

ork for Developing G

reener Products, in IannuzziAl. Greener Products:

The Making and M

arketing of Sustainable Brands. CR

C Press. ch.5, pp. 105-127

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Indicators in LCAMidpoint indicators

• results of different impact categories• depict potential environmental impacts of certain impact categories, e.g. climate

change, acidification, eutrophication • can be aggregated to endpoint indicators

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Endpoint indicators• represent ultimate impacts

to human health, ecosystem quality and resources

UNEP/SETAC Towards a Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (2011)

weighingscaling

Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment

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UNEP/SETAC Towards a Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (2011)

LCA=Life Cycle Analysis/AssessmentLCC=Life cycle CostingSLCA=Social LCALCSA=Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment(2 phases of an LCA: LCI=Life Cycle Inventory, LCIA=Life Cycle Impact Assessment)

Indicators in LCSIA

• Data categories vary!• Affects the presentation of the results

• Results presented in a Dashboard

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UNEP/SETAC Towards a Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (2011)

Challenges of LCA for sustainability• Time consuming companies use easy-to-use software and

databasesMay be too generic for reliable product/project –specific assessment

• Data availability• Immaturity of the LCSA method

• Identifying the scope and interconnections of endpoint impacts• Selecting the indicators (quality / relevance)• Non-linearity of LCI and LCIA (proportional scaling)

• Specifically in tackling biodiversity and financial indicators

• Subjectivity in scaling and weighing

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Ecodesign[Ecodesign – Design for the Environment (DfE)]

• An approach to designing products with special consideration for theenvironmental impacts of the product during its whole lifecycle

• ECODESIGN products are flexible, reliable, durable, adaptable, modular, degradable and reusable (6Rs: Rethink, Restore, Repair, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle). In addition to proving economicalreasonability and social compatibility, these products represent an ecological necessity.

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DfE - indicators for the development of old and new productsLCT setting directionfor productinnovation

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Towards Circular design•Design out waste and pollution •Keep products and materials in use •Regenerate natural systems

EcolabelingISO 14020 to 14025 series:

• Type II: informative environmental self-declaration claims

• Type III: voluntary programs that providequantified environmental data of a product, under pre-set categories of parameters set by a qualified third party and based on life cycle assessment, and verified by that oranother qualified third party

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http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/118-a246/

Environmental labels and declarations

• Type I: a voluntary, multiple-criteria based, third party program that awards a license which authorises the use of environmental labels on products indicating overall environmental preferability of a product within a productcategory based on life cycle considerations

Tonteri et al. 2003

Footprints – indicators on pressure on the planetCarbon footprint• Many different standards, ISO14067 for products’ CF • Bottom-up CF based on LCA, Top-down CF for large entities such

as sectors, countries and regions – challenges with systemboundaries

• Environmentally extended Input-Output Analysis (EE-IOA)Water footprint• Global Water Footprint Standard + ISO 14046 • Bottom-up WF based on LCI, Top-down as in CF

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WATER FOOTPRINTS OF SELECTED FOOD ITEMS(Juha-Matti Katajajuuri, VTT)

Other footprints facilitatingenvironmental management

Ecological footprint:• Cropland & pasture, fishing grounds,

built-up land, forest area, and carbon demand on land

Demand: Global = 2,2 gha (global hectares)Vs.BiocapacityGlobal = 1,8 gha

Earth overshoot day in July 29th 2019

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http://data.footprintnetwork.org/#/

Handprint“What if each of us thought of our careers as opportunities to create our lifetime environmental handprint?”

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Biemer, J., Dixon, W., & Blackburn, N. (2013). Our environmental handprint: The good we do.

World as a resource Interconnected Regenerative

Ecological compensation• Projects • Sustainable investments

Life cycle management components

To start with the use of some life cycle approaches and tools on a product-oriented or project-organized basis.

To broaden the integration of life cycle thinking on a ‘top to bottom’ basis, including internal policies, management systems, accountabilities, and incentives.

Continuous improvement included in the strategy

Concerns also encouraging suppliersand supply chains to do so

P-D-C-APlan-Do-Check-Act

Measures for managing sustainability

Most common: • Environmental management system (EMS): ISO 14001• Social responsibility ISO 26000• Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series OHSAS• (ISO 45001 for the same)

Over 600 standards contributing to the SDGs:https://www.iso.org/sdgs.html

Finnish Standards Association: https://www.sfs.fi/

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Some aggregated indicators for benchmarking companiesDow Jones Sustainability Indexes (DJSI): longest-running global sustainability benchmarks worldwide, the largest 2,500 global companies

Ethibel Sustainability Index (ESI)corporate social responsibility, Excellence Europe 200 companies

Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) indexesIncludes generic GRI guidelines + industry-specific indicatorsGRI index.pptx

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Additional readings:

European Comission JRC Technical Reports (2016): Guide for interpreting life cycle assessment resultValdivia et al. (2013), A UNEP/SETAC approach towards a life cycle sustainability assessment - our contribution to Rio+20Sorvari et al. (2011), Survey on the Environmental Efficiency Assessment Methods and IndicatorsLife Cycle Initiative: https://www.lifecycleinitiative.org/

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