In this study we investigate how indicators for energy use are applied in a set of life cycle assessment (LCA) and energy analysis case studies of biofuels. We found five inherently different types of indicators to describe energy use: (1) fossil energy, (2) secondary energy, (3) cumulative energy demand, (4) net energy balance, and (5) total extracted energy. It was also found that the examined reports and articles, the choice of energy use indicator was seldom motivated or discussed in relation to other energy use indicators. In order to investigate the differences between these indicators, they were applied to a case. The life cycle energy use of palm oil methyl ester was calculated and reported using these five different indicators for energy use, giving considerably different output results. This is in itself not unexpected, but indicates the importance of clearly identifying, describing and motivating the choice of energy use indicator. The indicators can all be useful in specific situations, depending on the goal and scope of the individual study, but the choice of indicators need to be better reported and motivated than what is generally done today.
A life cycle assessment of hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) biofuel was performed. The study was commissioned by Volvo Technology Corporation and Volvo Penta Corporation as part of an effort to gain a better understanding of the environmental impact of potential future biobased liquid fuels for cars and trucks. The life cycle includes production of vegetable oil from rape, oil palm or Jatropha, transport of the oil to the production site, production of the HVO from the oil, and combustion of the HVO. The functional unit of the study is 1 kWh energy out from the engine of a heavy-duty truck and the environmental impact categories that are considered are global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP), eutrophication potential (EP) and embedded fossil production energy. System expansion was used to take into account byproducts from activities in the systems; this choice was made partly to make this study comparable to results reported by other studies. The results show that HVO produced from palm oil combined with energy production from biogas produced from the palm oil mill effluent has the lowest environmental impact of the feedstocks investigated in this report. HVO has a significantly lower life cycle GWP than conventional diesel oil for all feedstocks investigated, and a GWP that is comparable to results for e.g. rape methyl ester reported in the literature. The results show that emissions from soil caused by microbial activities and leakage are the largest contributors to most environmental impact categories, which is supported also by other studies. Nitrous oxide emissions from soil account for more than half of the GWP of HVO. Nitrogen oxides and ammonia emissions from soil cause almost all of the life cycle EP of HVO and contribute significantly to the AP as well. The embedded fossil production energy was shown to be similar to results for e.g. rape methyl ester from other studies. A sensitivity analysis shows that variations in crop yield and in nitrous oxide emissions from microbial activities in soil can cause significant changes to the results.
In recent decades, the textile industry has worked to reduce its negative social and environmental im-pacts. Identifying and addressing important sustainability considerations already in the clothing designare of increasing importance in the continuation of this work. Many companies look to ecolabellingschemes as means to set performance criteria and to demonstrate progress to customers. This studyinvestigates the connection between ecolabels and clothing design from the perspective of moving thegarment industry towards sustainability. Information gathered from literature was aligned and con-trasted with interviews conducted with employees of garment companies in Sweden, and the materialwas analysed using a life-cycle perspective. The results reveal that the clothing design process currentlyonly marginally influences clothing's sustainability performance by applying ecolabelling criteria. For amore sustainable textile industry there is a need to expand the expertise and information already in thedesign process regarding sustainability of theirfinished products. Such a change is only possible if thedesigners can be guided by a clear vision of design for sustainability for the company they work in.
This paper reports on a literature survey on available approaches for the assessment of product sustainability, with a specific focus on assessing the replacement of non-renewable petroleum-based materials with renewable wood-based materials in absorbent hygiene products. The results are contrasted to needs in a specific material development project. A diverse number of methods exist that can help in assessing different product sustainability characteristics for parts of or whole product lifecycles. None of the assessment methods found include guidelines for how to make a case-specific interpretation of sustainability and there is a general lack of assessment parameters that can describe considerations in the comparison between the use of wood or petroleum as main raw material. One reason for this is lack of knowledge and/or consensus on how to describe and assess impacts of land and water use, e.g. on ecosystem services, different types of resource depletion and social impacts.
Artificial turf is widely used as a playing surface for many sports, including football. In Sweden the use of artificial turf allows people to play football in regions where the climate would otherwise prevent it, and is seen as a positive development from a football perspective. However, the widespread use of artificial turf pitches comes at a cost, with microplastic pollution a prime example. The integration of environmental sustainability in the management of artificial turf is dependent on a number of factors, including a complex policy terrain, which includes different kinds of policies over several policy levels. The purpose of this paper is to investigate barriers that prevent actors within artificial turf, who are generally positive towards sustainable practices, from acting in accordance with their intentions. Therefore, the value-action gap is chosen as a frame of refence to interpret semi-structured interviews with actors managing and using artificial turf. Sportification is also an important concept, since football, and organized sport in general, has a very important role in driving the proliferation of artificial turf pitches. The results compare the view of practitioners and users, describing a number of contextual obstacles to integrating environmental sustainability in artificial turf pitch management and usage. In addition, this study also identifies a number of technical and procedural improvements, and makes recommendations to provide practitioners with ways of improving their work with artificial turf pitches.
The production and use of transportation fuels can lead to sustainability impacts. Assessing them simultaneously in a holistic way is a challenge. This paper examines methodology for assessing the sustainability performance of products in a more integrated way, including a broad range of social impacts. Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) methodology is applied for this assessment. LSCA often constitutes of the integration of results from social LCA (S-LCA), environmental life cycle assessment (E-LCA) and life cycle costing (LCC). In this study, an S-LCA from an earlier project is extended with a positive social aspect, as well as refined and detailed. E-LCA and LCC results are built from LCA database and literature. Multi Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) methodology is applied to integrate the results from the three different assessments into an LCSA. The weighting of key sustainability dimensions in the MCDA is performed in different ways, where the sustainability dimensions are prioritized differently priority based on the assumed values of different stakeholder profiles (Egalitarian, Hierarchist, and Individualist). The developed methodology is tested on selected biomass based and fossil transportation fuels - ethanol produced from Brazilian sugarcane and US corn/maize, and petrol produced from Russian and Nigerian crude oils, where it delineates differences in sustainability performance between products assessed. The outcome in terms of relative ranking of the transportation fuel chains based on sustainability performance differs when applying different decision-maker profiles. This result highlights and supports views that there is no one single answer regarding which of the alternatives that is most sustainable. Rather, it depends strongly upon the worldview and values held by the decision maker. A key conclusion is that sustainability assessments should pay more attention to potential differences in underlying values held by key stakeholders in relevant societal contexts. The LCSA methodology still faces challenges regarding results integration but MCDA in combination with stakeholder profiles appears to be a useful approach to build on further.
This study explores a systematic strategy to design appropriate bioremediation projects for marginalized regions that have the potential to contribute to sustainable development in that region. Ecological Engineering (EE) is of particular value for the development of appropriate bioremediation technology for such regions but a stricter planning tool than provided by EE itself, is also needed when the goal of the project goes beyond remediation targets. The Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD) applies basic principles for sustainability and includes a stepwise strategic planning mechanism for their application. The inclusion of EE within the FSSD may steer soil bioremediation projects in rural areas in developing countries and sparsely populated regions in industrialized countries towards sustainability. The utility of the approach was tested on two cases of soil pollution in marginalized regions: the Chinandega region in Nicaragua (pesticide polluted agricultural soil) and a former filling station (diesel polluted residual area) in Gäddede, northern Sweden. The study demonstrates how the inclusion of the EE key concepts within the FSSD may increase the utility of EE for strategic sustainable development within the region. No difficulties in terms of conflicting suggestions were found in the proposed integrated approach; the two tools were found to contribute on different aspects to provide support to project management and decision making.
This paper investigates the factors associated with the (non)adoption of eco-certification among the nature-based tourism companies in the Scandinavian region. Previous research suggested that the popularity of tourism eco-certification schemes remained limited in the region due to socio-cultural, historical and other specifics. We revisit this query a decade later with the support of nation-wide data from two Scandinavian countries – Norway and Sweden. The quantitative results suggest that such factors as motivations for operating a nature-based tourism business, beliefs about eco-certification effects, economic and demographic characteristics, are associated with the eco-certification adoption. Qualitative insights shed more light on the existing barriers for this sustainability approach in the region. The results suggest that companies with strong beliefs in the positive context (i.e. beliefs that eco-certification is capable to generate higher income, more customers and provide marketing advantage), lifestyle and sustainability-oriented business goals together with favorable organizational context (larger size, higher income and having a female leader) are more likely to invest in an eco-certification scheme.
This Letter outlines the EU's & UN's latest environmental principle towards Net-Gains. It defines this principles' progress compared to recent “No-Net-Loss"/“Reduce-the-Rate-Of-Loss” approaches. Furthermore it introduces Environmental Net-Gain Governance as normative transition pathway and provides first practical approaches for increasing the worlds' biocapacity and for reducing impact from production and consumption. © 2021
Changes in travel behaviour are needed to tackle the climate impact associated with long-distance flights, including a switch to sustainable transport modes. In this paper, we analyse scenarios of carbon footprint reduction associated with a switch from flights to night trains for holidays in Europe for the case of Sweden, including outbound, inbound and domestic tourism. We use a prospective lifecycle assessment framework combined with results from a stated preference experiment to determine the impact of future mode shift behaviours. Our results indicate that a mode shift could be triggered by progressive night train policies resulting in (i) fewer transfers and (ii) price levels similar to those of flights. The shifts from flights to night trains could result in 9% lower cumulative carbon footprint in relation to a baseline travel demand scenario for the period 2025–2050. Decarbonization of long-distance travel in line with the Paris Agreement would likely require a combination of many different types of measures including a shift to low-carbon fuels.
In this paper, we discuss the beginning of Rwanda's current work on natural capital accounts. Many developing countries began similar work on environmental satellite accounts in the 1990s and early 2000s, only to abandon them a few years later when the initial political interest waned. The question arises, therefore, as to whether renewed interest in these accounts has the potential to have a longer-lasting impact on national accounting practices. In Rwanda's case, the decision was to begin satellite accounting work by focusing on resources where key economic trade-offs between different uses had already begun to be identified by policymakers, and where the gathering of economic statistics had already been improved as a result. It seems likely that this approach could lead to more durable satellite accounts, and that a similar approach would be feasible in many other countries.
Institutional investors seek to make environmentally sustainable investments using environment, social, governance (ESG) ratings. Current ESG ratings have limited validity because they are based on idiosyncratic scores derived using subjective, discretionary methodologies. We discuss a new direction for developing corporate environmental performance (CEP) ratings and propose a solution to the limited validity problem by anchoring such ratings in environmental controversies. The study uses a novel machine learning approach to make the ratings more comprehensive and transparent, based on a set of algorithmic approaches that handle nonlinearity when aggregating ESG indicators. This approach minimizes the rater subjectivity and preferences inherent in traditional ESG indicators. The findings indicate that controversies as proxies for non-compliance with environmental responsibilities can be predicted well. We conclude that environmental performance ratings developed using our machine learning framework offer predictive validity consistent with institutional investors’ demand for socially responsible investment screening.
In education for sustainable development (ESD), the inclusion and handling of a multitude of perspectives and the interconnectivity of different dimensions of the world are often targeted. Based on the assumption that concept maps can capture notions of this learning, concept maps generated by students were used to complement a large number of other empirical data from several years of a master level course module in engineering education with a specific focus on ESD. Multivariate data analysis (MVDA) was used to find correlations between the many different variables. Empirical data included data on the background of students, on their participation in different teaching and learning activities (TLAs), and on their performance in different types of assessment, including concept maps generated before and after the course. According to the concept map results, the students seem to develop, in general, a more balanced and systemic view during the course. The use of MVDA was helpful in revealing both expected and unexpected co-variations. Results show that previous experiences (student background) is an important factor behind high performance and that TLAs in the course are providing complementary knowledge. The main focus of this paper is on how the innovative approach of combining the use of concept maps and MVDA can provide useful understanding of possible correlations between student characteristics, their participation in TLAs and their performance in assessments in an ESD course. The use of concept maps was seen as useful in capturing important notions of ESD while the MVDA enabled quick analysis of the large data set.