Sustainability Assessment and Management tools (GEO42602)
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Summary of all required articles and lectures with additional notes SAM
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Sustainability Assessment and Management tools (GEO42602)
Institution
Universiteit Utrecht (UU)
In this document you will find a complete summary of all the required readings. Besides, it includes the lectures with additional notes. You are allowed to take this document to your exam!
Sustainability Assessment and Management tools (GEO42602)
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Sustainability Assessment and
Management tools
Important dates:
- Wednesday 13th of December: Upload Fact sheet to FeedbackFruits (in BB)
- Thursday 14th of December: Tutorial 6: Peer feedback
- Friday 22nd of December: Handing in critical review paper (BB)
- Wednesday 17th of January: Upload slides Greenwashing claims to Blackboard
- Thursday 18th of January: Presentation Greenwashing claims
- Thursday 25th of January: Digital Exam – Open book
Table of Contents
Important dates: ............................................................................................................... 1
Week 1 LCA Introduction and Goal & Scope ....................................................................... 3
Chapter 6 Introduction to LCA Methodology ............................................................................. 3
Chapter 7 Goal definition .......................................................................................................... 4
Chapter 8 Scope definition (8.1-8.4) .......................................................................................... 5
Week 2 LCA Inventory Analysis, Impact Assessment, and Interpretation........................... 10
Chapter 8 Scope definition (8.5-8.6) ........................................................................................ 10
Chapter 9 Life cycle inventory analysis (9.1-9.2) ....................................................................... 10
Chapter 10 Life cycle impact assessment (10.1-10.3) ................................................................ 13
Chapter 12 Life cycle interpretation......................................................................................... 17
Week 3 Social LCA and Life Cycle Costing ......................................................................... 20
Chapter 15 Life cycle costing: an introduction (15.1-15.2) ........................................................ 20
Chapter 16 Social life cycle assessment: an introduction (16.1-16.3) ......................................... 22
Corona, Blanca, et al. "Towards sustainable development through the circular economy—A
review and critical assessment on current circularity metrics." Resources, Conservation and
Recycling 151 (2019): 104498. ................................................................................................. 24
Week 4 Carbon Footprint ................................................................................................ 28
Chapter 10 Life cycle impact assessment (10.4) ....................................................................... 28
Quantifying the Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Products PAS 2050 & the GHG Protocol Product
Standard ................................................................................................................................ 29
Week 5 Integrated Assessment (CBA, CEA, MCA) ............................................................. 30
1
, Ness et al. 2007. Categorising tools for sustainability assessment ............................................ 30
Chapter 15 Life cycle costing: an introduction (15.5 Advanced LCC) .......................................... 33
Week 6-7 Self Study Material Circular Economy ............................................................... 35
Reike et al. 2018. The circular economy: new or refurbished as CE 3.0?—exploring controversies
in the conceptualization of the circular economy through a focus on history and resource value
retention options ................................................................................................................... 35
Week 8 C2C and CE ......................................................................................................... 42
Braungart et al. 2007. C2C design: creating healthy emissions .................................................. 42
Week 9 Cleaner Production, Cradle-to-cradle, and Circular Economy ................................ 47
Witjes et al. 2018 On corporate sustainability integration and the support of tools .................. 47
Lectures
Lecture 1 ......................................................................................................................... 52
Introduction Lecture 14-11-2023 ............................................................................................. 52
Introduction to the Assignment Lecture 14-11-2023 ................................................................ 52
Lecture 2: LCA: Goal and Scope Definition 16-11-2023...................................................... 54
Lecture 3: LCA: Life Cycle Inventory Analysis (LCI) 21-11-2023........................................... 65
Terminology and key concepts ................................................................................................ 65
Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) ......................................................................................................... 67
a)Terms and the method ............................................................................................................... 67
b) Data collection........................................................................................................................... 69
c) Multi-functionality and allocation ............................................................................................. 71
Summary ............................................................................................................................... 75
Lecture 4: Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) & Interpretation 23-11-2023..................... 76
Lecture 5: LCC, S-LCA … And LCSA 28-11-2023 .................................................................. 83
Lecture 6: Guest lecture The CO2 performance ladder – the power of procurement 30-11-
2023 ............................................................................................................................... 91
Lecture 7: Carbon Footprint 5-12-2023 ............................................................................ 93
Lecture 8: Integrated assessment: Cost Benefit Analysis and Multi-criteria Analysis 14-12-
2023 ..............................................................................................................................100
Lecture 9: Guest Lecture Interface Incl. 19-12-2023 .........................................................103
Lecture 10: Recap lecture, summary of the course 09-01-2024 ........................................104
Guest Lecture week 9: Fairphone 09-01-2024 .........................................................................105
Lecture 11: Cradle-to-Cradle – An introduction and discussion 11-01-2024 ......................106
Lecture 12: Cleaner Production .......................................................................................113
2
,Week 1 LCA Introduction and Goal & Scope
Chapter 6 Introduction to LCA Methodology
Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) is a tool to assess the potential environmental impacts and resources used
throughout a product’s life cycle, i.e. from raw material acquisition, via production and use stages, to
waste management.
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is a nongovernmental organization that
comprises standards bodies from more than 160 countries, with one standards body representing
each member country
The LCA framework operates with four separate phases (these are defined by ISO 14044),
1. Goal and scope definition
a. The goal definition and the ensuing scope definition are very important to consider
when the results of the study are interpreted since these definitions involve choices
that determine the collection of data and the way in which the system is modelled
and assessed.
b. Have a strong influence on the validity of the conclusions and recommendations that
are based on the results of the LCA.
2. Inventory analysis
a. Inventory analysis collects information about the physical flows in terms of input of
resources, materials, semi-products and products and the output of emissions, waste
and valuable products for the product system.
3. Impact assessment (first 3 of 5 are mandatory)
a. Selection of impact categories representative of the assessment parameters that
were chosen as part of the scope definition. For each impact category, a
representative indicator is chosen together with an environmental model that can be
used to quantify the impact of elementary flows on the indicator.
b. Classification of elementary flows from the inventory by assigning them to impact
categories according to their ability to contribute by impacting the chosen indicator
c. Characterisation using environmental models for the impact category to quantify the
ability of each of the assigned elementary flows to impact the indicator of the
category.
d. Normalisation is used to inform about the relative magnitude of each of the
characterised scores for the different impact categories by expressing them relative
to a common set of reference impacts—one reference impact per impact category.
e. Grouping or weighting supports comparison across the impact categories by grouping
and possibly ranking them according to their perceived severity, or by weighting
them using weighting factors that for each impact category gives a quantitative
expression of how severe it is relative to the other impact categories.
4. Interpretation
a. The results of the study are interpreted in order to answer the question(s) posed as
part of the goal definition
b. The interpretation considers both results of the inventory analysis and the impact
assessment elements characterisation and, possibly, normalisation and weighting.
The interpretation must be done with the goal and scope definition in mind and
respect the restrictions that the scoping choices impose on a meaningful
interpretation of the results, e.g. due to geographical, temporal or technological
assumptions.
3
, The main focus of this book is the traditional environmental LCA focusing on the environmental
impacts of the product system, but for sustainability assessment, also social and economic impacts
need to be considered.
The iterative nature of LCA process with its many feedback loops between the different phases.
Sensitivity and uncertainty analysis are thus not just performed in the interpretation at the
end but throughout the study as part of both inventory analysis and impact assessment in order to
identify the key figures or key assumptions of the study and the data that are associated with the
largest uncertainties
Chapter 7 Goal definition
Goal definition is the first phase of the LCA methodology.
There are six aspects of a goal definition:
1. Intended applications of the results
a. Influences later phases of an LCA, such as drawing of system boundaries, sourcing of
inventory data and interpretation of results.
2. Limitations due to methodological choices
a. LCA can and cannot be used for
3. Decision context and reasons for carrying out the study
a. Influences the appropriate elaboration of life cycle inventory
b. Reason for carrying out a study must be understood
c. Rule of thumb: describe what and why
4. Target audience
a. Influence the extent to which details of the study should be documented, the
technical level of reporting and the interpretation of the results.
b. E.g. consumers, consumer organisations, companies (managers, product developers,
etc.), government, NGOs and others.
5. Comparative studies to be disclosed to the public
a. The ISO standard specifies a number of requirements on the conduct and
documentation of the study and an external review process, due to the potential
consequences that the communication of the results of the study may have for
external companies, institutions, consumers and other stakeholders.
b. Ensure transparency and good quality of a study.
6. Commissioner of the study and other influential actors
a. Financing organisations (usually the commissioning organisation)
b. Highlight potential conflicts of interest to readers of the study.
4
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