Growing scientific evidence for the indispensable role of environmental sustainability in sustainable development calls for appropriate frameworks and indicators for environmental sustainability... Show moreGrowing scientific evidence for the indispensable role of environmental sustainability in sustainable development calls for appropriate frameworks and indicators for environmental sustainability assessment (ESA). In this paper, we operationalize and update the footprint-boundary ESA framework, with a particular focus on its methodological and application extensions to the national level. By using the latest datasets available, the planetary boundaries for carbon emissions, water use and land use are allocated to 28 selected countries in comparison to the corresponding environmental footprints. The environmental sustainability ratio (ESR)—an internationally comparable indicator representing the sustainability gap between contemporary anthropogenic interference and critical capacity thresholds—allows one to map the reserve or transgression of the nation-specific environmental boundaries. While the geographical distribution of the three ESRs varies across nations, in general, the worldwide unsustainability of carbon emissions is largely driven by economic development, while resource endowments play a more central role in explaining national performance on water and land use. The main value added of this paper is to provide concrete evidence of the usefulness of the proposed framework in allocating overall responsibility for environmental sustainability to sub-global scales and in informing policy makers about the need to prevent the planet’s environment from tipping into an undesirable state. Show less
One way to study complex systems is by methods from topological networktheory, that concentrate on the topological structure of the system interms of vertices (nodes) and edges that connect pairs... Show moreOne way to study complex systems is by methods from topological networktheory, that concentrate on the topological structure of the system interms of vertices (nodes) and edges that connect pairs of vertices. The lasttwo decades, topological network theory has seen a wide range of applications.In this paper, we explore its potential for two of the model systemsthat are central to industrial ecology (IE): life cycle assessment(LCA) and input-output analysis (IOA), with the aim of finding outwhether this theory offers insights that are useful to IE. We describe theprinciples of topological network theory, as well as the possible rules fortranslating LCA and IOA systems into a formal network. We apply thistheory to two cases, the ecoinvent LCA database, and the monetary IOtablefor the European Union in 2007. Our conclusions are mixed. It isnot entirely clear what the resulting network indicators imply for a specificLCA case or IOA case. Although the results obtained are perfectlyexplainable and thus do make sense, they appear to be very sensitive toarbitrary choices, such as the level of aggregation. Moreover, it appearsto be difficult to include the environmental aspect in the network analysis,so that we end up with analyzing an industrial network rather thanindustrial-ecological network Show less
Heijungs, R.; Koning, A. de; Wegener Sleeswijk, A. 2015
Sustainability research has entered an era of data abundance, in which online repositories offer millions of facts on production, consumption, pollution, and impacts. The combination of such facts... Show moreSustainability research has entered an era of data abundance, in which online repositories offer millions of facts on production, consumption, pollution, and impacts. The combination of such facts in linear models leads increasingly to computational problems, relating to memory, speed, accuracy, and stability. This paper examines this phenomenon from the perspective of three widely-used types of sustainability analysis: multimedia fate and exposure models, life cycle assessment of products, and environmentally extended input-output analysis. The paper describes the various theoretical arguments, some indicators, and some solutions. Moreover, it adds the empirical evidence from one of these analysis types, namely life cycle assessment. It concludes that the phenomena indeed occur in practice, that abstract indicators ignore the subtle differences between different types of environmental impacts, and that a sound strategy for dealing with these problems is the critical analysis of results together with the variation of the computational principles. Show less
Inventory and characterization schemes play different roles in shaping a variety of footprint indicators. This paper performs a systematic and critical investigation of the hidden inventory aspect... Show moreInventory and characterization schemes play different roles in shaping a variety of footprint indicators. This paper performs a systematic and critical investigation of the hidden inventory aspect and characterization aspect of selected footprints with implications for classification and integration of those footprints. It shows that all of the carbon, water, land and material footprints have two fundamentally distinct versions, addressing the environmental exchange of substances in terms of emissions and/or extractions either at the inventory level or at the impact assessment level. We therefore differentiate two broad categories of footprints, namely the inventory-oriented footprints and the impact-oriented footprints. The former allow for a physical interpretation of human pressure by inventorying emissions and extractions and aggregating them with value-based weighting factors, whereas the latter assess and aggregate the inventory results according to their potential contributions to a specific environmental impact using science-based characterization factors, with the recognition that these contributing substances are too different to be compared by mass, volume or area. While both categories have individual strengths and weaknesses, the impact-oriented footprints have a better performance than the inventory-oriented footprints on the integration of footprints into a single-score metric in support of policy making. Resembling the general procedure for life cycle impact assessment, we formulate a three-step framework for characterization, normalization and weighting of a set of impact-oriented footprints to yield a composite footprint index, which would allow policy makers to better assess the overall environmental impacts of entities at multiple scales ranging from single products, organizations, nations, even to the whole economy. The main value added of this paper is the establishment of a unified framework for structuring, categorizing and integrating different footprints. It may serve as a starting point for clearing the footprint jungle and for facilitating the ongoing discourse on a truly integrated footprint family. Show less
While in recent years both environmental footprints and planetary boundaries have gained tremendous popularity throughout the ecological and environmental sciences, their relationship remains... Show moreWhile in recent years both environmental footprints and planetary boundaries have gained tremendous popularity throughout the ecological and environmental sciences, their relationship remains largely unexplored. By investigating the roots and developments of environmental footprints and planetary boundaries, this paper challenges the isolation of the two research fields and provides novel insights into the complementary use of them. Our analysis demonstrates that knowledge of planetary boundaries improves the policy relevance of environmental footprints by providing a set of consensus-based estimates of the regenerative and absorptive capacity at the global scale and, in reverse, that the planetary boundaries framework benefits from well-grounded footprint models which allow for more accurate and reliable estimates of human pressure on the planet's environment. A framework for integration of environmental footprints and planetary boundaries is thus proposed. The so-called footprint-boundary environmental sustainability assessment framework lays the foundation for evolving environmental impact assessment to environmental sustainability assessment aimed at measuring the sustainability gap between current magnitudes of human activities and associated capacity thresholds. As a first attempt to take advantage of environmental footprints and planetary boundaries in a complementary way, there remain many gaps in our knowledge. We have therefore formulated a research agenda for further scientific discussions, mainly including the development of measurable boundaries in relation to footprints at multiple scales and their trade-offs, and the harmonization of the footprint and boundary metrics in terms of environmental coverage and methodological choices. All these points raised, in our view, will play an important role in setting practical and tangible policy targets for adaptation and mitigation of worldwide environmental unsustainability. Show less
Beames, A.; Broekx, S.; Heijungs, R.; Lookman, R.; Boonen, K.; Geert, Y. van; ... ; Seuntjes, P. 2015
The latest life-cycle assessment methods account for land use, due to the production, use and disposal of products and services, in terms of ecosystem damage. The process of brownfield remediation... Show moreThe latest life-cycle assessment methods account for land use, due to the production, use and disposal of products and services, in terms of ecosystem damage. The process of brownfield remediation converts otherwise idle urban space into productive space. The value to ecosystems in this context is of course limited since the brownfield site remains urban. When evaluating brownfield remediation technologies, the availability of space on-site is dependent on the duration of time required by the remediation technology to reach the remediation target. Remediation technology alternatives tend to vary largely in terms of duration. Comparative life-cycle assessments of remediation technologies, to date, present the large variations between alternatives in terms of remediation duration but do not translate this into an impact or parameter. The restored subsurface zone is often defined as a functional unit, when in fact the surface area is the resource restored by the remediation service. The economic benefits of making land resources available are particularly important considerations in the context of brownfield remediation. The research proposes an innovative impact assessment approach that allows land to be considered as a finite resource. The method is applied in a comparative life-cycle assessment of two potential remediation scenarios for an idle brownfield in the Brussels region of Belgium. The results show that there is a trade-off between greenhouse gas emissions and land availability and that both are largely dependent on the efficiency of the contaminant extraction mechanism. The results also raise the question as to whether the economic valuation of land, like precious metals and fossil fuels, provides an accurate reflection of the true value of the resource. Considering land as a resource at the midpoint level is also relevant in other urban contexts where competition exists between different land-uses, where urban sprawl is detrimental to undeveloped areas and where urban intensification is a policy objective. Show less
In response to growing awareness of climate change, requests to establish product carbon footprints have been increasing. Product carbon footprints are life cycle assessments restricted to just... Show moreIn response to growing awareness of climate change, requests to establish product carbon footprints have been increasing. Product carbon footprints are life cycle assessments restricted to just one impact category, global warming. Product carbon footprint studies generate life cycle inventory results, listing the environmental emissions of greenhouse gases from a product's lifecycle, and characterize these by their global warming potentials, producing product carbon footprints that are commonly communicated as point values. In the present research we show that the uncertainties surrounding these point values necessitate more sophisticated ways of communicating product carbon footprints, using different sizes of catfish (Pangasius spp.) farms in Vietnam as a case study. As most product carbon footprint studies only have a comparative meaning, we used dependent sampling to produce relative results in order to increase the power for identifying environmentally superior products. We therefore argue that product carbon footprints, supported by quantitative uncertainty estimates, should be used to test hypotheses, rather than to provide point value estimates or plain confidence intervals of products' environmental performance. Show less
Zijp, M.C.; Heijungs, R.; Voet, E. van der; Meent, D. van der; Huijbregts, M.A.J.; Hollander, A.; Posthuma, L. 2015
Sustainability assessments can play an important role in decision making. This role starts with selecting appropriate methods for a given situation. We observed that scientists, consultants, and... Show moreSustainability assessments can play an important role in decision making. This role starts with selecting appropriate methods for a given situation. We observed that scientists, consultants, and decision-makers often do not systematically perform a problem analyses that guides the choice of the method, partly related to a lack of systematic, though sufficiently versatile approaches to do so. Therefore, we developed and propose a new step towards method selection on the basis of question articulation: the Sustainability Assessment Identification Key. The identification key was designed to lead its user through all important choices needed for comprehensive question articulation. Subsequently, methods that fit the resulting specific questions are suggested by the key. The key consists of five domains, of which three determine method selection and two the design or use of the method. Each domain consists of four or more criteria that need specification. For example in the domain "system boundaries", amongst others, the spatial and temporal scales are specified. The key was tested (retrospectively) on a set of thirty case studies. Using the key appeared to contribute to improved: (i) transparency in the link between the question and method selection; (ii) consistency between questions asked and answers provided; and (iii) internal consistency in methodological design. There is latitude to develop the current initial key further, not only for selecting methods pertinent to a problem definition, but also as a principle for associated opportunities such as stakeholder identification. Show less
For the protection of the aquatic environment and public health, China has implemented increasingly stringent sewage discharge standards for municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), but faces... Show moreFor the protection of the aquatic environment and public health, China has implemented increasingly stringent sewage discharge standards for municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), but faces critical challenges in terms of additional environmental burdens. In this work, a life cycle assessment (LCA) approach was used to determine the adverse environmental consequences of increasingly stringent discharge standards in a domestic WWTP, and to identify the main contributors and propose alternatives that minimize negative environmental impacts. The LCA-derived findings indicate that tightening discharge levels will indeed reduce local eutrophication but without net environmental improvement satisfied. If the treated water is not required for further reuse, it appears more environmentally promising to establish WWTPs in regions that implementing moderate-level treatment than to upgrade existing WWTPs to much higher standards, except in conservation zones, areas of high population density, and in watersheds with less resilience to pollution. Overall, environmental improvement can be satisfied by introducing consistent "cradle-to-cradle/grave" legislation for WWTPs. It was implicated that decision makers should therefore emphasize energy conservation and wastewaterderived resource recovery approaches to the operation of WWTPs. Show less
PurposePalm oil systems generate substantial amounts of biomass residues which are, according to best agricultural practices, preferably returned back to plantation in order to maintain soil... Show morePurposePalm oil systems generate substantial amounts of biomass residues which are, according to best agricultural practices, preferably returned back to plantation in order to maintain soil fertility. However, there are often variations in this practice. Differences in economic status and possible treatment options for biomass residues determine the preferences to perform life cycle assessment (LCA), leading to a divergence in results. Difficulties when comparing LCA results based on literature are not unusual. The objectives of this paper are to provide guidelines for methodological choices that enable a systematic comparison of diverse scenarios for the treatment and valuation of empty fruit bunches (EFBs) and to explore effects of the scenarios on the environmental performances of a palm oil system. MethodsEleven scenarios were selected to address the possible EFB valuation and expanded boundaries with reference to the main palm oil system (EFBs applied as mulch, converted to compost or ethanol, treated in an incinerator, and sold as coproducts). The life cycle inventories were modeled based upon an Ecoinvent database. Solutions to multifunctional problems were suggested, including the application of system expansion, substitution, and partitioning, depending upon the nature of the scenarios. Results and discussionComparison among LCA results based on the same multifunctional units (crude palm oil + palm kernel oil + palm kernel cake) can be accomplished only in cases where additional coproducts were utilized internally. Based on the global warming impact, the mulch option was preferred. The effect of the avoided process of producing synthetic fertilizers and the assumption that all parts of mulch are available as soil nutrient dominantly determined the final result. These need further verification. This study also demonstrates that the status of EFB as waste or goods is influential on the final results if the EFB is employed externally but has no effect if it is utilized internally. ConclusionsThe proposed guidelines provide methodological choices in terms of system boundary, functional unit, and solutions to multifunctional problems. The methods can be used to systematically compare LCA results of different treatment options and valuation of EFB. The preferred alternative for managing this biomass residue could improve environmental performances and orient toward best practices, such as those suggested by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). Further studies incorporating a site-specific case of palm oil systems would better illustrate the usefulness of the proposed guidelines. Show less
As technology progresses, so does the concern about the potential health impacts on humans and biodiversity that go in hand with technological development. Emerging new impacts that are... Show moreAs technology progresses, so does the concern about the potential health impacts on humans and biodiversity that go in hand with technological development. Emerging new impacts that are characteristic of the anthropocene require more attention in current life cycle assessment (LCA), a framework in which many relevant impact assessment models are still missing. More attention, more data and more concern require the LCA community to intervene and to start or increase the modelling efforts to accommodate new impacts in LCA. To date the process of inclusion of new impacts in LCA has not yet been formalised. To deal with this process, a framework is here proposed and tested through the analysis of three emerging impact categories, noise, ecological light pollution (ELP) and radio-frequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF). We show that any development must start from a careful study of the theories and investigations from other specialist fields of science than the field of LCA. The gathering of such information is fundamental to assess the maturity of the impacts, their importance and the quality of the evidence that is available. In addition, this information has to be bridged to the computational structure of LCA, to check whether the physical properties of new impacts may be adjusted to the basics of LCA. We discuss the three new potential impact categories as a paradigm for action for any new development in LCA. Show less
Font Vivanco, D.; Kemp, R.; Voet, E. van der; Heijungs, R. 2014
This article presents a general framework for macroenvironmental assessment, combining life cycle assessment (LCA) with the IPAT equation, and explores its combination with decomposition analysis... Show moreThis article presents a general framework for macroenvironmental assessment, combining life cycle assessment (LCA) with the IPAT equation, and explores its combination with decomposition analysis to assess the multidimensional contribution of technological innovation to environmental pressures. This approach is illustrated with a case study in which carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) air emissions from diesel passenger cars in Europe during the period 1990-2005 are first decomposed using index decomposition analysis into technology, consumption activity, and population growth effects. By a second decomposition, the contribution of a specific innovation (diesel engine) is calculated on the basis of the technology and consumption activity effects, through a technological comparison with a relevant alternative and the calculation of the rebound effect, respectively. The empirical analysis for diesel passenger cars highlights the discrepancies between the micro (LCA) and macro (IPAT-LCA) analytical approaches. Thus, whereas diesel engines present a relatively less-pollutant environmental product profile than their gasoline counterparts, total CO2 and NOx emissions would have increased partly as a consequence of their introduction, mainly driven by the increase in travel demand caused by the induced direct price rebound effect from fuel savings and fuel price differences. The counterintuitive result shows the need for such an analysis. Show less
Cucurachi, S.; Sala, S.; Laurent, A.; Heijungs, R. 2014
Noise is a serious stressor affecting the health of millions of citizens. It has been suggested that disturbance by noise is responsible for a substantial part of the damage to human health.... Show moreNoise is a serious stressor affecting the health of millions of citizens. It has been suggested that disturbance by noise is responsible for a substantial part of the damage to human health. However, no recommended approach to address noise impacts was proposed by the handbook for life cycle assessment (LCA) of the European Commission, nor are characterisation factors (CFs) and appropriate inventory data available in commonly used databases. This contribution provides CFs to allow for the quantification of noise impacts on human health in the LCA framework. Noise propagation standards and international reports on acoustics and noise impacts were used to define the model parameters. Spatial data was used to calculate spatially-defined CFs in the form of 10-by-10-km maps. The results of this analysis were combined with data from the literature to select input data for representative archetypal situations of emission (e.g. urban day with a frequency of 63Hz, rural night at 8000Hz, etc.). A total of 32 spatial and 216 archetypal CFs were produced to evaluate noise impacts at a European level (i.e. EU27). The possibility of a user-defined characterisation factor was added to support the possibility of portraying the situation of full availability of information, as well as a highly-localised impact analysis. A Monte Carlo-based quantitative global sensitivity analysis method was applied to evaluate the importance of the input factors in determining the variance of the output. The factors produced are ready to be implemented in the available LCA databases and software. The spatial approach and archetypal approach may be combined and selected according to the amount of information available and the life cycle under study. The framework proposed and used for calculations is flexible enough to be expanded to account for impacts on target subjects other than humans and to continents other than Europe. Show less
In het kader van de lopende discussie over de bestrijding van onkruid op verharde oppervlakken heeft het Ministerie van Infrastructuur en Milieu gevraagd om een “LCA-quickscan” over dit onderwerp... Show moreIn het kader van de lopende discussie over de bestrijding van onkruid op verharde oppervlakken heeft het Ministerie van Infrastructuur en Milieu gevraagd om een “LCA-quickscan” over dit onderwerp uit 2012 nader te beschouwen. Het gaat om de studie die door N. Jonkers van IVAM in opdracht van Plant Research International (PRI) is geschreven. Deze review gaat in op twee aspecten: • Wat is de waarde van een levenscyclusanalyse (LCA) voor de beoordeling van onkruidbestrijdingstechnieken? • In hoeverre biedt de gerapporteerde LCA-quickscan bruikbare aanknopingspunten? In de review wordt dus niet ingegaan op de correctheid van de getallen en aannames voor wat betreft de diverse technieken voor onkruidbestrijding. Wel wordt er stilgestaan bij de vraag wat de waarde van een LCA en van een quickscan is, los van de kwaliteit van IVAM’s rapport. Het antwoord op de eerste vraag luidt als volgt. LCA is een methode om de milieueffecten van producten en diensten over de gehele keten in beeld te brengen. Een LCA brengt nuttige inzichten naar voren over verborgen knelpunten op verschillende plaatsen in de keten, waarbij bovendien verschillende typen milieueffecten tegen elkaar afgewogen kunnen worden. Een LCA gaat echter niet in op lokale actuele effecten, zoals normoverschrijdingen en risico’s. Juist bij een studie over onkruidbestrijding, waarbij toxische effecten zowel onderling als in relatie tot niettoxische effecten beoordeeld moeten worden, is de afweging tussen lokale actuele effecten en potentiële effecten in de keten van centraal belang. Een LCA alleen biedt een te beperkte blik voor het onderhavige onderwerp. Lokale actuele effecten zijn het domein van risicoanalyse (RA). Een aanvullende RA moet daarom als een parallel traject worden uitgevoerd. Nadrukkelijk wordt dus geconcludeerd dat een RA alleen onvoldoende is, omdat er dan eenzijdig gefocust wordt op de risico’s van gif voor drinkwater en ecosystemen. Maar een LCA alleen is evenmin voldoende. De problematiek van onkruidbestrijding rechtvaardigt een uitputtende analyse, waarbij de lokale milieueffecten met een RA en de milieueffecten over de keten met een LCA worden berekend. Het antwoord op de tweede vraag is moeilijker te formuleren. De review heeft zich gericht op de volgende aspecten: • conformiteit met de algemeen geaccepteerde principes in LCA (critical review, volledigheid en helderheid); • gegevens, aannames en rekenstappen (software, gegevens en weging); • resultaten en discussie; • herberekening en analyse. De quickscan is – tegen de gebruiken en ISO-normen in – nauwelijks gereviewed, en er zijn geen stakeholders bij betrokken geweest. Op veel punten is de studie onvolledig gerapporteerd. Voor deze complexe materie is een quickscan duidelijk niet genoeg. Verder zijn veel gegevens door de opdrachtgever aangeleverd, iets dat voor een bedrijfsinterne analyse prima is, maar dat voor een openbare vergelijkende studie niet volstaat. Dankzij de bereidwillige medewerking van de auteur van de quickscan kon de reviewer een aantal berekeningen controleren en een aantal nadere analyses uitvoeren. Hieruit komt naar voren dat er een aantal merkwaardige elementen in de 4 studie zitten, onder meer wat betreft karakterisering en weging, maar dat geen enkele van deze dubieuze punten geïsoleerd bezien veel invloed heeft op het resultaat van de studie. Wel zou het beeld kunnen wijzigen wanneer er op meerdere fronten duidelijk andere technieken gebruikt zouden worden. Met een meer gedetailleerde analyse, waarbij verschillende karakterisatie- en weegmethoden gebruikt worden en de basisgegevens en aannames aan stakeholders voorgelegd worden, kan een beter beeld verkregen, dat tegelijkertijd robuuster is en op een breder draagvlak kan bogen. De quickscan van IVAM laat vooral zien dat de problematiek van de vergelijking van onkruidbestrijdingsmethoden een dergelijke gedetailleerde analyse verdient. Show less
