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Abstract Nowadays, the population growth leads environmental, legislative, and social concerns. As a consequence, government and companies started to be aware of the impact of supply chain operations in the environment and society. While most of research in Supply Chain Network Design (SCND) has focused on economic performance, recently some studies consider environmental and social aspects of the SCND. The majority of existing related papers deal with multi-objective optimization modelling approaches when considering sustainable aspects of the supply chain. In this study, the optimization of a hierarchized Sustainable Supply Chain Network Design (SSCND) is addressed. To model this situation, a bi-level programming approach is considered. In the proposed model, an Environmental Protection Agency from the government has the leader role and acts as the upper level decision maker. Also, the supply chain's manager assumes the follower role acting as the lower level decision maker. Leader's objective function considers environmental aspects, while follower's objective function considers economical aspects. In the modelled situation, the government tries to cause an impact in the SCND by offering financial incentives (subsidies) and by encouraging the supply chain's manager to use cleaner technologies. The resulting bi-level programming model is a mixed-integer linear program. Due to the structure of the lower level problem, the bi-level model cannot be reduced into an equivalent single-level one by using KKT conditions. Therefore, an algorithm based on the simulated annealing metaheuristic is proposed for solving the problem. The results show that an appropriate government's financial incentives strategy lead to significantly decrease the environmental impact of the SSCND. Moreover, a greater impact is achieved when the financial incentives do not depend on the total production obtained via the use of cleaner technologies (scenario 1) than assigning subsidies based on the production made with specific technologies (scenario 2). Furthermore, the proposed model could be considered as a new approach for SSCND procuring environmental and economic aspects under an assumed predefined hierarchy. Highlights • A sustainable supply chain network design (SSCND) is studied in this paper. • Incentives are offered to the companies promoting the use cleaner technologies. • A novel bi-level programming model is proposed to handle with this problem. • An algorithm based on simulated annealing is designed to find acceptable solutions. • Results show significant reductions in the environmental impact of the SSCND. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Attitudes in the construction industry towards emissions and cleaner production are mixed. Many in the industry do not measure their emissions, or show awareness or progress towards minimizing emissions, but rather focus on more traditional matters of time, cost and production. Some writers suggest cost, or an industry perception of extra cost, as a main barrier to implementing more sustainable practices. There has been a slow shift to a sustainability mindset, but commonly this shift is only embarked upon if there are parallel cost savings. A realistic business view is that sustainability in the construction industry will only be achieved if parallel cost reductions occur. Within this debate, the paper puts forward the proposition and shows that, for a defined type of construction operation, performing at minimum unit cost (cost per production) also leads to minimizing unit emissions (emissions per production). The implication of this is that, within an existing operation, least unit emissions can be achieved without an increase in unit cost; alternatively, traditionally efficient ways of undertaking construction have the least environmental impact. Conversely, not operating at minimum unit cost leads to unnecessary emissions. The paper demonstrates this on an array of construction practices, and opines that similar results will hold for related construction operations. Graphical abstract Image 1 Highlights • Unit cost and unit emissions performances coincide for many construction operations. • Cleaner production need not lead to increased cost. • Not operating cost efficiently leads to unnecessary emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The Sustainable Development Goals agreed by the United Nations in September 2015 comprise 17 goals and 169 targets aimed at integrating matters related to sustainable development into the overall economic, environmental and social frameworks of countries. Whereas the SDGs have a global dimension, their action implementation depends on the level of priority different countries give to them, and on how sustainability issues compete with a country's main problems. The aim of this paper was to identify the main Sustainable Development Goals approached by experts from different geographic regions, according to their experience and research area, and to discuss the relation between these goals and the main local issues and challenges of each region. The methodology starts with snowball sampling to collect information from experts from all geographic regions, through contact networks of universities in different countries. With the information about the goals researched by the participating experts, an analysis of the relation between the study focus and the geographical regions of origin was conducted. A total of 266 specialists from North America, Latin America/Caribbean, Africa, Asia, Europe and Oceania participated in the survey. Based on the sample used, it can be said that there is a relation between the local problems or challenges observed in some regions and the main areas of interest of the surveyed experts, with a general emphasis on the study of goals 4, 11 and 13. Based on the data gathered, the paper presents a set of examples of positive and negative situations in the various regions, and considers the extent to which some Sustainable Development Goals are being pursued by research on a worldwide basis. Graphical abstract Image Highlights • The SDGs are now being implemented by many countries. • There are differences in the emphasis to the implementation of the SDGs across different geographical regions. • Goals related to Climate Action, Sustainable Cities and Education seem to be among the most popular ones. • The research gaps suggest that many SDGs deserve more attention in order not to "leave anyone behind". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In the context of built environment, buildings are amongst the principal generators of environmental externalities. Life Cycle Assessment (LCAs) of energy efficiency and environmental performance of buildings are deemed critical to address sustainable development issues. This paper aims to investigate LCA as a tool to support the design of buildings with two objectives in mind. Firstly, it determines the role of LCA in the evaluation of energy efficiency and environmental performance of buildings. Secondly, it elaborates LCA of these constructions through the lens of international standards. The methodological approach of the study leads to development of a whole building life cycle formula that sums up the contributions from a set of LCAs. By doing so, the paper highlights the necessity of LCA applications in buildings, and the need for minimisation of resource and energy consumption, and environmental impact. The study helps in better understanding the way LCA supports the search for and identification of innovation pathways in buildings. This paper contributes to the efforts in providing theoretical expansions in LCA of buildings and stimulates the creation of technical standards for the residential building construction sector. Graphical abstract Image Highlights • The study overviewed Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) in residential buildings. • The study discussed stages and methodological aspects related to LCA elaborations. • LCA can have huge applications for quality and sustainability of buildings. • The whole building LCA was formulated as the sum of a set of partial LCAs. • LCA in buildings minimises resource and energy use and related environmental impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is growing interest in integration of sustainability into business planning decisions under a sustainable development framework. Environmental accounting methodologies for collection, measurement, and disclosure of financial and environmental impacts of strategic and operational managerial decisions are developed and utilized by business entities worldwide for effective management of both organizational and operational environmental protection policies. At the operational level, while extant literature has primarily focused on managerial decision making under different voluntary and regulatory emission pricing schemes, the intersection of economic (monetary) and environmental impact (non-monetary/physical) dimensions of sustainable development goals has received scant attention. This paper examines the intersection of the environmental and economic goals of sustainable development initiatives of a focal firm, which is engaged in the primary activities of production and/or transportation and storage of a single product within a forward supply chain. This paper assumes the presence of a responsive “green market ” through modeling of consumer awareness and response induced by the firms' environmental footprint disclosures. Through quantitative modeling approach, normative conclusions are derived on the compatibility of economic and environmental goals of sustainable development initiative. The results indicate the presence of convergence, divergence, and avoidance decision zones in balancing the environmental and economical goals of the firm's sustainable development for production and storage efficiency. The paper explicitly establishes the boundaries of the operational zones within the domain of the firm's environmental reduction and operational efficiency efforts. The results demonstrate that the efficacy of voluntary or regulated emission reduction targets depends on the firm's existing environmental and operational cost structures, and hence emission reduction targets must be well planned to avoid adverse environmental impact or operational inefficiencies. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that in a green responsive market, there may exist critical emission reduction thresholds below which the economic and environmental benefits of sustainable development initiatives diverge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The circular economy (CE) paradigm in its broadest sense is key to our survival as a species. Due to this critical importance, understanding its fundamental limitations is thus of significant importance. Especially understanding the losses to Nature are key as these represent the true limitation to circularity. This requires at the minimum an understanding of the thermodynamics and entropy of the losses. Most CE work as well as the many depictions to date neglect to address this in detail, the many losses are brushed aside. Many texts in CE do not use the words entropy, thermodynamics, mass and heat transfer, technology etc. which all ultimately fundamentally affect both the circularity as well as economic viability of the system. Using lead as carrier for the narrative of this paper, the state-of-the art from technology to the thermodynamics as well as heat and mass transfer, product design, modularity, environmental impact, system simulation etc. will be critically discussed. This will reveal what key knowledge and data is presently missing to achieve the economically viable circularity of materials and products. This paper identifies what should be researched and developed to “close” the circular economy system. It thus provides a “ground zero” or baseline for the evaluation of the true economic viability of the CE paradigm relative to what we are presently achieving in our linear economy paradigm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a robust methodology that assesses the environmental impacts of product systems. However, assessing its outcomes is not always easy. When decision-making must be carried out in such complex situations, Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) may be applied. In this paper, the way in which MCDA techniques are being applied within the LCA context to aid results interpretation was assessed. The aim is to investigate the current framework of this integration and to map the application of MCDA and LCA according to the LCA steps, references and criteria. Thus, a research was made in SCOPUS and Web of Science databases through a specific set of key-words. As a result, 109 papers were identified. The survey demonstrate that MCDA is applied at three different times in LCA steps: at Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) to analyze trade-offs between impact categories, damage categories, or the LCA score with other dimensions; at the Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) step, to interpret aspects from inventory (such as waste generation); and at the Goal and Scope definition step to identify impact categories and aspects of LCI. MCDA is also used for LCIA development, to attribute significance to impact categories. In general, the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) dimension was more recurrent, followed by Environmental and Eco-efficiency (environmental-economical) dimensions. The most common criteria were global warming, acidification and eutrophication in environmental prisms, costs and profits in economic aspects and job creation and labor security in social aspects. Results have shown mutual benefits and a clear and growing interest from the scientific community in relation to MCDA/LCA. Specific subjects to be further studied are: MCDA supporting other methodological choices, such as the allocation approach; MCDA to elicit meanings for impact categories in a way to compel stakeholders and verify geographical conditions for decision-making, and; Economic and social criteria used may contribute to Life Cycle Costing and Social LCA development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although there are substantial benefits by using an adequate strategy in order to reach competitive advantage, little attention has been given to the strategy formulation process for environmental sustainability. The aim of this research is to propose a basic model to formulate strategy for companies that compete pursuing the sustainable environmental development. Based on a literature research of 231 papers, 14 papers were selected and analyzed in detail using content analysis. These papers were categorized into 10 strategy perspectives and compared to the criteria of the Fields and Weapons of the Competition model. From this comparison, a basic process of strategy formulation was devised. The originality and practical implications of this research is to present a basic, adaptable model that can guide entrepreneur, executives and leaders in the process of strategy formulation for sustainable environmental development, especially in times when companies become surrounded by so many environmental sustainable initiatives that confuse rather than guide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) has recently received increasing attention among UK manufacturing firms, there is a concern as to whether SSCM practices are being implemented because they are profitable or only because of governance coercive pressure. Thus, the aims of this paper are twofold: first, determining the role of governance in the adoption of SSCM practices; second, investigating whether SSCM practices can be both environmentally beneficial and commercially viable. In light of these issues, this paper develops and empirically assesses an integrated model of governance pressures-SSCM practices-performance. Data was collected from 146 UK manufacturing managers, and analysed using the structural equation modelling method. Exogenous driving forces of governance were found to be precursors to the successful implementation of SSCM practices. The empirical results further suggest that while the implementation of sustainable supply chain management has a positive effect on environmental performance, it does not necessarily lead to improved economic performance, as only sustainable procurement was found to have a positive effect on economic performance. This paper contributes to the literature by highlighting the role of governance in SSCM adoption and performance gains in environmental protection while economic performance is partially compromised. The results also provide useful insights for both managers seeking to adopt sustainable practices and policy-makers seeking to further promote sustainable supply chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For most firms, the development of sustainable supply chain practices remains challenging. Using a theory-building approach, we develop a theory of socio-ecological intergradation to provide managers with guidance in mimicking natural ecosystems to develop more local and thus sustainable supply chains. Socio-ecological intergradation refers to the gradual merging of social (organizational) and ecological (environmental) systems to shift a firm’s focus from global supply chain optimization to building more regionally bound, socio-ecologically connected operations. Drawing on the natural and industrial ecology literature, the paper identifies five principles that mimic natural ecosystems and increase the environmental sustainability of supply chains, including the ecological systems they ultimately depend on. The paper further illustrates what these principles mean in both an environmental and a supply chain context and how, in concert, they can lead toward more sustainably designed and managed supply chains. In building a theory of socio-ecological intergradation, this research is one of the first attempts to apply ecological principles to supply chains, creating synergy and dialogue between the sustainable supply chain management, business ethics, and industrial ecology disciplines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sets out to contribute to a critical theory debate through the presentation and use of a framework for the categorisation of literature linked to Product Service System (PSS). Moving from the analysis of literature we provide a conceptual structure depicting the current situation of literature dealing with the analysis of economic impact and environmental/social impact of Product Service System. Moreover, we provide a methodological structure, concerning methodologies and research purpose behind papers. Literature mainly agrees about PSS benefits, barriers, and partly also on drivers, but from the descriptive and thematic analysis what emerged is a lack of clarity about PSS and its main fields: it started as a topic closely connected with sustainability, but subsequently different fields have developed other terminologies and focuses of research, developing their own theoretical base and frameworks. Therefore, we have found a lack of interconnection among fields and subject areas. A critical aspect in current literature is about the analysis/evaluation of Product Service System performance: economic and environmental analyses should be updated with new methodologies and new perspectives (i.e. privileging an ex post perspective rather than an ex ante one). Furthermore, these analyses should be integrated in a unique tool, which would be essential in providing a complete perspective on the PSS phenomenon and its effects. Finally, we propose and discuss main future research directions, connected to the main current research streams: sustainability, Product Service System business models and collaborative consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metallic material processing plays a significant role in terms of global environmental impact. As a result, energy- and resource-efficient strategies in the metal shaping technology domain need to be identified urgently. Recently, the scientific world has been paying more and more attention to the environmental impact analysis of manufacturing processes. Despite this increased attention, the state of the art in the domain of environmental impact analysis of metal shaping processes is still characterized by gaps in knowledge and in methodologies. In particular, metal forming processes are still not well documented, in terms of their environmental impact, and there is a lack of systematic and comparative approaches. This paper offers a contribution to a better understanding of the environmental impact of forming and machining processes. A thorough methodology has been developed to take into due account all the environmental factors of influence on both of the considered technologies. A comparative analysis has been performed, varying the production batch size and part geometry. The importance of an environmental performance analysis that can include both batch size and geometry variations is discussed and highlighted throughout the paper. Finally, the application of the proposed methodology has resulted in the setting up of an eco-design tool, here defined as a Process Sustainability Diagram (PSD), which allows the greenest technology to be selected for the analyzed case study, while varying the considered factors of influence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering the history of cleaner production in the Asia-Pacific region, there have been sustained efforts to develop cleaner production techniques and also techniques for sustainability assessment to ensure that the desired benefits from cleaner production are actually achieved. Two conferences, the Asia Pacific Roundtable on Sustainable Consumption and Production (APRSCP) and the International Conference on Green and Sustainable Innovation (ICGSI) have been organized regularly to bring together experts on cleaner production as well as assessment. Papers presented at these events form part of this special volume along with some invited papers from outside. The papers cover a wide range of topics under the cleaner production umbrella including product and process development and innovation, environmental assessments including carbon footprint, water footprint, life cycle assessment and more comprehensive sustainability assessment including socio-economic issues along with environmental ones. The papers in this special volume reflect the status of green and sustainable innovation for cleaner production in the Asia-Pacific region. The studies in this volume demonstrate Asian examples of the development of innovative technologies and the application of life cycle thinking-based assessment techniques, including those that are well-established and emerging ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective environmental management within companies, integrated with other management areas like quality and occupational health and safety, is nowadays assumed to be a strategic way to implement and improve lean and cleaner production. Also, sustainable development (SD) and business sustainability can be achieved through a better coordinated management of processes versus associated resources. This paper presents an in depth discussion regarding the promotion of integrated management systems, their benefits and major contribution towards the sustainable development of cleaner production related features. It addresses issues regarding the contributions resulting from the integration of standardized Management System (MS) from both internal and external perspectives. Complementing the overall review of aspects to the development of integrated management systems a survey was conducted in order to better understand the relevance of the identified success factors. The main findings in this paper are as follows: a contextualization model of sustainable development and integrated management systems considering the Triple Bottom Line: economic, social and environmental; and, a method and associated model to support the development of integrated management systems as well as general guidelines to support integration. It can be concluded that a proactive approach and commitment to cleaner production, supported by an integrated management system, brings relevant savings for organizations as well as providing value to the relevant interested parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While hospitals, sustainable healthcare organizations, and recent peer-reviewed publications have assessed the sustainability of medical products and services, the healthcare industry lacks a framework to effectively inform environmental decision making and quantitatively assess the success of sustainability initiatives for medical products and services. Several recent publications have even expressed a need for better ways to quantify sustainable healthcare practices. To address these needs, this research compared the cradle-to-grave environmental and economic impacts of some of the most common recommendations from checklists: reusable versus disposable medical products, and changes to common medical services. Salient results and conclusions from recent studies focusing on the environmental and economic impacts of various reusable versus disposable medical products and different medical services were synthesized and prioritized. All relevant results related to environmental and economic impacts of reusable versus disposable medical products and the analyzed medical services were also correlated with existing sustainable checklists. The results showed that reusable products were less expensive their single-use disposable alternatives. The dental bur also required the least amount of water for its associated cleaning processes, had the lowest total embodied energy, and had the lowest associated greenhouse gas emissions. These outcomes were likely due to the fact the burs were, by far, the smallest examined product. Based on the results derived from the study, healthcare checklists should be updated to include: optimizing the reusability of medical products; reduce products utilized in custom packs; and evaluating energy recovery potential of utilized products. The results of this study indicate that sustainable healthcare checklists be further validated with more environmental and economic life-cycle analyses related to medical products and services. The primary aim of this paper is to assist hospital employees and administrators with making more informed decisions about the sustainability of their products and services. The scientific value of this paper is underscored by a novel aggregation of life cycle assessment studies pertaining to medical devices and services in order to draw conclusions regarding the overall sustainability of those medical devices and services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many environmental networks form around specific initiatives with prescribed outcome objectives. When the objectives are met, the networks frequently disband. Technological transfer halts and the social capital built up during the initiative fragments, in many cases, disappearing altogether. In an era of globally unsustainable economic activity, encouraging progressive innovation and broadening the scale and scope of knowledge transfer is one strategy for helping to attenuate ecological damage. This paper presents empirical field work which explores the Kalundborg Symbiosis in Denmark – a network of economic actors that has organically come together to implement industrial ecology principles – and documents how this network has managed to foster progressive innovation. The four drivers which emerged as central for fostering collaboration are i) a pragmatic environmental mindset, ii) the existence of opportunities to explore possibilities, iii) mutually beneficial initiatives and iv) the presence of dominant needs which stimulate a proactive search for solutions. The paper also contributes to sustainable public policy and urban planning literature by considering how municipal involvement can foster progressive and sustained development within the Kalundborg Symbiosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is often difficult to determine the effects of policies at a sectoral level in the overlapping domains of pollution control and energy conservation, making it difficult to consider co-benefits of energy conservation and air pollution reduction and tensions. In China, the industry sector contributes much more carbon and pollution emissions than other sectors. In this paper, Baoshan District (BSD), one of the most important industrial zones in the Shanghai metropolis, is used as a case study to illustrate the situation and to provide information to assess the effectiveness of environmental sustainable development policies in industries. The policies resulting from China's Eleventh Five-year Plan (FYP) are considered at the level of BSD. In particular, the result of implementing local policies of air pollution control and energy are analysed at BSD. Three indicator systems are adopted for quantitatively and qualitatively evaluating energy saving and air pollution reduction achieved by technical, structural and management measures in industrial enterprises of BSD. Analysis made in the paper shows that the co-benefits of pollution cutting and energy conservation have been achieved at certain scopes and degrees in the industry sector in BSD, e.g. SO 2 and Particulate Matter (PM) were reduced by 35.1% and 7.7% respectively, and the energy density was cut by 26.7%. Due to existing barriers of the lack of co-planning and co-operations in the process of designing and implementing the policies, and the overlooking the leakage of emissions in the whole project area, the overall co-benefits cannot be achieved effectively in BSD. Recommendations are made for future detailed studies of this or similar districts to develop an indicator system of co-benefits to help demonstrate the advantages of joint planning and policies for co-benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An extensive growth in pavement life cycle assessment studies is noticed in recent years. Current literature in pavement life cycle assessment demonstrates a wide range of implications on environmental burdens associated with the pavements. However, immature parts still remain, needing further research, in the next years, in different stages of pavement life cycle assessment. Most of these papers focused on the implementation of new technologies on pavements construction, the use of recycled materials, and the investigation of various phases of the pavement life cycle rather than improving the applicability and the adequacy of life cycle assessment methodology to the pavement problems. These stages are based on ISO 14040 and 14044 frameworks: the goal and scope definition, the inventory analysis, the life cycle impact assessment and interpretation. In this paper, a comprehensive review (i.e. a critical review and research gaps investigation) of life cycle assessment studies on pavements was conducted. The presentation comprises (not an extensive list) inventory analysis such as surface roughness, noise, lighting, albedo, carbonation, and earthwork in addition to locally applicable data collection, consequential and temporal consideration of pavement life cycle, and sensitivity analysis. Addressing these inadequacies will permit enhanced pavement life cycle assessment studies. This will then be useful for policy makers, project managers, construction engineers, and other stakeholders in identifying prospective in sustainable development of the pavement sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policy instruments introduced with the aim of promoting environmental sustainability are often designed and evaluated in terms of their impact with regard to facilitating technological change. Most ‘green’ policy instruments that have emerged in recent decades have targeted facilitation of the development and adoption of greener processes, goods and services. Concurrent business models have sought to create and capture value arising from this policy-induced transition to more environmentally sustainable practices. Both such policy instruments and the business models are, however, often evaluated more in terms of their impact on the development and adoption of innovations and less in terms of their impact on behavioural change. This paper provides a critical review of the interplay between green policy instruments and green business models from a behavioural perspective. Instead of looking at policy instruments from a technology-push and demand-pull perspective, this paper samples them in terms of ‘sticks’, ‘carrots’ and ‘sermons’ and then provides a critical review of business models that have emerged in response to these types of policy regimes. The paper finds that most green business models that have emerged in the built environment - in response to sticks - may be characterised as buck-passing, i.e. passing costs to others and skirting around the stick of regulation. Those that emerge in response to carrots as opportunistic carpet-bagging aimed at capturing a temporary gain. Finally, those that emerged in response to sermon-orientated awareness campaigns, show a tendency to diffuse even in the absence of supportive fiscal conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite increased awareness of environmental crisis and social inequity the world is becoming more, not less, unsustainable. Obviously there is great inertia, a disinclination to enact change, in for instance environmentally detrimental practices. While there is much in the literature to explain inertia at the individual, organizational and societal level, there is a gap concerning approaches that focus upon the industrial level. This paper addresses this gap by developing an analytical approach based upon institutional theory brought together with the ontological principles of strong sustainability. Two interrelated case studies, concerning greenhouse gas reduction in the Swedish agrifield, are used to develop the approach. The empirical results show that greenhouse gas reduction is used in support for convergent changes within the industry, for instance to motivate increased efficiency and yields. Hence, the paper contributes to the sustainable development-literature by providing an analytical approach that can be utilized to increase the understanding of change processes at the industrial level. This approach is then discussed and further developed to accommodate for the case results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The semiconductor industry plays an ever-increasing role in society, providing microelectronic components called chips that are used in a wide variety of electronic applications. The rapid increase of the production of chips is responsible for considerable effects on the environment during the different phases of their life cycle. In spite of increasing pressure from stakeholders to control these effects, no international standard or agreement has yet been established. In this context, the paper proposes a set of environmental indicators that take into account the most serious damages induced by these products. To establish an exhaustive list of indicators, the specificities of the semiconductor branch are first analysed in literature, identifying pressures on the sector coming from the downstream chain – chip buyers and users – and finally by analysing data from industrial case studies. In order to highlight the most significant direct and indirect impacts, each aspect of the chips' life cycle phases is studied independently. The indicators reflect the particularities of the industry and point out the major impact categories. They can be therefore be used for standardized environmental analysis of microelectronic products. The paper retains seven environmental indicators: resource depletion, eutrophication, water stress, toxicity, summer smog and local electrical consumption. The final set of indicators will help draw the environmental profile of the microelectronic chips over the full life cycle of the products. It is a step towards necessary standardization in the microelectronic industry. The indicators are consistent with current state of the art and can evolve as progress is made on the definition and calculation of new indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Capital-intensive industries consume fossil fuels for mass production with little concern for nature's assimilative capacity, which results in an accumulation of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Pollution abatement systems based on market-induced correctives and multi-national agreements works as ex-post remedial measures and have limited effectiveness in the reduction of GHGs. In this paper, we formulate the sustainable-structure-conduct-performance (S-SCP) paradigm as an ex-ante remedial measure by mimicking the structure-conduct-performance (SCP) paradigm to reduce the GHGs. By using a dynamic panel data, the workability of the S-SCP paradigm was tested on CO 2 emissions for selected major Indian iron and steel industries (IISI). Our findings show that the green relative index was positively significant in respect of green value added (GREVA). However, green R&D and barriers to entry and exit were negatively significant in respect of GREVA. Overall, the S-SCP paradigm's test in ISII suggests that the incorporation of social cost into the firm's structure and conduct will achieve sustainable performance-oriented production practices that reduce CO 2 emissions. We propose general suggestions on industrial parks for green technology innovation, management responsibility mechanisms, environmental impact assessment notifications and an Indian sustainable development commission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper includes the new constraints of haze in the environmental efficiency research framework, and the SBM-Undesirable and Malmquist exponential models are used to measure and analyse the evolution characteristics and regional differences of regional green environmental efficiency of China. And applied China's regional panel data and a spatial Dubin model to deeply explore the impact of environmental regulation, openness, urbanisation, industrial structure, and technological innovation on regional green environmental efficiency. The result show that, under the constraints of smog, the regional green environment efficiency of China is different with each area and shows strong spatial dependence and spatial differentiation. The overall spatial distribution of the 'east–middle–northeast–west' gradient is decreasing. Environmental regulation had a major impact on the green environment efficiency of the region and demonstrated an 'inverted N-type' relationship. The degree of openness, urbanisation, industrial structure, and technological innovation play an active role in promoting regional green sustainable development. Economic growth, corporate ownership structure, fiscal policy, and foreign investment dependence have hindered the progress of regional green sustainable development to a certain extent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Economics is a critical subject for the integration of sustainable development into curriculum given the discipline's influence in shaping social metabolism of societies, inequality, environmental impacts and wellbeing. There are very few empirical studies of the integration of sustainable development into economics curriculum. The purpose of the paper is to conduct analysis of a department wide intervention to integrate sustainable development into economics at a case study University, the first of its kind. The study makes use of surveys, interviews and key word searches to provide both qualitative and quantitative data and findings. Results indicate integration of sustainable development into curriculum on some modules but not the majority of the sample, evidence of resistance was also found. A range of barriers to integrating sustainable development into curriculum were identified in interviews. A sector wide survey on barriers to integrating sustainable development into economics curriculum was then conducted to provide empirical evidence on the subject. This is the first sector wide study of barriers to integrating sustainable development into economics curriculum. Results from the survey show that the Research Excellence Framework is a substantial barrier to integrating sustainable development into economics curriculum. The survey can be developed and applied elsewhere in the world to enable comparative analysis across countries, to get wider evidence on barriers. Highlights • First department wide intervention study of integrating sustainability in economics. • First sector wide survey of barriers to integrating sustainability into economics. • Surveys identify key barriers to integration of sustainability into economics. • The Research Excellence Framework is a major barrier to integrating sustainability. • The approach and survey can be applied elsewhere for comparative analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Exploring aspects of how innovative methods can truly attain a sustainable society is necessary for the future of our planet. This study focuses on serious games, and how users can increase their understanding of sustainability issues and their familiarity with sustainable development strategies. "Users" of serious games consist of all possible target groups that are interested in attaining knowledge of sustainability through the use of games that are designed for a purpose beyond entertainment, in this case for sustainability education. This paper follows the systematic literature review method to deliver a study of serious games featuring sustainable development practices and policies. In order to provide a thorough analysis of their dynamic features, 77 games were explored in this study. The findings show the growing number of serious games that seek to educate in sustainability and the categorization of these games according to the triple-bottom line of sustainability, giving clarification hints to users wishing to select the relevant tool that offers an understanding of specific sustainability issues. The purpose of such research is to reveal the contribution of serious games as effective tools in facilitating sustainability education and to group them according to their nature and direction in relation to sustainability. Limitations in their effectiveness are also identified and a research agenda for new, relevant serious games is proposed that will enhance holistic knowledge and make it easier to clarify their pedagogical basis. The recipients of the findings will be all those future users and trainers who are interested in accessing sustainability education patterns through the use of serious games. This study will enable them to select the serious game that best serves their needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In the Turkish green building industry, firms need to do an industrial analysis as this market has an emerging nature and potentially unstable business environment. By performing such a strategic analysis, they may determine their own holistic sustainability approaches and thereby become long-lasting enterprises. Therefore, this paper presents a fuzzy model of the macro-environmental assessment (FMMA) in the green building industry in Turkey through PESTLE (political, economic, social, technical, legal, and environmental) framework. To achieve this objective, fuzzy synthetic evaluation was used in quantifying macro-environmental conditions (MECs). The required data for this analysis were obtained from professionals working in the national industry. To illustrate how FMMA works, the current case of the industry was presented. As a result, FMMA offers a comprehensive and practical tool. Given empirical findings, the effect of MECs on the industry was found to be medium-to-high. Also, technological factors were identified as the most effective group, followed by environmental, economic, legal, political, and social factors, respectively. Subsequent researches may examine other regions and industries by modifying the existing criteria and weights. Similarly, the green building industry may be investigated from the viewpoint of other parties in the market. Consequently, this study is first to offer a structured PESTLE quantification model and to evaluate MECs in this emerging industry. Highlights • This research presents a structured novel model for macro-environmental assessment. • To quantify the assessment, PESTLE and fuzzy synthetic evaluation were integrated. • As a case, macro-environmental conditions of green building industry were examined. • The effect of these conditions on the industry was calculated as medium-to-high. • Technological and environmental factors were found to be the most effective groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers and companies have presented a growing interest in eco-innovation. From an academic perspective, it is necessary to increase the number of studies performed in developing countries. Furthermore, the way in which a company can integrate innovation and sustainability into its industrial activities remains an open topic. In the ceramic tile industry, several environmental impacts can be generated throughout the production chain. This paper aims to identify how practices of eco-innovation have been implemented by ceramic tile producers of Santa Gertrudes, São Paulo State, and Criciúma, Santa Catarina State in Brazil, clusters that are responsible for approximately 80% of Brazilian production. The results show that most eco-innovations implemented are incremental and that process and product eco-innovations are consolidated in both clusters. This evidence shows that the clusters face unexplored opportunities for structuring organizational actions that may help companies organize their efforts towards sustainability. Another finding is that eco-innovation deployment in Brazilian ceramic clusters is mainly driven by specific legislation (e.g., particulate matter emissions) and market requirements (e.g., retailer audits). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research suggests that environmental benefits can be attained by changing the behavior of users and how they interact with products. The recognition that users play a fundamental role in generating more (or less) environmental impact during product usage has led to studies on design and how it can be used to influence user behavior. In this scenario, approaches and tools that explicitly focus on Design for Sustainable Behavior began to be developed. Conceptually, Design for Sustainable Behavior focuses on products and how these can be designed for users to behave more sustainably during their use. Different frameworks containing behavior changing strategies have been proposed in the literature. Based on the perception of twelve experts, this paper assesses these frameworks and identifies similarities and complementarities, aiming to unify vocabulary and methodologies to avoid unnecessary uncertainty and confusion. It also proposes a decision support diagram that relates the main contributions identified by the experts in the frameworks and adds questions to help designers define control. The diagram contains four phases: (i) user analysis; (ii) level of user or product control; (iii) strategy definition; and (iv) means to incorporate strategies to the product. Furthermore, considering the need to determine the usability of the proposed diagram, its use in practical cases within companies was assessed. In terms of future research, additional studies are suggested to confirm the relationships established between generic strategies (inform, guide, and ensure the change) and the specific strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, following an increasing demand from companies to understand and monitor the potential environmental impacts of their activities, from a life cycle perspective, organizational life cycle assessment has been introduced. Only a few instances of its application have been published in the literature, and they mainly focus on one single environmental aspect. The application of organizational life cycle assessment in the case of a special purpose entity, created to build a tourist village in Italy, is presented and discussed in this paper. Requirements of ISO/TS 14072 and the guidelines published by the UNEP were considered. To overcome the limits related to the goal and scope Definition that have emerged from the literature, the activity portfolio concept was introduced along with the control and influence approach, according to ISO 14001. Sensitivity analysis was performed in order to discuss different energy use profiles of the village and the application of control and influence approach to the special purpose entity. The environmental impacts were concentrated in the first two years because of the importance of executive design activities; this included the impacts of the use stage that are mostly influenced by the decisions of the organization. The construction activities also contributed significantly in most of the impact categories. Results of the study proved the applicability of the introduced methodological proposals to special purpose entities in the construction sector and that results of organizational life cycle assessment can be consistent with results of product-based life cycle assessment. The activity portfolio concept and the representation of control and influence were useful for understanding the environmental hotspots and the activities of the organization that needed improvement in order to minimize environmental impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need for circularity assessment tools to prevent undesirable effects (e.g. recycling processes requiring more energy) is gaining recognition. Preserving resources and relieving pollution reservoirs are both necessary conditions to achieve a sustainable circular economy (CE), and the corresponding assessment tools should be selected accordingly. We chose life cycle assessment (LCA) and the Material Circularity Indicator (MCI). In this paper, we tested the tools through two case studies from the tire industry. The Brazilian case proposes three scenarios to process used tires: baseline, retreading and regrooving. The European case suggests collecting secondary material from end-of-life (EoL) tires to produce recycled content (RC) at 4% and 10% rates. These rates were chosen to illustrate the change in tire performance in the use phase. We propose an approach to discuss MCI and LCA results that identifies four pathways toward or away from the CE goal: coupling, decoupling, trade-off on resources or trade-off on reservoirs. The case studies reveal that extending lifetime through retreading and introducing recycled material improves the MCI of a tire but do not necessarily improve impacts on human health and ecosystems. Also, discrepancies in the results between the MCI and the LCA's resource indicator highlight relevant issues for new CE experts seeking to design assessment tools. Even though LCA provides a broader scope than the MCI, it still reflects a relative contribution to environmental sustainability while the MCI focuses on micro-scale improvements in resource use efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Life cycle assessment (LCA) studies of lab-scale processes come with certain limitations as they are not reflecting e.g. higher efficiencies of large-scale production. To address this, we developed in an earlier manuscript a scale-up framework for chemical processes which is applied in this paper here. Following the framework's five-step procedure on the case of a new nanocellulose production pathway, a scaled-up LCA study for a future production of nanocellulose is performed. The comparison of these LCA results with competing and already commercially produced materials as well as with the lab-scale process demonstrates the usefulness of the whole scale-up procedure. The example shows that the environmental impact per kg of produced nanocellulose yarn can be lowered by a factor of up to 6.5 compared to the laboratory production, reflecting a projected impact that is closer to the values of an actual production plant in case the material will be commercialized. Our results got also better comparable to those of competing materials, showing values that are up to three times smaller than for carbon fibers. Looking into the process, the chosen example of nanocellulose shows a considerable change concerning the relative contributions of the various process steps. While in the lab scale, the enzymatic treatment step – which involved heating for an extended period – was the dominant contributor, this step proved to be negligible in terms of environmental impact at industrial-scale production given that a more efficient and well-insulated reactor is used. The identification of such changes is a major added value of the applied scale-up framework which cannot be achieved with scale-up procedures using a simple, global scaling factor. One of the main purposes of the whole scale-up at such an early stage is to give improvement recommendations. The framework can be considered as being an effective support for eco-design purposes, helping in identifying hotspots for process improvements. It gives a better understanding of the process and shows the practical scalability of the various steps. Overall, it can assist in steering the research of new chemicals and materials more towards an industrial application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many studies have been conducted on the fields of Building Information Modeling, Lean construction and Sustainability not only individually but also pairwise. Despite that, there are currently no researches that integrate these concepts collectively. The aim of this paper is to combine these technologies, methods and concepts to fill this gap targeting the Architecture, Engineering and Construction industry by proposing a way in which concepts could coexist and complement each other. To that end, a systematic literature review was conducted to understand how synergies between these fields have recently been explored by researchers. Results indicate synergies mainly on the construction stages but also on the project process specially during conceptual design decision making. The presented integration provides significant opportunities to reduce economic and environmental impacts and in the future may be responsible for a great leap in efficiency to one of the least efficient industries worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adoption of green design and technology in buildings, which can mitigate negative impacts on the environment, has been recognized as a key step towards global sustainable development. In addition to technology development, economic viability plays a pivotal role in stimulating the design, construction and use of green buildings. This paper provides a comprehensive review of recent studies on the economic viability of “going green”, including cost-benefit analyses from the perspective of building life cycle and from the perspective of major market participants. While “going green” is more likely to be seen as profitable from the building life cycle perspective, economic viability, from the perspective of developers and occupants, remains unclear due to information, behavior and policy factors. Such discrepancy in the results regarding economic viability is one major reason for the “paradox” of the very gradual diffusion of apparently cost-effective green buildings in most economies. We also propose several key topics that merit future research, including more comprehensive evidence about life-cycle costs and benefits of green buildings, the incorporation of ancillary long-term or intangible benefits in the analysis of economic viability for developers and occupants, an investigation on the dynamics of the adoption of green buildings, and institutional arrangements for stimulating green practices in the building sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at reformulating exergoeconomic and exergoenvironmental analyses using the emergy concept for a better understanding of the sustainable level of energy systems in the biophysical context. The proposed approaches substitute the solar emergy joule (sej) for the monetary term and the environmental impact score in the conventional exergoeconomic and exergoenvironmental analyses, respectively, to harmonize the dimension and scale of their outputs. This improves understanding and interpretations of the results obtained from these analyses. In both approaches, the emergy value is interfaced with exergy analysis in order to establish emergy-based exergoeconomic and exergoenvironmental balances for components of a given energy conversion system. The specific exergy costing (SPECO) methodology is then used to determine the solar emergy joule for each stream of the system. As a case study, a gas turbine-based cogeneration system is analyzed using the proposed methodologies. The results show that emergy-based exergoeconomic and exergoenvironmental analyses can be practical and powerful tools for appraising the long-term sustainability of energy systems compared with monetary- and life cycle assessment (LCA)-based exergetic approaches. Overall, the proposed emergy-based exergetic approaches are suggested as complements to available exergy-based techniques to help understand better and link thermodynamic, financial, and ecological aspects of energy systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the effects of incorporating slag waste (Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag; GGBS) as cement replacement in high early strength concrete. GGBS was used in various replacement ratios and resulting properties of the developed concretes were evaluated. Compressive strength, heat of hydration and shrinkage were determined for evaluating hydration attributes while chloride penetrability and carbonation resistance were investigated for studying the durability-related characteristics of the resulting concretes. The optimum ratio of GGBS as SCM has been determined, in this study, as 30% at which there is merely an average strength decline of 11% while reducing the total carbon dioxide emissions by 30%. Similarly, at this replacement level, the decreased chloride ion penetrability (15%) and higher carbonation resistance (3%) further encourage its use in precast concrete incorporating (HESC). Finally, the beneficial effects of using slag waste in concrete were quantified by determining associated CO 2 emissions. It is concluded that slag incorporation in concrete significantly reduces the CO 2 emissions, (up to 68%) depending on the cement replacement level, thus promoting green construction and sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the introduction of the non-financial reporting mandate for business entities by the Government of India's Ministry of Environment and Forests in 1993, the manufacturing landscape has changed. The regulatory framework for checking the environmental impacts of chemical based manufacturing plants has strengthened with much of activity reported in the past decade. A thorough study of published literature revealed that the various manufacturing steps in pharmaceutical units involve a wide variety of chemical syntheses. These processes are associated with large amounts of energy consumption causing high green-house gas (GHG) emissions and waste generation. The purpose of this review article is to discuss how the pharmaceutical companies are approaching sustainability while considering environmental aspects along with economic and social welfare of the society. Accordingly, a comparative analysis, through an exploratory study of the trends followed in India and in other countries has been reported. The underlying endeavor is to provide a better understanding of the sustainability trend in the Indian pharmaceutical manufacturing sector and where it is headed. Apart from the extensive review of technical literature published in journals, various reports published by profit and non-profit making organizations have been studied for the purpose of developing a better understanding about sustainability practices in the Indian context, supported by examples from around the world. In addition, the benefits of various methodologies to achieve sustainability in pharmaceutical organizations have been discussed. The authors hope that the paper will enhance the understanding regarding how pharmaceutical setups can achieve sustainability by adopting various practices, what are the various performance metrics available and how reporting sustainability brings transparency and efficiency in an organization. The authors propose for a further study on integration of various approaches adopted by Indian pharmaceutical organizations' global counterparts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International trade has accelerated the trend of globalization, giving consumers and countries the opportunity to reach new markets and products. However, it also brought negative externalities in the forms of pollution and environmental degradation. Plus, the large amounts of resource flows among different countries may aggravate resource depletion. Thus, it is necessary to uncover the embodied resource flows and corresponding environmental impacts so that sustainable trade policies can be raised. Under such a circumstance, this paper accounts environmental and resources footprints embodied in the China-EU trade for the year of 2008 by employing a multi-regional input-output model, including both the global and sectoral environmental and resource footprints which caused by the trade between China and the EU-27 countries. Research results show that from the global footprints perspective, the total environmental footprints of China and EU countries are 4.73 Gt and 4.53 Gt in 2008, respectively. The total resource footprints of China are 8.19E+07 TJ of energy, 0.66 Bha of land, 14.5 Gt of materials, and 1.47 Tm 3 of water, while such figures for EU countries are 1.17E+08 TJ of energy, 0.66 Bha of land, 12.1 Gt of materials, and 1.26 Tm 3 of water, respectively. The transfer trend of environmental and resources footprints between China and EU was also analyzed, indicating that EU countries caused 8.21 times of emission footprint than China's, and China provided 6.25 times of energy footprint, 16.76 times of land footprint, 12.26 times of material footprint, and 17.38 times of water footprint for EU countries' final consumption. In addition, the sectoral footprints between China and the five selected EU countries were analyzed. Finally, policy implications from environmental and resources management perspectives are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, the technical challenges for estimating closure time and cost are two significant parts of mine closure management. In this paper, a simulation-based framework is established to determine the probable open-pit mine closure times and mine closure costs. The model incorporates price uncertainty into the probable mine closure time. To estimate the closure cost more accurately, the Hutchison's technique is modified using the predefined mine closure times. This technique uses Monte Carlo simulation method and decision tree analysis to estimate mine closure cost in a probabilistic manner. The proposed framework is applied in a 2D hypothetical geological block model. The results show that the model works well and it can be used in real cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optical fibers have become the backbone of long distance telecommunications, thus, reducing the environmental impacts of its production process poses as a crucial step towards its sustainable deployment worldwide. This paper presents and discusses the Life Cycle Impact Assessment of the Modified Chemical Vapor Deposition (MCVD) vitreous optical fiber production process. The environmental impacts of 18 production scenarios were analyzed and compared using the Umberto NXT modeling software, generating cradle-to-gate results in accordance to the criteria of two Project Oriented Environmental Management indicators: IPCC 2007 Global Warming Potential and ReCiPe Hierarchical Average Environmental Impact. Two main results were achieved: (a) the carbon footprint of the MCVD production process (8.02 kgCO 2 eq per kilometer of optical fiber, business as usual) – which represents a novel contribution to this field of scientific research –, and (b) less environmentally impactful production alternatives – namely metallic, ceramic and chalcogenic raw material combinations, renewable energies and a different catalyst. Secondary results and analyses of the production process were also discussed in order to highlight the importance of decision-making in raw material and energy sourcing strategies as drivers to reduce the environmental impacts of vitreous optical fiber production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of bio-plastics significantly contributes to sustainable development in terms of the waste management aspects associated with lower environmental impact. To achieve the aim of this study the life cycle assessment (LCA) of garbage bags from cradle-to-grave is evaluated and compared. The materials to be studied in this paper are polyethylene (PE), biomass polyethylene from molasses (Bio-PE), and poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate)-starch blends (PBAT/starch). The functional unit defined for three types of garbage bags is 1 bag. The SimaPro LCA software 8.2.3 with the Eco-indicator 99 method for life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) is used to assess the environmental impacts. The normalized score from cradle-to-gate of almost all of the environmental impacts for the PE bag is lower than the scores for the Bio-PE and PBAT/starch bags, except for climate change and fossil fuels impacts, the Bio-PE and PBAT/starch bags have a small, normalized score for climate change impacts. The single score of PBAT/starch bags is 14.9% and 47.1% greater than the scores of PE and Bio-PE bags, respectively. The environmental impact performance from cradle-to-grave of the incineration of Bio-PE with energy recovery is better than the other options, in terms of fossil fuels. PBAT/starch bags also have the lowest normalized scores for climate change, and for respiratory inorganics impacts when the bags were composted. The single score values of the incineration of Bio-PE with energy recovery and PBAT/starch in composting are favourable for all of the options studied. The environmental impact reduction of bio-based bags could be achieved through low resource consumption techniques in the packaging and production stages, and through the ultimate utilization of Bio-PE as a waste-to-energy concept and PBAT/starch when converted to fertilizers for agricultural applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing water-use efficiency across all sectors has been set as a key target for sustainable water management within the framework of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Agriculture stands out as a key sector where opportunities for sustainable transformation arise, due to its dominant position in water use. The aim of this study is to propose a risk- and robustness-based multi-objective decision support model (RARB-MODSM) tool to help explore water-efficient agricultural development schemes and to enable inclusion of their associated environmental impacts into a stringent assessment of the risks. This tool allows for integration of economic growth and water use objectives with stringent pollution control requirements to help gain insights into the trade-offs between resource efficiency and environmental impact. This paper provides a case study of the application of this decision support tool in a prefectural-level city in China as an example of demonstrating how the tool could help reduce the water usage from the agricultural sector while enabling a higher economic productivity. The results show that expanding agricultural production in two regions of the city may help promote efficiency-oriented water management and improve the entire agricultural system's economic productivity. The results also indicate that this agricultural system is more sensitive to the control over phosphorus discharge and imposing more stringent total phosphorus (TP) control requirements within local agricultural system may help achieve better results on the system-wide pollution control. Overall, this tool demonstrates the applicability of using the systems analysis approach to help navigate the agricultural transition toward a water-efficient and low-impact growth path. [Display omitted] • This study proposes a novel decision support model tool to help reshape urban agricultural systems toward water efficiency. • This tool allows for integration of economic growth and water use objectives with stringent pollution control requirements. • This tool enables decision makers to gain insights into the trade-offs between resource efficiency and environmental impact. • This tool helps to explore viable paths forward for economic restructuring in urban agricultural systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The establishment of eco-industrial parks (EIPs) is an effective approach to developing industrial symbiosis in which plants of different entities could reduce waste production through co-sharing common utilities and/or resources, thus minimizing environmental impacts. Common resources such as heat and water are often the precursor of forming the symbiotic resource exchange network in an EIP. However, synthesizing the resource network in an EIP is a complex decision-making process involving the optimization of various design criteria by a group of decision-makers with different interests. Hence, this paper presents a multi-objective optimization approach that uses numerical representation to rank the preferences of each participating plant on the predefined criteria for building an EIP. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is a well-established decision-making technique for the analysis of complex decision problems. With its mathematical simplicity and flexibility, AHP can be integrated with different optimization techniques, such as mathematical programming. In this work, we develop an integrated AHP (IAHP) approach to the formation of an optimum resource network in an EIP. The optimization model is formulated to obtain a balanced solution that achieves the optimum design criteria defined by a given set of constraints. The design criteria considered in this work include economic performance, environmental impact, connectivity and network reliability. A case study on the synthesis of a chilled and cooling water network is used to illustrate the proposed methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a life cycle assessment (LCA) study of three nickel laterite processing technologies. The main goal was to quantify selected environmental impact categories and to compare and analyse each impact category for three different nickel feedstock for stainless steel production. The nickel laterite processing routes were (1) high pressure acid leaching (HPAL), (2) ferronickel, and (3) the newly developed Direct Nickel (DNi Process) that involves atmospheric leaching of nickel laterite using nitric acid. A cradle to gate approach was adopted. A functional unit of one tonne stainless steel was chosen. The scope covered was from laterite ore mining to final metal production. All inventory data was expressed in units per tonne nickel-based feedstock. The flow sheets for each technology were developed and the system boundaries were clearly defined. It was found that Ferronickel has the highest global warming potential and non-renewable energy scores whereas HPAL has the highest water depletion score. Overall, the DNi Process is found to be a more sustainable processing route as it produces less airborne emissions compared to the other two routes. Nitric acid is also less toxic compared to sulphuric acid used in HPAL. The DNi Process is also able to process different types of laterite ores (from limonitic to saprolitic ores) which is an important feature for future nickel production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Performance assessment of urban passenger transport is relevant since it causes economic, environmental and social impacts. Thus, this paper proposes a structured method to assess and evaluate the performance of passenger transport systems. Assuming that an eco-efficiency analysis is a step toward sustainability, we applied the method in a Brazilian case considering eco-efficiency measures, to show its potential as a tool to support decisions. We concluded that neither the most used alternative nor the one with the highest capacity attained the best eco-efficient performance, which can be explained by the low occupancy rates. Focusing on the latter, we propose some actions – based on the Brazilian and international literature – that can be implemented to improve its performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Triple Layered Business Model Canvas is a tool for exploring sustainability-oriented business model innovation. It extends the original business model canvas by adding two layers: an environmental layer based on a lifecycle perspective and a social layer based on a stakeholder perspective. When taken together, the three layers of the business model make more explicit how an organization generates multiple types of value – economic, environmental and social. Visually representing a business model through this canvas tool supports developing and communicating a more holistic and integrated view of a business model; which also supports creatively innovating towards more sustainable business models. This paper presents the triple layer business model canvas tool and describes its key features through a re-analysis of the Nestlé Nespresso business model. This new tool contributes to sustainable business model research by providing a design tool which structures sustainability issues in business model innovation. Also, it creates two new dynamics for analysis: horizontal coherence and vertical coherence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study presented in this paper uses a mathematical model to measure the degree in which a product will be perceived as environmentally friendly from its physical attributes. A model based on genetic algorithms and neural networks was developed to predict the judgement of the users about environmental friendliness of different tables. Opinions of real users about a large set of tables were used to train the model. The results of the study suggest that, using this procedure in advanced stages of product design process, designers can determine the set of product's physical attributes that best convey the idea of “environmentally sustainable” to the customer. The analysis of the obtained model allows establishing how different product's attributes influence users' perception. From these results, the utilization of users' affective response models to design the appearance of environmentally sustainable products is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study underscores the importance of environmental ethics as a vehicle for engaging society, businesses, and policy-makers towards mainstreaming transformation to sustainability. This reflects an innovative trend towards using narratives in social and management sciences, which needs to be replicated by other disciplines, organisations, agencies, and social groupings. In this paper, focus is on identifying storylines, phrases, myths, and local and indigenous knowledge systems of ethical and ecological significance. Using examples from written and unwritten narratives of Hausa – one of the widely spoken languages in sub-Saharan Africa, this study shines light on some key narratives relevant to present day critical environmental issues such as management of agricultural landscapes, municipal waste, ecosystem services, integrated natural resource management, and biodiversity loss. Environmental ethics drawn from the narratives provide an integrated platform where formal and informal institutions of sustainability can be strengthened, supporting transformation towards sustainability through enhancing ecological consciousness, skills, and attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industrial symbiosis (IS) has gained more attention in the production economics as the pressure on companies increases for the reduction of waste emissions and primary resources consumption. In fact, this has forced companies to provide other companies their wastes as primary resources and vice-versa. These supply circles lead to IS that can mitigate environmental impacts and costs in industrial areas (IA). The aim of this paper is to provide guidelines for the future evolution of IA operating on the basis of IS principles. Given a production network within an IA, perfect IS within the network is defined as a theoretical optimum for IS design where no primary resources is needed from outside and no wastes are discharged outside. Adopting an enterprise input–output approach, the conditions for a perfect IS are found for one-waste and multi-waste cases, and the distance between the states of the actual network and of the related perfect IS is measured. Proposed approach is empirically applied to Santa Croce sull’Arno industrial district of tannery where the recycling of chrome liquors, fleshing, and wastewater are investigated. Results show under which conditions perfect symbiosis is achievable for two waste types. Policy implications are also suggested for the design of IA when IS principles are adopted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable and responsible production and consumption are at the heart of sustainable development, explicitly mentioned as one of the sustainable development goals (SDG12). Life cycle assessment, with its integrated holistic approach, is considered a reference method for the assessment of the environmental impact of production and consumption. This paper presents a study on the environmental impacts of final consumption in Europe in five areas of consumption: food, mobility, housing, household goods, and appliances. Based on the selection of a set of representative products to meet food, mobility, housing, and other consumers' needs, environmental impacts of products are assessed over their full life cycle: from raw material extraction to production, distribution, use, and end-of-life phase. Life cycle inventories of representative products are multiplied by consumption statistics to assess the impact of an average European citizen in 2010 and 2015. Impacts are assessed considering the sixteen impact categories of the Environmental Footprint method. Results reveal that food is the most relevant area of consumption driving environmental impacts. Use phase is the most important life cycle stage for many impact categories, especially for the areas of consumption housing, mobility, and appliances. For the areas of consumption food and household goods, the most important life cycle phase is related to upstream processes, which corresponds to agricultural activities for food and manufacturing of products components for household goods. Apart from the results, the paper includes a detailed discussion on further methodological improvements and research needs to make use of the Consumer Footprint as an indicator for monitoring SDG 12 and for supporting sustainable production and consumption policies. Image 1 • A method for assessing the Consumer Footprint using life cycle assessment and covering 16 environmental impact categories is proposed. • Impacts of five areas of consumption are assessed: food, mobility, housing, household goods, and appliances. • The indicator allows for assessing impacts of changes in consumption over time. • Food is the area of consumption driving the overall impact for several impact categories. • The indicator may be useful to monitor the Sustainable Development Goal 12 (responsible production and consumption). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For all the evolutionary ages of mineral resource development, there have not been concerns about sustainable mining until the 21st century. Thus, this paper explores the extent to which emerging geospatial technologies have been deliberately used in the mining industry activities to achieve the United Nations Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. Governments, the mining industry, Non-Governmental and International Organisations have various investments in geospatial programmes and technologies for Environmental and Social Impact Assessments and baseline studies to enhance the achievement of these goals. However, these efforts prove inadequate to link the social, environmental and economic baseline analysis of sustainable development goals. The observations in this paper, therefore, have been obtained largely from extensive literature review to gain a broad understanding of previous and current applications of emerging technologies in the field. The literature has been explored in two successive steps. First, the literature was broadly queried to find the most current works on sustainable mining for three decades (i.e. 1990 to 2019). Second, out of over 100 papers, reports, and books retrieved in the first step, a more specific search and analysis of existing academic and industry literature on the explicit applications of emerging geospatial technology for enhancing sustainable development in the mining sector was conducted. In spite of its ensemble of capabilities for multivariate analysis, analysis of the literature reveals that there is inadequate adaptation of emerging geospatial technologies, which can simultaneously measure and link generally acceptable social, economic and environmental costs and benefits of mining for sustainability considerations in a local setting. There is a dearth of literature that discuss this new approach in addressing sustainable mining. Findings of this paper shall, therefore, inform the scientific community, industry, Non-Governmental Organisations and consultants on emerging approaches to address salient issues of sustainable mining towards meeting the agenda 2030 SDGs. • Lack of systems to concurrently measure the triple-bottom-line in sustainable development. • The triple bottom-line can be simultaneously measured with the evolving geospatial tools. • There is inadequate application of geospatial technology on a sustainable mining agenda. • No adequate efforts from governments, industry, NGOs and International Organisations. • Uncertainty remains in adapting geospatial technology solely for sustainable mining. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]