| 1. |
- Lindén, Hanna, 1983, et al.
(författare)
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Product chain collaboration for sustainability – A business case for life cycle management
- 2019
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Ingår i: Business Strategy and the Environment. - : Wiley. - 1099-0836 .- 0964-4733. ; 28:8, s. 1619-1631
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Life cycle management (LCM) is frequently described as a holistic sustainability perspective along the product chain. It has mainly been a company internal practice, however, recent developments reveal a new type of LCM, where companies collaborate in product chain specific initiatives. This raises questions concerning why corporations extend corporate LCM towards product chain LCM. Here, we explore rationales and challenges for corporations engaging in one such coalition: The Sustainable Transport Initiative. The study covers five companies in different product chain positions and practitioners in different corporate functions. The results show a broad range of rationales for engaging in product chain LCM, related both to self-interest and a shared interest in the product chain. The importance of the ‘business case’ both for the individual companies, and the product chain, is identified. The importance of sustainability managers, as actors as facilitators in discussions in-between managers from different corporate functions is also identified.
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| 2. |
- Baumann, Henrikke, 1964, et al.
(författare)
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Switching the focus from product function to business profit: Introducing Business Model LCA (BM-LCA)
- 2022
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Ingår i: Proceedings of LCM 2021. - : EDP Sciences. ; 349
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Recent years have seen much interest in business models as vehicles towards sustainability, cf. [1]. Conventional LCA, however, fails to properly capture the environmental impacts of a business model. Here, we introduce the background and the principles of Business Model LCA, a new LCA methodology for the assessment of environmental performance of business models. Methodological innovations are based on an understanding of the difference and relatedness between product and business. The key innovation is that BM-LCA centres its analysis on the ’business model’ instead of the ’product function’ as in conventional LCA. This requires the functional unit to represent the business (e.g., as ‘profit per time unit’) and the need to couple the monetary flows of the business to the material and energy flows of the product system via a set of ’coupling’ equations. BM-LCA contributes to environmental business analysis and could open up a new avenue of research where LCA and business analysts collaborate on business model innovation for sustainability.
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| 3. |
- Otero, Juana Camacho, 1979, et al.
(författare)
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Unravelling the shrimp nets.
- 2016
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- 'Controversy mapping' can provide insights about issues related to actors, their networking, and governance where the interpretation of science is at stake. In turn, these insights can be useful for advocacy processes, collective problem-solving and decision-making. In order to explore the potential of controversy mapping, a case study was conducted for the North prawn (Pandalus borealis), which was the main subject of a controversy that started in 2014 on the West Coast of Sweden. A temporary stabilization in the controversy was reached in May 2016 when WWF endorsed the Marine Stewardship Council labeling for the also red-listed and red-lighted prawn. We used ‘controversy mapping’ from the scientific humanities, following the methodology suggested by Venturini (2010) and Latour (2012). The method allows to tracing of statements, literatures, and actors involved in a controversy. By assembling these elements, we described the process of the controversy and identify the networks that 'wrestled' over the scientific interpretation of the (same) data on population size for the Swedish West coast shrimp. Using network visualisation and analysis softwares, we map the extent of the actor networks in the controversy, and analyse the roles and influence of different actors. The material gathered was subsequently analysed through a life cycle lens in order to see how the controversy played out in the shrimp’s product chain organization. This shows advocacy actors seeking to enrol the consumption system in order to protect the shrimp, resulting in many reactions from production system actors. Based on the findings, we discuss implications for life cycle thinking and life cycle management of product chains. Among else, we suggest that controversy study can help product chain actors better understand their production and consumption system. This, in turn, may support shared conflict resolution and problem-solving, for example, in product chain roundtables.Latour, Bruno. “Mapping controversies: syllabus 2012 -13.” MediaLab. Science Po. Retrieved from www.medialab-dev.sciences-po.fr October 15, 2015.Venturini, Tommaso. “Diving in magma: How to explore controversies with actor-network theory.” Public understanding of science 19.3 (2010): 258-273
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Chakraborty, Anwesha, 1984, et al.
(författare)
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Science Communication and Social LCA: Can the twain meet? Initial findings from an Oatly study
- 2020
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Ingår i: Collection FruiTrop Thema Social LCA. - 2426-9654. ; 5, s. 206-209
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- This contribution aims to propose a possible integration of science communication debates, on deficit, dialogue and participation between different actors, experts and non-experts, in the study of social LCA. The purpose of such an integration stems from the understanding that through the product chain, there are a wide variety of actors that enable the material product to "flow" and that are working with scientific and sustainability-relevant information. This abstract first discusses the key arguments that evolved in science communication debates especially in the last decades leading up to the more recent deliberations on participation, and then proposes reasons why it could be worthwhile to combine these arguments in the growing literature on social LCA. It uses Oatly, the Swedish oat milk company, and the types of communication in its product chain, as the case study to argue the relevance of science communication scholarly frameworks in social LCA.
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| 6. |
- Boons, Frank, et al.
(författare)
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Comparing industrial symbiosis in Europe : towards a conceptual framework and research methodology
- 2015
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Ingår i: International perspectives on industrial ecology. - Cheltenham : Edward Elgar Publishing. - 9781781003565 - 9781781003572 ; , s. 69-88
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Industrial symbiosis (IS) continues to raise the interest of researchers and practitioners alike. Individual and haphazard attempts to increase linkages among co-located firms have been complemented by concerted efforts to stimulate the development of industrial regions with intensified resource exchanges that reduce environmental impact. Additionally, there are examples of both spontaneous and facilitated linkages between two or more firms involving flows of materials/energy waste. A striking feature of IS activities is that they are found across diverse social contexts and vary considerably in form (Lombardi et al., 2012); there are substantial differences in the ways in which IS manifests itself. Equally diverse are the activities of policy makers to stimulate such linkages. Such diversity can already be found within Europe, as became apparent in a first meeting among some of the present authors in 2009 (Isenmann and Chernykh, 2009). Researchers present there decided to create a network of European researchers on IS, with the explicit aim to develop a comparative analysis. We can thus provide insight to the relationship between the style of IS and its context and thereby the potential for policy makers in different contexts to learn from each other. Policy learning can be a tempting route to IS, but is fraught with difficulties if the influence of context is not appreciated (e.g., Wang et al., Chapter 6, this volume).
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
- Lindén, Hanna, 1983, et al.
(författare)
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Organizing sustainable product chains: LCM in practice
- 2013
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Ingår i: Presented at the 6th International Conference on Life Cycle Management (LCM) in Gothenburg, Sweden, August 25-28, 2013.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 9. |
- Afrane, George, et al.
(författare)
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A product chain organisation study of certified cocoa supply
- 2013
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Ingår i: 6th International Conference on Life Cycle Management, LCM2013, 25-28 August 2013,Göteborg.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Cocoa supplies may become limited in the future. Demands for sustainable cocoa sparked an exploration of the product chain organisation of conventional and certified cocoa from Ghana. The comparison shows that transparency requirements have led to a more complex product chain. Even so, certification has yielded important productivity increases resulting in environmental benefits (e.g. reduced greenhouse gas emissions) and improved livelihoods for smallholder farmers.
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| 10. |
- Lindkvist, Mathias, 1979, et al.
(författare)
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Complementing LCA with qualitative organisational study for improving waste management governance – illustrated by a comparative case on metal packaging
- 2016
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Ingår i: Life Cycle Assessment and Other Assessment Tools for Waste Management and Resource Optimization, Cetraro, Calabria, Italy, 5-10 June 2016.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- We here present a novel method that combines the life cycle approach with qualitative organisational study for environmentally effective waste management. While LCA is useful for producing a systems overview of the environmental performance, it does not provide further guidance on systems management since the actors and activities that uphold them are not systematically studied. The human dimension is particularly manifest in waste management where many types of actors (private, public, consumers, legislators, sector organisations) interact in complex ways.Our method, with which we study Product Chain Organisation (PCO), is designed to complement LCA. Descriptions and accounts of actors interacting and communicating in the product chain provide a basis for understanding how actions influence overall environmental performance. The method is thoroughly grounded in a socio-material approach well established in the social sciences and the humanities. The socio-material approach considers human organisation to be intimately entangled with material flows, machines, buildings, the environment, etc, and that they all influence each other.We illustrate our method through a comparative study of metal packaging flows in Sweden (SE) and the Netherlands (NL). We first created an overarching understanding of the organisation of different waste management options and their environmental performance. Several field research methods were employed (interviews, field visits, document studies). The empirical material was used to make descriptions of conditions and practices in the product chain in the respective countries. As both a result and a stepping-stone for further analysis and understanding, we produced an overview combining technical, environmental, and organisational aspects (simplified version in Figure 1). Next, we identified a number of situations where management has a significant influence on life cycle environmental performance, for example, where disagreement between public and private actors blocks change, and organisational sources to unreliable data and statistical methods. The study identified that data transparency is low for both countries, but for somewhat different reasons. Further study of organisational practices in the Swedish recycling system and data collection and statistical practices in the Dutch recycling system could be useful. This makes the statistics for SE and NL not readily comparable.mineral miningmetal productionpackaging production: SE & NL: Producers and importers of packaged products have considerable freedom for how to reach EU and national recycling targets. Fees are included in product prices to cover costs of recycling systems.filling, distribution & use: SE: 7 kg/cap (2011). NL: 12 kg/cap (2011).metal packaging waste collection: SE: Source separation. Organised and carried out by several organisations, with different organisation for household and business waste, respectively. NL: Metal separation from municipal incineration ashes for household waste; source separation for business waste. Nedvang, which represents all Dutch producers and importers of packaged products, oversees and organises packaging waste collection and recycling.recycling and other waste mgt: Recycling rates for SE & NL are not readily comparable owing to different methods and data choices. SE: 75% reported to be recycled, but monitoring is incomplete. Discussions to recover metal from incineration ashes have stalled. NL: 91% reported to be recycled. Recycling statistics by Nedvang; estimation methods change over time. Conflict about fees being siphoned to cover budget deficits.Figure 1: Simplified findings for metal packaging waste management in Sweden and the Netherlands.Our case study illustrates how the method by not being limited to LCA study can be used to produce a realistic understanding of even complex systems, such as waste management. It produces accounts that enable the understanding needed for informed action as well as identifies socio-material sources to data uncertainties that hide behind the figures in official statistics and sustainability reports.
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