| 1. |
- 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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| 2. |
- Böckin, Daniel, 1989, et al.
(författare)
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Business model life cycle assessment: A method for analysing the environmental performance of business
- 2022
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Ingår i: Sustainable Production and Consumption. - : Elsevier. - 2352-5509. ; 32, s. 112-124
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper introduces business model life cycle assessment (BM-LCA), a new method for quantifying the environmental impacts of business models. Such a method is needed to guide business decisions towards decoupling economic activity from environmental impact. BM-LCA takes the business model itself as the unit of analysis and its economic performance as the basis of comparison. It can be applied to any type of business model involving material or resource use. In BM-LCA, monetary flows are coupled to material and energy flows. The methodology expands on conventional life cycle assessment (LCA) by elaborating the goal and scope definition and dividing it into two phases. The first descriptive phase details the business models to be compared. It includes a mapping of product chain actors and identifying business operations and transactions related to the product. The second coupling phase defines a profit-based functional unit and sets up the coupling equations expressing the economic relations to the product. Thereafter, conventional LCA procedures are followed to assess environmental impacts. The key innovation on LCA methodology is the development of a functional unit that captures the economic performance of a business model and links it to a product system. BM-LCA provides thus an important link between LCA and business competitive advantage.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Böckin, Daniel, 1989, et al.
(författare)
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Environmental assessment of two business models - a life cycle comparison between a sales and a rental business model in the apparel sector in Sweden
- 2020
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This report presents and applies a new method for environmentally assessing business models from a life cycle perspective. The method is meant to be useful for companies to guide their business decisions toward decoupling of economic activity from environmental impact. The basis of the method is an integrated economic and environmental perspective and a functional unit based on profit is employed, after which Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology is carried out. This Business Model LCA is applied on a Swedish company and their current business model (sales) compared to an alternative business model (rental). Jackets are chosen as the products to represent the business of the company. Results indicate that a company can achieve more decoupling by renting jackets instead of selling them, although the results are sensitive to some economic parameters (like rental efficiency and rental price) and to customer habits, which can significantly compromise the overall performance of the rental model. The central feature of the developed method is that, by coupling the economic and physical flows of a business model, it allows a company to directly see the impact of business decisions on their environmental performance and plan their activities accordingly.
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| 5. |
- Goffetti, Giulia, et al.
(författare)
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Measuring the immeasurable: The contribution of social sciences to the assessment of social impacts in a life cycle perspective
- 2020
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Ingår i: Collection FruiTrop Thema Social LCA. - 2426-9654. ; 5, s. 202-205
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The UNEP/SETAC guidelines encourage researches in order to overcome some methodological issues related to Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA). Possible problems regard the operationalization and measurement of social indicators usually based on the corporate social responsibility structure and on political standards and conventions. To face these issues, possible contributes may come from the adoption of a theoretical and methodological pluralism approach based on social sciences. The aim of this study is to investigate on how social sciences may orient SLCA practitioners towards the development of new indicators related to human well-being. Focusing on social sciences, a literature review will be performed in order to see how human well-being is defined according to the several disciplines and what may be its possible indicators. Expected results regard a deeper knowledge of social realities and an increased awareness of how social sciences could contribute to develop the SLCA.
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| 6. |
- Goffetti, Giulia, et al.
(författare)
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On the introduction of a community resilience framework to Social Life Cycle Assessment
- 2020
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Ingår i: Collection FruiTrop thema Social LCA. - 2426-9654. ; 5, s. 172-174
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- SLCA according to the UNEP/SETAC guidelines attempt to measure the social impacts of a product or policy with human well-being as endpoint indicator. However, the methodological sheets do not provide clear and unambiguous definition of what human well-being is and are lacking with regard to a weak capacity to identify reliable indicators to include in both Type I and Type 2 impact assessment. The aim of this article is to explore the chance to introduce ‘community resilience’ (e.g. Magis 2013) as new topic for assessment in the SLCA, compared to human well-being (Soltanpour et al., 2019). The concept of community resilience is investigated via literature to understand how it can be related to ‘human well-being’ expressed in the guidelines and how it can be operationalized for impact assessment. Results will show the possibility of community resilience assessment in SLCA for both Type I and Type 2 assessment.
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| 7. |
- Goffetti, Giulia, et al.
(författare)
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Towards sustainable business models with a novel life cycle assessment method
- 2022
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Ingår i: Business Strategy and the Environment. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 0964-4733 .- 1099-0836. ; 31:5, s. 2019-2035
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Business model (BM) innovation for sustainability is hampered by a lack of tools for environmental assessment and guidance at the BM level. Conventional life cycle assessment (LCA) neglects the economic and socio-technical mechanisms within a BM, and tools based on the BM canvas (BMC) cannot provide recommendations substantiated by environmental data. Here, a new method, BM-LCA, is applied to a case comparing the selling and renting of jackets, using profit as basis of comparison. Results identify how business parameters influence environmental performance, permitting analysis for decoupling within a business practice. This is made possible by the unique way the method links physical life cycle and the monetary flows of a BM. Usefulness of BM-LCA is discussed relative to BM innovation, business strategy and similar tools. BM-LCA provides insights into a broad range of BM elements and emerges as useful for business strategy. By measuring BM environmental performance, it helps determine what BM to compete with and support critical analysis of business against greenwashing. BM-LCA also enables identification of BM elements in greatest need of environmental innovation. BM-LCA appears as a promising tool for guiding business companies towards sustainability, filling a space between LCA and BMC. The method offers a practical way for business and LCA experts to merge their respective knowledge.
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