An overview of sustainability assessment methodologies

THE NEED FOR QUALITY The first thing that we need to consider, in any organization, is that quality is the most important thing. The quality of your work defines you.  Whoever you are,  Whatever you do,  I can find the same products and services cheaper somewhere else. But your quality is your signature. Developing and delivering high quality products and services means that you are doing things correctly from the beginning. As a consequence, you are reducing the need for additional services, from verification to warranty.

Total quality management.

Since the end of the 1990s, sustainability reporting has become an increasingly relevant topic in business and academia. However, literature is still limited in quantity and no major reviews of the latest developments have thus far been presented. This paper provides a review of 178 articles dating from 1999 to 2011 from journals related to business, management, and accounting. Our aim is to identify what determinants of sustainability reporting are examined in the literature and to identify (in)consistencies, gaps, and opportunities for future research. We specifically illuminate factors influencing the adoption, the extent, and the quality of reporting. Based on our findings we provide an otherwise often missing link to theory (especially legitimacy, stakeholder, signaling, and institutional theory). Finally, possible future research themes are discussed by illuminating gaps and underexposed themes in the area of regulation and governance as well as reporting quality and stakeholder perception.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID2330264_code1468472.pdf?abstractid=2290524&mirid=4

Determinants of Sustainability Reporting: A Review of Results, Trends, Theory, and Opportunities in an Expanding Field of Research

Determinants of sustainability reporting: a review of results, trends, theory, and opportunities in an expanding field of research

The replacement of fossil resources that currently provide more than 90% of our energy needs and feedstocks of the chemical industry in combination with reduced emission of carbon dioxide is one of the most pressing challenges of mankind. Biomass as a globally available resource has been proposed as an alternative feedstock for production of basic building blocks, which could partially or even fully replace the currently utilized fossil-based ones in well-established chemical processes. The destruction of lignocellulosic feed followed by oxygen removal from its cellulose and hemicellulose content by catalytic processes results in the formation of initial platform chemicals (IPCs). However, their sustainable production strongly depends on the availability of resources, their efficient or even industrially viable conversion processes, and replenishment time of feedstocks. Herein, we overview recent advances and developments in catalytic transformations of the carbohydrate content of lignocellulosic biomass ...

Catalytic Conversion of Carbohydrates to Initial Platform Chemicals: Chemistry and Sustainability

The focus of the paper is on consideration of how to use indicators to monitor sustainable development in a relevant and useful manner. Integrated information on sustainable development of a company is very essential for decision-making since it is very difficult to evaluate the performance of the company on the ground of too many indicators. The objective of the work was to design a model for obtaining a composite sustainable development index (ICSD) in order to track integrated information on economic, environmental, and social performance of the company with time. Normalized indicators were associated into three sustainability sub-indices and finally composed into an overall indicator of a company performance. This was applied by determining the impact of individual indicator to the overall sustainability of a company using the concept of analytic hierarchy process. The demonstration of the model used data for a case study company, Henkel, and a set of sustainable development indicators that were classified using the currently most widely accepted approach of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). Case study was used to measure ICSD and sustainability sub-indices of the company over the time interval of 6 years. Interpretation of results is given and the utility of ICSD with its relevance for decision-making is pointed out. Using a case study, the paper demonAbbreviations: AHP, analytic hierarchy process; AIChE, American Institute of Chemical Engineers; COD, chemical oxygen demand; CWRT, Center for Waste Reduction Technologies; EMAS, eco-management and auditing scheme; EUR, euro; GRI, Global Reporting Initiative; IChemE, Institution of Chemical Engineers; ISO, International Organization for Standardization; SD, sustainable development; UP, unit of production; VOC, volatile organic compound; WBCSD, World Business Council for Sustainable Development; WCED, World Commission on Environment and Development

A model for integrated assessment of sustainable development

How to compare companies on relevant dimensions of sustainability

The main cause of environmental damage is unsustainable production and con­sumption, especially in industrialized countries. Achieving sustainable develop­ment will require changes in industrial processes, in the type and quantity of re­sources used, in the treatment of waste, in the control of emissions, and in the products produced. One of the difficulties in measuring the company’s level of sustainability is to determine which directions of change are leading towards sus­tainability. Hence, it is necessary to apply appropriate metrics that will enable these assessments. This paper presents indicators for assessing and promoting business sustainability — indicators of sustainable production. It first introduces the main concepts of such production and a set of necessary conditions that firms must fulfill in order to be sustainable. It identifies major functions of indicators and it proceeds to presenting the role of indicators.

Indicators of sustainable production

University ranking using research, educational and environmental indicators

The growing importance of sustainable development as a policy objective has initiated a debate about those suitable frameworks and tools useful for policy makers when making a sustainable decision. Composite indicators (CIs) aggregate multidimensional issues into one index, thus providing comprehensive information. However, it is frequently argued that CIs are too subjective, as their results undesirably depend on the normalization method, a specific weighting scheme, and the aggregation method of sub-indicators. This article applies different combinations of normalization, weighting, and aggregation methods for the assessment of an industrial case study, with the aim of determining the best scheme for constructing CIs. The applied methodology gradually aggregates sustainable development indicators into sustainability sub-indices and, finally, to a composite sustainability index. The normalization methods included in this analysis are: minimum–maximum, distance to a reference, and the percentages of annual differences over consecutive years. Equal weightings, the ‘benefit of the doubt’ approach, and budget allocation process were used for determining the weights of individual indicators and sustainability sub-indices. The linear, geometric, and non-compensatory multi-criteria approaches (NCMCs) were used as aggregation methods. The NCMC is modified to fit the two-level aggregation, then to sub-indices, and finally to a composite sustainable index. Also, a penalty criterion is introduced into the evaluation process with the aim of motivating the company to move towards sustainable development. The results are analyzed by variance-based sensitivity analysis. According to the results the recommended scheme for CIs’ construction is: distance to a reference–benefit of the doubt–linear aggregation.

Damjan Krajnc

Papers

A model for integrated assessment of sustainable development

How to compare companies on relevant dimensions of sustainability

Indicators of sustainable production

University ranking using research, educational and environmental indicators

Sustainability performance evaluation in industry by composite sustainability index