Demonstrate and Assess New Tools for Environmental Sustainability

DANTES

A demonstration project for sustainable development

Chalmers University of Technology Industrial Environmental Informatics Markus Erlandsson April 26, 2005 CILCA, San José, Costa Rica

DANTES Demonstrate and Assess New Tools for Environmental Sustainability

Content of this presentation

– IMI at Chalmers University of Technology – General information and goal on the DANTES project – Strategies aimed at different company functions – Tools and methods for environmental assessment and communication – Publications – Future

Demonstrate and Assess New Tools for Environmental Sustainability

Industrial Environmental Informatics - IMI

• IMI is a research department of Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden • Academic research, Develops and maintains information management systems for industrial environmental applications • Based on results from joint academic and industrial work since 1993.

Resumé includes joint projects with ABB, Bombardier, Electrolux, Ericsson, IKEA, SAAB, SCA, Stora Enso, Volvo, Vattenfall etc.

• Currently 7 personnel

DANTES Demonstrate and Assess New Tools for Environmental Sustainability

Project information

• Supported by the European Union (EU) LIFE Environment Programme • Period: • Partners: 2002 – 2005 (August 31) Akzo Nobel – Chemistry ABB – Heavy electrical equipment Stora Enso – Forestry pulp and paper Chalmers University of Technology - Industrial Environmental Informatics

DANTES Demonstrate and Assess New Tools for Environmental Sustainability

DANTES goals

•

Demonstrate

and

evaluate

environmental assessment and communication tools: − Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) − Life Cycle Costing (LCC) − Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA) − Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) − Environmental Performance Indicators (EPI) • Focus on –

practical

use of the tools within the participating companies –

apply

these tools for decision-making within different parts of the company

Demonstrate and Assess New Tools for Environmental Sustainability SUSTAINABILITY TOOLS

Economy

DANTES is a smorgasbord!

Life Cycle Cost

Environment

Environmental Management Systems Eco-efficiency evaluation Environmental Risk Assessment CO 2 emission trading Exposure scenarios Supplier evaluation LCA Key Performance Indicators Transportation and environment Environmental Product Declarations Sustainability information on the WEB Sustainability issues in R&D Energy efficiency

Engineering

Environmental education

Communication

DANTES Demonstrate and Assess New Tools for Environmental Sustainability

DANTES strategies

• DANTES

strategies

describe how and when to use different sustainability tools and methods in different functions within a company, focusing on: − Research & Development (R&D) − Marketing − Supply chain − Production − Environmental support

DANTES Demonstrate and Assess New Tools for Environmental Sustainability

Strategies – definition in context of DANTES

• By strategy we mean – A guideline on how the methods and tools described within DANTES, can be used to find requested information needed for environmentally related decisions, and how the resulting information is communicated to the decision-makers • A strategy describes how to handle environmental issues in a company and to reach the overall environmental goals within the company

Demonstrate and Assess New Tools for Environmental Sustainability STRATEGIES

Strategy – the journey from a question to an answer

?

Identify information required for decision Information for decision-making

Information requirements

Break down the information requirements into tools & methods

Tools & Methods Comprehensible information

Interpret the acquired information

Info

Basic information

www.dantes.info

– the DANTES project website

www.dantes.info

– the DANTES project website

• Each strategy is described in terms of

– Background – Working procedure – Experiences

Title

Example of a strategy on the DANTES website

Background • Purpose for using the strategy • Target group • Simplified description for the target group • Context

Example of a strategy on the DANTES website

Working procedure Step-by-step description Identification of used methods and tools

Example of a strategy on the DANTES website

Experiences • Success stories • Resources needed • Potential risks

DANTES Demonstrate and Assess New Tools for Environmental Sustainability

Strategies currently available on www.dantes.info

• Research & Development – Sustainability aspects in product development – Environmental aspects in a gate model for the chemical industry – Design for Environment • Marketing – Use of EPD in marketing – Use of sustainability tools to answer questions from customers – SPI in market communication – Marketing tools for products

DANTES Demonstrate and Assess New Tools for Environmental Sustainability

Strategies currently available on www.dantes.info

• Supply chain – Supply management – Analysis of the environmental impact from transportation – Use of EPIs in supply chain communication • Production – Implementing an Environmental Management System, EMS – Analyzing and reducing energy use – Greenhouse gas emission trading

DANTES Demonstrate and Assess New Tools for Environmental Sustainability

Strategies currently available on www.dantes.info

• Environmental support – How to perform an LCA – How to perform an EPD – Material declaration and recycling description – Handling and reporting environmental information – Policy controlled environmental management – Product stewardship implementation – How to perform application specific Environmental Risk Assessment, ERA

DANTES Demonstrate and Assess New Tools for Environmental Sustainability

Strategy – focus on the information need

• The DANTES strategies are focusing on the information need instead of on the tools • The strategies have not been developed within DANTES. They have been selected and the selection have been strategically compiled and demonstrated on the DANTES web page

DANTES Demonstrate and Assess New Tools for Environmental Sustainability

Tools and Methods

• Strategies describe an integrated usage of many tools and methods to find the requested information needed for decision-making • Require each tool and method to be described in terms of – Scope – Purpose for using the tool – Leverage effect (efficiency of effort > 1) • Each tool and method has been analysed and structured based on practical experiences and knowledge about environmental informatics

DANTES Demonstrate and Assess New Tools for Environmental Sustainability

Tools and Methods described in DANTES

• • • • •

Management tools

– Life Cycle Management – Product Stewardship – Environmental Management Systems

Assessment tools

– Life Cycle Assessment – Life Cycle Costing – Environmental Risk Assessment

Communication tools

– Environmental Product Declaration – Environmental Performance Indicator – Safety Data Sheets

Other info

– ISO standards, EU legislation, Conventions

Software

– Calculation and database tools

DANTES Demonstrate and Assess New Tools for Environmental Sustainability

Publications

• The DANTES website does also contain a lot of publication in terms of case studies, reports, description of methods, surveys • Example of reports: – LCA studies performed by the ABB and Akzo Nobel – EPDs performed by the ABB – ERA studies performed by the Akzo Nobel – Documentation of methods, tools, and guidelines provided by Chalmers, IMI

DANTES Demonstrate and Assess New Tools for Environmental Sustainability

Future • After the end of the DANTES project the web site

www.dantes.info

will be maintained and updated of CPM

DANTES Demonstrate and Assess New Tools for Environmental Sustainability

More information

www.dantes.info

- the official DANTES website