Benefits and challenges of streamlined life-cycle assessment for SMEs – findings from case studies on climate change impacts
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19499682 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Johanna Niemistö (0000-0002-2076-5241, Finnish Environment Institute, corresponding author), Tanja Myllyviita (0000-0002-1742-4438, Finnish Environment Institute), Jáchym Judl (0000-0001-7393-1883, Finnish Environment Institute), Anne Holma (Finnish Environment Institute), Susanna Sironen (0000-0002-1641-9303, Finnish Environment Institute), Tuomas Mattila (0000-0001-8396-4777, Finnish Environment Institute), Riina Antikainen (Finnish Environment Institute), P Leskinen (Bioeconomy Centre, European Forest Institute, Joensuu, Finland) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 26 |
| Issue | 7 |
| Pages | 625-634 |
| Publication date | 2019-10-03 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1350-4509 • E-ISSN: 1745-2627 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/13504509.2019.1646344 |
| OpenAlex | W2964537055 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 33 |
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have a substantial role in the economy and job creation, but they are a remarkable source of environmental impacts. SMEs often lack skills and resources to compile environmental impact assessments; Streamlined Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) can provide efficient tools for this. An application of streamlined LCA relying heavily on database data, LCA clinic, was developed and tested on 23 SMEs in Finland. The climate change impacts were mainly caused by the production of raw materials, electricity and heating, whereas packaging and transportation were not influential. A significant amount of emissions were indirect, i.e. caused by production of raw materials. Thus, decreasing emissions from raw material production or selecting raw materials with a smaller environmental load could be a more efficient way to decrease emissions than reducing direct emissions such as those from electricity use. Lack of data in the LCA-databases was considered a challenge. An access to regionally customised datasets is important for the implementation of LCA clinics. Company feedback indicated that LCA clinics were useful in climate-friendly product design and increased environmental awareness, but did not lead to immediate actions to reduce emissions because of inadequate investment capabilities. Company managers had limited possibilities to use the results in marketing as comparative assessments would require a full LCA. Many company managers were willing to pay a fee sufficient to cover the costs of an LCA clinic, but some considered that the costs should be covered by external funding sources
Business · Climate change · Economics · Electricity · Environmental economics · Environmental impact assessment · Environmental resource management · Greenhouse gas · Life-cycle assessment · Natural resource economics · Raw material · Engineering · Environmental Impact and Sustainability · Environmental Science · Environmental Sustainability in Business · Sustainable Supply Chain Management
Life cycle assessment
Recent developments in Life Cycle Assessment
Sustainability assessment tools – their comprehensiveness and utilisation in company-level sustainability assessments in Finland
Influence of Inventory Data Sets on Life‐Cycle Assessment Results
Environmental life-cycle comparisons of steel production and recycling
Drivers of changes in agricultural intensity in Europe
The applicability of non-local LCI data for LCA
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,5 |
| Citation span | 2020 - 2025 (6) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |