IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v9y2017i12p2332-d122954.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment for Sustainability Improvements: A Case Study of High-Density Polyethylene Production in Alberta, Canada

Author

Listed:
  • Marwa Hannouf

    (Faculty of Environmental Design, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, T2N 1N4 AB, Canada)

  • Getachew Assefa

    (Faculty of Environmental Design, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, T2N 1N4 AB, Canada)

Abstract

Life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) is a still relatively new technique. One of its main application challenges is interpreting the three dimensions of its results in combined fashion. This paper presents the first attempt at an integrated solution-oriented approach in the LCSA, while simultaneously interpreting the results of the three assessments in a combined fashion toward improving the sustainability performance of product systems. It is based on a case study of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) production in Alberta, Canada. The methodology is characterized by five steps: (1) goal and scope definition; (2) inventory analysis; (3) impact assessment; (4) interpretation where the results of the three tools of LCSA are presented and an integrated analysis of the sustainability results following the strong sustainability model and using the Driver–Pressure–State–Impact–Response (DPSIR) framework, is conducted to propose sustainability improvements for the case study product; (5) discussion and conclusion. The integrated approach developed was able to propose some sustainability improvement proposals along the life cycle of HDPE. Yet, challenges exist in interpreting the interrelationships between the three assessment results. Moving from comparative integrated assessment approach in LCSA to solution-oriented approach still faces challenges. This work highlighted some of the research tasks that need more focus from the LCSA community to demonstrate how LCSA can contribute to sustainable development by improving the sustainability performance of product systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Marwa Hannouf & Getachew Assefa, 2017. "Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment for Sustainability Improvements: A Case Study of High-Density Polyethylene Production in Alberta, Canada," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-17, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:12:p:2332-:d:122954
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/12/2332/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/12/2332/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eric Neumayer, 2013. "Weak versus Strong Sustainability," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14993, December.
    2. Matthias Finkbeiner & Erwin M. Schau & Annekatrin Lehmann & Marzia Traverso, 2010. "Towards Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 2(10), pages 1-14, October.
    3. Herman E. Daly, 2007. "Ecological Economics and Sustainable Development, Selected Essays of Herman Daly," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 12606, December.
    4. Eugen Nicolăescu & Cristina Alpopi & Constantin Zaharia, 2015. "Measuring Corporate Sustainability Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(1), pages 1-15, January.
    5. Marzia Traverso & Matthias Finkbeiner & Andreas Jørgensen & Laura Schneider, 2012. "Life Cycle Sustainability Dashboard," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 16(5), pages 680-688, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Christina Wulf & Jasmin Werker & Christopher Ball & Petra Zapp & Wilhelm Kuckshinrichs, 2019. "Review of Sustainability Assessment Approaches Based on Life Cycles," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-43, October.
    2. Marwa Hannouf & Getachew Assefa, 2018. "A Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment-Based Decision-Analysis Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-22, October.
    3. Fung, Yi-Ning & Chan, Hau-Ling & Choi, Tsan-Ming & Liu, Rong, 2021. "Sustainable product development processes in fashion: Supply chains structures and classifications," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 231(C).
    4. Ana Teresa Herrera-Reyes & Ignacio De los Ríos Carmenado & Jesús Martínez-Almela, 2018. "Project-Based Governance Framework for an Agri-Food Cooperative," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-23, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Marwa Hannouf & Getachew Assefa, 2018. "A Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment-Based Decision-Analysis Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-22, October.
    2. Alejandro Padilla‐Rivera & Marwa Hannouf & Getachew Assefa & Ian Gates, 2025. "Enhancing environmental, social, and governance, performance and reporting through integration of life cycle sustainability assessment framework," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(2), pages 2975-2995, April.
    3. Ruy de Castro Sobrosa Neto & Carlos Rogério Montenegro de Lima & Daniel Goulart Bazil & Manoela de Oliveira Veras & José Baltazar Salgueirinho Osório de Andrade Guerra, 2020. "Sustainable development and corporate financial performance: A study based on the Brazilian Corporate Sustainability Index (ISE)," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(4), pages 960-977, July.
    4. Rizal Taufiq Fauzi & Patrick Lavoie & Luca Sorelli & Mohammad Davoud Heidari & Ben Amor, 2019. "Exploring the Current Challenges and Opportunities of Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-17, January.
    5. Anna Luthin & Marzia Traverso & Robert H. Crawford, 2024. "Circular life cycle sustainability assessment: An integrated framework," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 28(1), pages 41-58, February.
    6. Kamali, Mohammad & Hewage, Kasun, 2016. "Life cycle performance of modular buildings: A critical review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1171-1183.
    7. Christina Wulf & Jasmin Werker & Christopher Ball & Petra Zapp & Wilhelm Kuckshinrichs, 2019. "Review of Sustainability Assessment Approaches Based on Life Cycles," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-43, October.
    8. Carlos Rogério Montenegro Lima & Samuel Borges Barbosa & Ruy Castro Sobrosa Neto & Daniel Goulart Bazil & José Baltazar Salgueirinho Osório Andrade Guerra, 2022. "Corporate financial performance: a study based on the Carbon Efficient Index (ICO2) of Brazil stock exchange," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 4323-4354, March.
    9. Oppon, Eunice & Koh, S.C. Lenny & Eufrasio, Rafael, 2024. "Sustainability performance of enhanced weathering across countries: A triple bottom line approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    10. Maha Faisal Alsayegh & Rashidah Abdul Rahman & Saeid Homayoun, 2020. "Corporate Economic, Environmental, and Social Sustainability Performance Transformation through ESG Disclosure," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-20, May.
    11. Rambaud, Alexandre & Richard, Jacques, 2015. "The “Triple Depreciation Line” instead of the “Triple Bottom Line”: Towards a genuine integrated reporting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 92-116.
    12. Hu, Jin-Li & Wang, Shih-Chuan & Yeh, Fang-Yu, 2006. "Total-factor water efficiency of regions in China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 217-230, December.
    13. Parul Bhyan & Bhavna Shrivastava & Nand Kumar, 2023. "Systematic literature review of life cycle sustainability assessment system for residential buildings: using bibliometric analysis 2000–2020," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(12), pages 13637-13665, December.
    14. Kronenberg, Tobias, 2010. "Finding common ground between ecological economics and post-Keynesian economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(7), pages 1488-1494, May.
    15. Mi Sook Lee, 2024. "The relationship between green innovation and sustainable growth in Korean companies: Moderated mediation effect of ESG score by industry," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(3), pages 2797-2810, June.
    16. Kristina Henzler & Stephanie D. Maier & Michael Jäger & Rafael Horn, 2020. "SDG-Based Sustainability Assessment Methodology for Innovations in the Field of Urban Surfaces," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-32, June.
    17. Weidner, Helmut, 2005. "Global equity versus public interest? The case of climate change policy in Germany," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Civil Society and Transnational Networks SP IV 2005-102, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    18. Datu Buyung Agusdinata & Wenjuan Liu & Sinta Sulistyo & Philippe LeBillon & Je'anne Wegner, 2023. "Evaluating sustainability impacts of critical mineral extractions: Integration of life cycle sustainability assessment and SDGs frameworks," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 27(3), pages 746-759, June.
    19. Gabriela Michalek & Reimund Schwarze, 2015. "Carbon leakage: pollution, trade or politics?," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 17(6), pages 1471-1492, December.
    20. Kwon, He-Boong & Lee, Jooh, 2019. "Exploring the differential impact of environmental sustainability, operational efficiency, and corporate reputation on market valuation in high-tech-oriented firms," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 1-14.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:12:p:2332-:d:122954. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.