C2.1 / Design for Sustainability

Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) is a technique used to assess the environmental impacts associated with all of the stages of a product's life. generally, the product life cycle consists of five phases:

1. Raw Material Extraction

2. Manufacturing & Processing

3. Transportation

4. Usage & Retail

5. Waste Disposal

A life cycle analysis can identify the parts of the manufacturing and production process that can be adapted to be more sustainable and mitigate any waste from the process. This can be taken throughout the whole cycle and analysed to see how to ‘close the loop’.

Based on the stages you’re interested in or have data available on, you can choose to leave in or take out phases. There are usually 4 product life cycle models you can choose for your LCA.

• Cradle-to-grave - When you analyze a product’s impact along the 5 product lifecycle steps – this is called cradle-to-grave. Cradle being the inception of the product with the sourcing of the raw materials, grave being the disposal of the product. Transportation is mentioned as step 3, but can, in reality, occur in between all steps.

• Cradle-to-gate - Cradle-to-gate only assesses a product until it leaves the factory gates before it is transported to the consumer. This means cutting out the use and disposal phase. Cradle-to-gate analysis can significantly reduce the complexity of an LCA and thus create insights faster, especially about internal processes. Cradle-to-gate assessments are often used for environmental product declarations (EPD). EPDs are standardized certifications of a life cycle assessment, used mostly to verify impact data from business to business.

• Cradle-to-cradle - Cradle-to-cradle is a concept often referred to within the Circular Economy. It is a variation of cradle-to-grave, exchanging the waste stage with a recycling process that makes it reusable for another product, essentially “closing the loop”. This is why it is also referred to as closed-loop recycling.

• Gate-to-gate - Gate-to-gate is sometimes used in product life cycles with many value-adding processes in the middle.

• Well-To-Wheel - Well-to-wheel is used for the Life Cycle Assessment of transport fuels and vehicles. Because there are a lot of steps in between – the “Well-to-tank” and “Tank-to-wheels”, this approach is more precise in calculating and assigning greenhouse gas emissions and energy usage for the different stages.

• Environmental Impact Assessment - Environmental Impact Assessment is an analysis that is often conducted in the public sector, to look at the potential impact of a new construction project

Note that, besides defining the exact phase of the cycle the analysis applies to, you also need to determine what you are actually assessing. This could for instance be:

• Raw materials or resources (e.g. water or labour)

• Different types of energy (e.g. electricity)

• Emissions to air, land, or water by substance (e.g. CO2)

In addition to these general drivers, there are also a number of specific factors that are motivating the development and adoption of clean technology, such as:

• Government policies and regulations, such as carbon pricing, renewable energy targets, and fuel efficiency standards

• Corporate sustainability initiatives

• Consumer demand for sustainable products and services

• Technological advances

• The rising cost of fossil fuels and other traditional energy sources

• The increasing impacts of climate change and other environmental problems

The combination of these drivers is creating a strong and growing demand for clean technology around the world. Clean technology investment is increasing rapidly, and new clean tech companies are emerging all the time. This trend is expected to continue in the coming years as the world transitions to a more sustainable future.

The drivers for cleaning up manufacturing are all interconnected. For example, government regulation can be seen as a social driver, as it is a response to public pressure. Similarly, cost savings can be seen as an economic driver, but it can also be seen as a social driver, as it can lead to lower prices for consumers.

The people, social, or human capital bottom line pertains to fair and beneficial business practices toward labour and the community and region in which a corporation conducts its business. A TBL business would not use child labour (and monitor all contracted companies for child labour exploitation), would pay fair salaries to its workers, would maintain a safe work environment and tolerable working hours, and would not otherwise exploit a community or its labour force. A TBL business also typically seeks to "give back" by contributing to the strength and growth of its community with such things as health care and education. 

Measurable markers for the level of social sustainability could be:

• Unemployment rate.

• Female labour force participation rate.

• Median household income.

• Relative poverty.

• % of the population with higher education.

• Average commute time.

• Violent crime rate per capita.

• Life expectancy rate.

Environmental sustainability focuses on the viability and normal functioning of natural systems potentially affected by a business. A TBL business would ensure minimal impact on air and water quality, reduce its energy consumption to a minimum, use natural resources responsibly, manage hazardous waste carefully (and produce as little as possible) and use and cover land responsibly.

Measurable markers for the level of environmental sustainability could be:

• Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide concentrations

• Fossil fuel consumption

• Electrical consumption

In a sustainability framework, the profit needs to be seen as the real economic benefit enjoyed by the host society. It is the real economic impact the organization has on its economic environment, and not just the economic benefit to the company or organisation. This section is often confused to be limited to the internal profit made by a company or organization.

Economic progress is often evaluated in terms of wealth - measured in a society's ability to pay for goods and services consumed. Thus, many governments' economic policies typically seek to enhance income and induce more efficient production and consumption of goods and services.

“Trickle down economics” or “trickle down theory” is the economic political argument that the increases in wealth of the rich are good for the poor because some of the additional wealth will eventually trickle down to the middle class and poor. Does this fit within the TBL sustainable development theory?

Measurable markers for the level of economic sustainability could be:

• Distribution of income levels and purchasing power

• Growth of employment opportunities.

• Tax contributions.

• Competition levels.

• Contribution to GDP.