Life Cycle Assessment Framework: Incorporating an
extended environmental perspective in the Haldex
Project Management Model
How companies may prepare themselves to become more environmentally friendly
It is not only the climate that is getting hotter. In a relative short span of time, environmental sustainability has become an urgent topic on several levels. In short, companies quickly have to react, as an ever-increasing number of demands, related to companies’ environmental impacts, are about to make business as usual impossible. A popular and by many companies useful method of dealing with the increased concern of environmental issues is to conduct so called life cycle assessments.
For the past few decades, and now more than ever, experts have agreed that
environmental issues will become increasingly important, on a societal level, on an everyday level, and on a company level. Trends regarding sustainable development include a growing number of laws and regulations, customers’ increased
requirements, a call for more corporate social responsibility work, the upheld of a strong brand and image, as well as a protection from environmentally related costs, both directly and indirectly. As of 2015, these trends only look to become more significant and essentially, they are making it very hard for companies to go on with their businesses as usual.
A popular and by many companies useful method of dealing with the increased concern of environmental issues is to conduct life cycle assessments. A life cycle assessment analyzes a product’s total environmental impact on the environment during its life cycle, i.e. from raw material extraction to an end of life-stage. By conducting such studies, companies show that they care and systematically work at possibly reducing environmental impacts associated with themselves and their products. After all, what gets measured gets managed and by examining an activity and produce measurements about it, it gives the company a handle on the activity and a way to improve it, as well as a method for the company to show that they care for the environment. And caring for the environment has fast become a necessity, as a larger number of laws and regulations but also customer requirements, have made it costly for companies not to take action.
Haldex, operating in the global commercial vehicle industry, is one of these
companies looking to start working with life cycle assessment tools, in order to meet the current and future requirements regarding environmental work. The thesis “Life Cycle Assessment Framework: Incorporating an extended environmental perspective in the Haldex Project Management Model” takes a look at what types of life cycle assessment tools are available to use at this company, but the suggested tools are really applicable and useful for any company working in today’s business climate. For a company who wants to use the evaluation for extra decision support during
development of new products, the two most interesting tools are in the thesis mentioned as:
• A not fully quantitative Design for Environment matrix. • A fully quantitative Carbon Footprint analysis.
The final suggested life cycle assessment framework, including the aforementioned tools, allows for progress over time, and may function as a gateway for companies to start using life cycle assessment tools. This report specifically recommends first using qualitative or semi-quantitative tools like Design for Environment matrices or a so called MET matrix to accumulate knowledge and build routines, before conducting fully quantitative analyses, such as a carbon footprint, on a regular basis. That is because the latter type of tool is more resource demanding yet could eventually also prove to be more reliable.
Both a Design for Environment matrix and a carbon footprint analysis are possible to use already in the product development stage and the plan is that these tools should help Haldex and other companies to make better and more informed decisions. The above-mentioned tools, even the carbon footprint analysis, are in the thesis looked at specifically from the perspective of being gateway-methods, or in other words tools of a simple nature, which are suitable for a company to use when not really familiar with large life cycle assessments, and by doing so they can gradually accumulate
environmental knowledge and eventually move on to more complex tools. The author of the thesis conducted an extensive preliminary study were several different kinds of life cycle assessment tools were studied, and later held a screening where said tools were targeted against predetermined criteria, so to make sure the suggested tools suited the previously mentioned gateway framework with tools of a more simple nature.
Now is the time
Incorporating such life cycle assessment tools in a company’s project model show they are recognizing environmental impacts associated with themselves and their products which in turn could have several positive meanings for the company, such as a stronger brand image, customer loyalty, increased material efficiency, and a
possible avoidance of environmentally related costs. Additionally, the threshold of working with environmental management and measurements is likely only going to become more difficult and expensive to step, as the trends for a sustainable
development are becoming more vital by each passing year. If a systematic environmental management with regularly used assessment tools is a competitive advantage today, it could prove to be a necessity tomorrow.
As today’s business climate makes it complicated for companies to entirely ignore being environmentally conscious, more companies are likely to follow Haldex lead, possibly by using similar tools to measure their product’s environmental impacts. One thing is for sure, the more us customers talk about it - and we will - the more costly it is going to become for companies to not ask themselves: And what do we do with the
Original title of master’s thesis: Life Cycle Assessment Framework: Incorporating
an extended environmental perspective in the Haldex Project Management Model.