Clipping of news on Brazilian Culture, Law and Citizenship
07/17/2014
This article was translated by an automatic translation system, and was therefore not reviewed by people.
transparent image
When we talk about measuring sustainability, some questions come to mind of executives is exactly what we want to measure? With that "rule" or methodology must measure and evaluate sustainability? How to extract value from this information? For most managers, the ideal is that a study to measure and evaluate sustainability issues can help them increase sales, improve profit margins or, at worst, mitigate risk and prevent loss of market does not provide for customers with information on the environmental impacts of their products. In this sense, most studies conducted to help companies reduce their environmental impacts are carbon footprints, water and energy.
The tools whose methodologies are based on Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), provide more complete information, it is a technique that allows the quantification of environmental impacts of a product, system, or process throughout the cycle of "life" or is, from the beginning (for example, the extraction of raw materials) to the end of life (when the product no longer has use and is discarded as waste or is recycled), passing through all the intermediate steps (manufacturing, transportation and use). Therefore, this review is also called the "cradle to grave analysis" or "cradle to cradle".
According to the Brazilian Association of Life Cycle Analysis (ABCV), the number of experts in LCA in Brazil is still insufficient to meet the growing demand for studies. Experts like Dr. Kelly Alonso Costa (Universidade Federal Fluminense), in his thesis "The use of Life Cycle Assessment in decision-making in sustainability in the construction industry in the subsector of building process," "Brazilian academic papers involve various segments, such as chemical, petrochemical, construction, energy, automotive, agricultural, metallurgical and electronic.
Moreover, the exact data on the performance of studies in Brazil on LCA are uncertain, but according to the expert, in recent years 10 years were found, bench national and international databases, about 280 works including dissertations, theses and scientific papers published on the topic ACV. With the creation of entities and publication of standards, there is increased production in recent years and work for the consolidation of the Brazilian database.
Then it behooves companies to understand - and some have already done so as disclosed in Exame Sustainability Guide 2013 - the theme Eco-efficiency is increasingly strategic for organizations. Moreover, it may be more interesting to carry out studies that provide information beyond the emissions of greenhouse gases or just water footprint, as it allows the improvement of quality of management and operational efficiency. Tools that assess both the environmental, social and economic impacts are more advanced and complete, it can analyze more than a dozen categories, more than 50 different indicators and more than a hundred assessment factors.
Aspects such as human rights, energy consumption, land use, among other factors, are essential for a more consistent analysis. Scientific criteria are undergoing constant evolution and the biggest challenge for specialists in sustainability assessment has been to improve the quality of local databases. Entered the era of sustainable shared management, so the need to think and plan for sustainability from the perspective of the entire value chain. - Play free content since the credits Akatu and site www.akatu.org.br be published. Learn more at www.akatu.org.br / DireitosAutorais
Source: Akatu
Our news are taken in full from our partner sites. For this reason, we can not change their content even in cases of typos.
This article was translated by an automatic translation system, and was therefore not reviewed by people.