A holistic life cycle sustainability assessment for bioeconomy regions : linking regional assessments, stakeholders and global goal / Walther Zeug
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1908165235
URN
urn:nbn:de:gbv:3:2-1103349
DOI
ISBN
ISSN
Autorin / Autor
Beiträger
Erschienen
Leipzig : Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung GmbH - UFZ, 2024
Umfang
1 Online-Ressource (272 Seiten, 11,4 MB) : Diagramme
Ausgabevermerk
Sprache
eng
Anmerkungen
Universität Leipzig, Dissertation, 2024
Literaturverzeichnis: Seite 54-68
Date of conferral: Leipzig, June 12, 2024
Inhaltliche Zusammenfassung
Abstract: Since about 2015 the social, environmental and economic risks and chances of the bioeconomy and economy in general are becoming increasingly the subject of applied sustainability assessments. Under a bioeconomy, a variety of industrial metabolisms, strategies and visions on substituting fossil resources by renewables and hereto associated societal transformations is formulated, characterized as regional bioeconomy if most foreground activities take place in a specific region. Based on the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology, further social and economic LCA approaches were developed in previous research whereby life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) aims to combine or integrate the evaluation of social, environmental and economic effects. In this early stage of rudimentary and combinatory LCSA development, the research questions of this work are to develop a transdisciplinary framework for integrated LCSA for regional stakeholders to assess ecological, economic and social sustainability in one harmonized method, as well as to implement, apply and validate it by two regional case studies. Therefore, i) the understandings of sustainability and approaches of sustainability assessment in LCA are transdisciplinary reflected and developed, ii) a systemic framework of the important aspects of such assessments is structured by a series of stakeholder workshops, iii) the methods and indicators from existing LCA approaches as well as from bioeconomy monitoring systems are selected, identified and allocated to a sustainability concept of holistic and integrated LCSA (HILCSA), iv) databases for the life cycle inventory and methods for life cycle impact assessment are implemented in a software, as well as v) the model and method is applied and validated in two case studies on laminated veneer lumber production and production of biofuels in central Germany. Based on previous research, the dissertation provides a theoretically well based and practically applicable framework for integrated life cycle sustainability assessment, an applicable indicator set for regional (product & territorial) bioeconomy assessment, an integration of life cycle impact assessment methods as well as their comprehensive interpretation. Thereby, LCSA is able to identify the contribution of regional bioeconomy product systems to 14 out of 17 Sustainable Development Goals in terms of planetary boundaries, a sustainable economy and societal needs. The presented results on material and energetic use cases of biomass show that integrated assessments are able to deliver a broad and comprehensive analysis of impacts to identify synergies, trade-offs and hot spots of regional bioeconomy. Compared to existing LCA and LCSA methodologies, the added value of the HILCSA methodology is its integrated and holistic character, which [1] allows consistent and comparable data on social, ecological, and economic indicators, [2] identifies synergies and trade-offs between different aspects and SDGs, [3] traces down impacts to regions in the fore-and background systems, [4] as well as allocates and aggregates them to the SDGs to make complexity communicable. Additionally, HILCSA takes social sciences and political economy into account from beginning to interpretation and discussion of results, relating to social, environmental, and economic impacts not only to technologies but also to societal, economic, and political questions.
Schriftenreihe
UFZ-Dissertation ; 2024, 2 ppn:797799826