“Hotspot Analysis” is recommended for the next stage. A reason for such a recommendation can be unclear or probably negative results during the Hotspot
Analysis to enhance the decision making. This might lead to the cancellation of
such projects if they are not sustainable. On the other hand, a hotspot analysis may
also reveal a potential unique selling point, which must be confirmed by a full LCA
prior to market launch.
Successfully applied to the innovation process, LCA approaches help to steer
towards given sustainability targets and can form a valuable basis for the companies’ sustainability strategy. Such methods enable an overall assessment and the
determination of the most significant processes and products for a successful
development. Examples for a successful implementation of such methodologies in
industry are the Sustainable Solution Steering
® by BASF [1, 2], the Sustainable
Portfolio Management by Solvay [3], the Company Footprint by P&G and I2P
3®
(Idea-to-People-Planet-Profit) by Evonik [4]. BASF assessed more than 65,000
product solutions to identify the most sustainable solutions and to promote those
“Accelerators” in the business. Evonik’s innovation unit, Creavis, manages its
portfolio using the Idea-to-People-Planet-Profit (I2P
3 ) process. Each strategic
research project is assessed on the basis of environmental influences (planet) and
societal aspects (people) as well as economic criteria (profit).
Solvay Sustainable Portfolio Management (SPM) tool enables a global and
systematic assessment of more than 80% of the business portfolio revenue every
year, a fact based and robust compass to steer Solvay’s portfolio toward better
business because it is more sustainable with 9% growth, year-to-year, for
Sustainable Solutions. Similar to the Solvay approach, P&G’s Company Footprint
identifies ‘Hotspots’ for the whole company by multiplying the life cycle impacts
(such as energy demand, CO 2 -emissions, water use or eutrophication) for a given
product category and a life cycle stage with the sales. The results are then used to
decide about the biggest opportunities for environmental improvement, and about
the key actors along the value chain who have the biggest impact on the
improvement, e.g. suppliers, production plants, transportation or consumers. This
knowledge can be used in general to steer the product portfolio of the entire
company. Since P&G found out that the biggest footprint is the energy used when
consumers heat the water for their laundry, they expanded and improved their cold
washing products. In the logic of this portfolio steering approach, a small change on
a mega brand or category can be overall more effective for the environment than
major design changes in small brands.
3 Challenges of Data Exchange in the Value Chain
To improve the quality of sustainability assessments and to close data gaps along
the value chain in situations where no industry averages from associations are
available an inter-company data exchange is needed. Thus, member companies
already started to collaborate on common LCA projects which involve exchange of
Life Cycle Management in Industry—Supporting Business …
355
Analysis to enhance the decision making. This might lead to the cancellation of
such projects if they are not sustainable. On the other hand, a hotspot analysis may
also reveal a potential unique selling point, which must be confirmed by a full LCA
prior to market launch.
Successfully applied to the innovation process, LCA approaches help to steer
towards given sustainability targets and can form a valuable basis for the companies’ sustainability strategy. Such methods enable an overall assessment and the
determination of the most significant processes and products for a successful
development. Examples for a successful implementation of such methodologies in
industry are the Sustainable Solution Steering
® by BASF [1, 2], the Sustainable
Portfolio Management by Solvay [3], the Company Footprint by P&G and I2P
3®
(Idea-to-People-Planet-Profit) by Evonik [4]. BASF assessed more than 65,000
product solutions to identify the most sustainable solutions and to promote those
“Accelerators” in the business. Evonik’s innovation unit, Creavis, manages its
portfolio using the Idea-to-People-Planet-Profit (I2P
3 ) process. Each strategic
research project is assessed on the basis of environmental influences (planet) and
societal aspects (people) as well as economic criteria (profit).
Solvay Sustainable Portfolio Management (SPM) tool enables a global and
systematic assessment of more than 80% of the business portfolio revenue every
year, a fact based and robust compass to steer Solvay’s portfolio toward better
business because it is more sustainable with 9% growth, year-to-year, for
Sustainable Solutions. Similar to the Solvay approach, P&G’s Company Footprint
identifies ‘Hotspots’ for the whole company by multiplying the life cycle impacts
(such as energy demand, CO 2 -emissions, water use or eutrophication) for a given
product category and a life cycle stage with the sales. The results are then used to
decide about the biggest opportunities for environmental improvement, and about
the key actors along the value chain who have the biggest impact on the
improvement, e.g. suppliers, production plants, transportation or consumers. This
knowledge can be used in general to steer the product portfolio of the entire
company. Since P&G found out that the biggest footprint is the energy used when
consumers heat the water for their laundry, they expanded and improved their cold
washing products. In the logic of this portfolio steering approach, a small change on
a mega brand or category can be overall more effective for the environment than
major design changes in small brands.
3 Challenges of Data Exchange in the Value Chain
To improve the quality of sustainability assessments and to close data gaps along
the value chain in situations where no industry averages from associations are
available an inter-company data exchange is needed. Thus, member companies
already started to collaborate on common LCA projects which involve exchange of
Life Cycle Management in Industry—Supporting Business …
355