332
future worth choosing’ (UN 2012 ). The Panel’s list of sustainability actions to be
implemented consists of: eradicating poverty; reducing inequality and making
growth inclusive; making production and consumption more sustainable, combating climate change and respecting a range of other planetary boundaries; enabling
consumers to make sustainable choices and to advance responsible behaviour individually and collectively; managing resources and enabling a twenty-fi rst century
green revolution in the fi elds of agriculture, energy and technology. Among these
challenges, the automotive industry can play a meaningful role along its whole supply chain in the achievement of more sustainable production and consumption. In
the past, the main focus was placed on the environmental performance of the vehicle with particular attention to the use phase. In recent years, thanks to the media
and non-governmental organizations, the interest in the social and working conditions of employees and the social impact on the local communities has been
increasing.
According to several scientifi c references the assessment of sustainability performance of a product can be obtained with the life cycle sustainability assessment
(LCSA) as defi ned in (Finkbeiner et al. 2010 ; Klöpffer 2008 ; UNEP/SETAC 2012 ):
LCSA LCA LCC SLCA
( 24.1 )
This formal equation means that to assess the sustainability performance of the
product, we need to consider jointly the life cycle assessment (LCA) (ISO 2006),
the life cycle costing (LCC) (Schmidt 2003 ) and the social life cycle assessment
(SLCA) (UNEP/SETAC 2009 ) within the same or equivalent system boundary and
related to the same functional unit of the considered product.
If the formal defi nition of this method has found the agreement of the scientifi c
community, its implementation still presents a lot of challenges. These challenges
are particularly signifi cant in the automotive sector where the product has a long and
complex life cycle and most of the experience has been matured for the assessment
of the environmental performances.
If we are looking at the life cycle of a conventional vehicle and its relative environmental impacts, the use phase still constitutes the major portion (Fig. 24.1 ). It
plays a meaningful role in the energy consumption and it has a direct economic
impact on the customer. With the past increase of crude oil prices, and the introduction of emission limits for the vehicles, the interest for less consuming and more
effi cient cars has led most automotive companies to reduce the cars’ weight by
choosing lighter materials and to improve their effi ciency in the use phase.
An example of a strategy to reach this target is the Effi cient Dynamics strategy
developed and adopted by BMW Group. This includes improving the aerodynamics
of the vehicles, choosing lighter materials for reducing the tailpipe emissions and
fuel consumption, and introducing functions such as auto start/stop, air vent control
and brake energy regeneration (BMW Group 2010 ). Focusing the attention only on
the use phase has resulted in the reduction of the environmental impact this step of
the life cycle, but it does not necessarily improve the overall environmental
performance of the car. Indeed, when we introduce more light-materials, components
M. Traverso et al.
future worth choosing’ (UN 2012 ). The Panel’s list of sustainability actions to be
implemented consists of: eradicating poverty; reducing inequality and making
growth inclusive; making production and consumption more sustainable, combating climate change and respecting a range of other planetary boundaries; enabling
consumers to make sustainable choices and to advance responsible behaviour individually and collectively; managing resources and enabling a twenty-fi rst century
green revolution in the fi elds of agriculture, energy and technology. Among these
challenges, the automotive industry can play a meaningful role along its whole supply chain in the achievement of more sustainable production and consumption. In
the past, the main focus was placed on the environmental performance of the vehicle with particular attention to the use phase. In recent years, thanks to the media
and non-governmental organizations, the interest in the social and working conditions of employees and the social impact on the local communities has been
increasing.
According to several scientifi c references the assessment of sustainability performance of a product can be obtained with the life cycle sustainability assessment
(LCSA) as defi ned in (Finkbeiner et al. 2010 ; Klöpffer 2008 ; UNEP/SETAC 2012 ):
LCSA LCA LCC SLCA
( 24.1 )
This formal equation means that to assess the sustainability performance of the
product, we need to consider jointly the life cycle assessment (LCA) (ISO 2006),
the life cycle costing (LCC) (Schmidt 2003 ) and the social life cycle assessment
(SLCA) (UNEP/SETAC 2009 ) within the same or equivalent system boundary and
related to the same functional unit of the considered product.
If the formal defi nition of this method has found the agreement of the scientifi c
community, its implementation still presents a lot of challenges. These challenges
are particularly signifi cant in the automotive sector where the product has a long and
complex life cycle and most of the experience has been matured for the assessment
of the environmental performances.
If we are looking at the life cycle of a conventional vehicle and its relative environmental impacts, the use phase still constitutes the major portion (Fig. 24.1 ). It
plays a meaningful role in the energy consumption and it has a direct economic
impact on the customer. With the past increase of crude oil prices, and the introduction of emission limits for the vehicles, the interest for less consuming and more
effi cient cars has led most automotive companies to reduce the cars’ weight by
choosing lighter materials and to improve their effi ciency in the use phase.
An example of a strategy to reach this target is the Effi cient Dynamics strategy
developed and adopted by BMW Group. This includes improving the aerodynamics
of the vehicles, choosing lighter materials for reducing the tailpipe emissions and
fuel consumption, and introducing functions such as auto start/stop, air vent control
and brake energy regeneration (BMW Group 2010 ). Focusing the attention only on
the use phase has resulted in the reduction of the environmental impact this step of
the life cycle, but it does not necessarily improve the overall environmental
performance of the car. Indeed, when we introduce more light-materials, components
M. Traverso et al.