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Obviously defi nitions vary depending on stakeholders who use or promote it. For
this paper, the authors refer to the defi nition by Balkau and Sonnemann ( 2010 ) who
see LCM “as an umbrella framework for combining and applying other management instruments in a more holistic life chain perspective”.
They offer a classifi cation of LCM approaches into three broad categories:
(1) Organization of a holistic form of sustainability management within individual
companies using, for example, supply-chain management and product design
(Five Winds International 2009)
(2) Government life-cycle policies and regulations to address system dysfunctions
or to deal with certain product issues such as chemical contamination.
(3) Multi-stakeholder voluntary codes to manage sustainability issues for selected
commodity materials and products.
Nilsson-Linden et al. ( 2014 ) provide an interesting view into the theoretical
aspects of LCM and LCM in practice. For them “the review of the LCM literature
indicates that it provides many normative prescriptions of what LCM is, including
what tools, methods, and approaches to use”. But they also tell us that in fact this
literature indicates in fact what ought to be considered, but without providing compelling descriptions and analysis of the diffi culties involved in organising LCM in
practice. This is a common critique about the state of development of LCM.
However, the authors consider LCM as the most appropriate framework to integrate and organize adequately the large tool box that was developed piece by piece
without a pre-existing integrating framework to contribute to CSR and sustainable
development in a coherent and consistent manner.
Taking up social responsibility is much more than caring for the environment. At
least six other core subjects such as human rights, labour practices, etc. are important as well. Therefore, it is fair to state that CSR should be framed within the
broader context of sustainable development. Furthermore, the social responsibility
is not limited to the management of the facility or plant of an enterprise; “due diligence” should be exercised all along the value chain. In other words, if it is not part
of the corporate strategy, an enterprise may be considered complicit because it does
not cope with the broad societal expectations of behaviour. But due diligence is a
process and it needs frameworks and tools.
Our pieces come together here. CSR through ISO 26000 and through its links
with sustainable development calls the organization to consider upstream and downstream of its activities and to look for aspects that were not even monitored recently
by traditional organisations. One needs for that a perspective that is multidimensional and along the life cycle of a product or service: this is called life cycle
thinking.
Life cycle sustainability assessment, taking into account the three dimensions of
sustainable development, and using a toolbox of different techniques, will provide
the enterprise with the analysis and the evaluation of the impacts along the value
chain. It forms in its turn an input for life cycle management.
5 Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment: A Tool for Exercising Due Diligence…
Obviously defi nitions vary depending on stakeholders who use or promote it. For
this paper, the authors refer to the defi nition by Balkau and Sonnemann ( 2010 ) who
see LCM “as an umbrella framework for combining and applying other management instruments in a more holistic life chain perspective”.
They offer a classifi cation of LCM approaches into three broad categories:
(1) Organization of a holistic form of sustainability management within individual
companies using, for example, supply-chain management and product design
(Five Winds International 2009)
(2) Government life-cycle policies and regulations to address system dysfunctions
or to deal with certain product issues such as chemical contamination.
(3) Multi-stakeholder voluntary codes to manage sustainability issues for selected
commodity materials and products.
Nilsson-Linden et al. ( 2014 ) provide an interesting view into the theoretical
aspects of LCM and LCM in practice. For them “the review of the LCM literature
indicates that it provides many normative prescriptions of what LCM is, including
what tools, methods, and approaches to use”. But they also tell us that in fact this
literature indicates in fact what ought to be considered, but without providing compelling descriptions and analysis of the diffi culties involved in organising LCM in
practice. This is a common critique about the state of development of LCM.
However, the authors consider LCM as the most appropriate framework to integrate and organize adequately the large tool box that was developed piece by piece
without a pre-existing integrating framework to contribute to CSR and sustainable
development in a coherent and consistent manner.
Taking up social responsibility is much more than caring for the environment. At
least six other core subjects such as human rights, labour practices, etc. are important as well. Therefore, it is fair to state that CSR should be framed within the
broader context of sustainable development. Furthermore, the social responsibility
is not limited to the management of the facility or plant of an enterprise; “due diligence” should be exercised all along the value chain. In other words, if it is not part
of the corporate strategy, an enterprise may be considered complicit because it does
not cope with the broad societal expectations of behaviour. But due diligence is a
process and it needs frameworks and tools.
Our pieces come together here. CSR through ISO 26000 and through its links
with sustainable development calls the organization to consider upstream and downstream of its activities and to look for aspects that were not even monitored recently
by traditional organisations. One needs for that a perspective that is multidimensional and along the life cycle of a product or service: this is called life cycle
thinking.
Life cycle sustainability assessment, taking into account the three dimensions of
sustainable development, and using a toolbox of different techniques, will provide
the enterprise with the analysis and the evaluation of the impacts along the value
chain. It forms in its turn an input for life cycle management.
5 Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment: A Tool for Exercising Due Diligence…