Centro Studi Qualità Ambiente (Research Centre on Quality and Environment)

Dept. Of Industrial EngineeringUniversity of Padova+39 049 8275539 | www.cesqa.it | cesqa@unipd.it

Eng. Alessandro Manzardo| alessandro.manzardo@unipd.it

Corporate Responsibility through standards:

London, 20/03/2012

social and environmental dimensions

CESQA 2

Menu of the Day

• Introduction

• Main environmental concerns and sustainability

• Ethics of standard: principles of ISO 26000

• Life Cycle Thinking approach to support sustainable decisions

• Case Study and class excercise: Which packaging would you choose to contain 1 litre of milk?

CESQA 3

Dimensions of Sustainability

Question: what are the main environmental problems nowadays?

• Environmental dimension is central to international debate

• Presented in 1987 by Burtland Commision

• Each dimension is sctrictly connected to the others

CESQA 4

The Issue of Global Climate Change

•World average temperature is growing

•Green House Gases emissions from anthropogenic sources are recognized to be the cause of the problem

•Main porcesses involved are:

•Fossil fuel use (75%)

•Land use (25%)

Environmental dimension: ecosystems, desertification, see level, air pollution

Economic dimension: cost to access limited resources, cost for adaptation and mitigation (legal requirements-Kyoto)

Social costs: health costs related to temperature growth, access to resources

CESQA 5

The Issue of Local Water Scarcity

•Only 0,04% of water can be used for human purposes

•Within 2025, 2/3 of world population will live in water stressed regions

•Climate Changes, world population growth, industrial processes pollution are the main causes

Environmental dimension: ecosystems, desertification, water pollution

Economic dimension: cost to access limited resources, cost to respect legal requirements

Social costs: food and beverage availability, health conditions

CESQA 6

Companies: forcings of sustainable behaviour

Let’s try to sum up, Main Risks for companies:

• Management and production Costs:

1. Raw materials

2. Access to resources (concession)

3. Legal requirement costs

• Opportunity costs

1. Productivity

• Reputation among stakeholders

CESQA 7

Companies: forcings of sustainable behaviour

Legal requirements

Competitiveness and reputation among stakeholders

Financial market

Resource Management

Organizations/companies need tools to:

1. Ground decisions on reliable data and information (scientific results)

2. Disclose their performances to stakeholders in a consistent and transparent manner

3. Increase their competitiveness and innovation skills

CESQA 8

Emerging concepts

Carbon footprint: a measure expressed in CO2 equivalent to represent the impacts of a product, a process, an organization on climate change

Water Footprint: a measure expressed in litre (or m3) equivalent to represent the impacts of a product, a process, an organization on water use

CESQA 9

Adoption of tools to manage and disclose its performances on Climate Change!!

The answer of the market

This are all different Carbon label…Which one to believe in? Do they consider the three dimensions of

sustainability??

CESQA 10

Adoption of tools to manage and disclose its performance on Water Stress!!

This are all different “Water Footprint”…which one is correct?

Water Footprint Network Life Cycle

Scientific community

The answer of the market

CESQA 11

The answer of ISO standards!

An International Standard consists in a set of requirements used to accomplish a task in a consistent manner recognized at international

level

ISO (International Organization for Standardization) is the world's largest developer and publisher of International Standards

Which are the main characteristics:

•Result from a transparent and consesus-based process

•Based on principles of TRANSPARENCY, OPENESS, IMPARTIALITY AND VOLUNTARIETY

•Voluntary Application

CESQA 12

TERMINOLOGYISO 14050

Environmental Management SystemsISO 14001ISO 14004

ISO/TR 14061ISO 14064

ORGANIZATION PRODUCTS

Environmental Audit

ISO 19011

Environmental Performances IndicatorsISO 14031

ISO/TR 14032

Life Cycle AssessmentISO 14040-44ISO/TR 14047ISO/TS 14048ISO/TR 14049ISO/DIS 14045

ISO/WD2 14046ISO/CD2 14067

EcolabellingISO 14020ISO 14021ISO 14024

ISO/TR 14025

Environmental issues of productsISO Guide 64

ISO STANDARDS ON ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT

CESQA 13

ISO 26000 Guidance on Social Responsibility

International standard to guide organization in pursuing Sustrainable development through social responsibility. Social dimension affectan organization:

• its competitive advantage;• its reputation;• its ability to attract and retain workers or members,

customers, clients or users;• the maintenance of employees' morale, commitment and

productivity;• the view of investors, owners, donors, sponsors and the

financial community; and• its relationship with companies, governments, the media,

suppliers, peers, customers and the community in which it operates.

RECOGNIZED TO BE THE GUIDELINS FOR EVERY NEW STANDARD

CESQA 14

Key principles

• Accountability: an organization should be accountable for the impacts on society, the economy and the environment:– Who are my stakeholders?– In which aspects are they interested in?– What needs to be account?

• Transparency: an organization should be transparent in its decisions an activities that impacts on society and environment– Disclose policies, strategies, performances

CESQA 15

• Ethical behaviour: an organization should behave ethically:– Identify and state its core values– Promote ethical behaviour– Take sustainable decisions

• Respect for stakeholders interests: an organization should respect, consider and respond to stakeholders interests:– Understand the connection between company’s activities

and stakeholders actitvities– Consider stakeholders view in decision making process

Key principles

CESQA 16

• Respect for the rule of law: an organization should accept and respect that the rule of law is mandatory– Which legal requirements?– Which is my position? What do I have to do to be

compliant?

• Respect for international norms of behaviour: an organization should respect international norms of behaviour, while adhering to the principle of respect for the rule of laws

• Respect for human rights: an organization should respect human rights and recognize both their importance and their universality

Key principles

CESQA 17

The tool of Life Cycle Thinking

Look at products, processes and services with a cradle to gate approach in order not to shift impacts (social, economic, environmental) from one stage of the life cycle to another!

FROM CRADLEFROM CRADLE

TO GRAVETO GRAVE

CESQA 18

A

Li

fe C

ycle

A

sses

smen

t

B N X Y

UsE

Company CProduct

Company XRecycle

Company YWaste treatment

(e.g. landfill)

Company BTransportation

Company ARaw Materials

PRODUCT

Life Cycle Thinking at Product and Organizational level

ORGANIZATION

CESQA 19

Case Study: the packaging sector

There are several factors driving the need to measure thesustainability of packaging systems. For example,

packaging:

• Is an essential and visible part of product delivery and• marketing;• Is an icon of consumption;• Consumes a significant amount of resources and has a

short lifespan;• Has an intimate relationship to customers;• Is persistently perceived by consumers as waste.

CESQA 20

Case Study: the packaging sector

Which packaging would you choose to contain 1 litre of milk?

CESQA 21

Conclusions

Let’s draft togheter the conclusions:

-…

Thank You

UNIVERSITY OF PADOVA DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING

Centro Studi Qualità Ambiente (Research Centre on Quality and Environment)

Via Marzolo 9, 35131 Padova; Tel. + 39 49 8275539/6 - Fax + 39 49 8275785

Email: cesqa@unipd.it – Web: www.cesqa.it

Coordinatore scientificoCoordinatore scientifico

Prof. Antonio ScipioniProf. Antonio Scipioni