Analyzing the Consequences of Sharing Principles on Different Economies: A Case Study of Short Rotation Coppice Poplar Wood Panel Production Value Chain

Abstract

Quantifying the environmental impacts of value chains on the earth’s ecological limits is crucial to designing science-based strategies for environmental sustainability. Combining the Planetary Boundaries (PB) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) framework can be used to estimate if a value chain can be considered as Absolute Environmentally Sustainable (AES) in relation to the PB. One of the crucial steps in implementing the PB-LCA framework is using sharing principals to downscale the global PB to smaller scales (e.g., country) and calculate an assigned Safe Operating Space (aSOS). This study assesses the potential AES of a wood panel value chain in Austria and Slovakia to understand the consequences of applying diverse sharing principles on different economies. Two economic and one emission-based sharing principles were compared. The results show that depending on the sharing principle implemented, different conclusions on the AES and potential strategies at a value chain and national level are achieved. Economic-based sharing principles are biased to the value chain’s economical contribution. As for the emission-based approach, greater aSOS is given to systems with a higher contribution of emissions. A potential downside of either approach is that it can lead to misleading environmental strategies, such as hindering the development of less wealthy value chains and giving less incentive to improve environmental efficiency. These outcomes highlight the importance of further research into resolving the issues about just assignment of SOS. Moreover, our study contributes to the effort of making the PB-LCA framework relevant for strategic decision-making at a value chain level.

Resource efficiency analysis through planetary boundary-based life cycle assessment: a case study of sugarcane in Pakistan

“…A key challenge in PB-LCA is the just sharing of safe operating space to the product (Echenique et al 2022 ; Ryberg et al 2020 ) conducted a detailed review of the distributive justice theories and sharing principles being followed by the PB-LCA studies.…”

New Environmental Approach Based on a Combination of Planetary Boundaries and Life Cycle Assessment in the Wood-Based Bioadhesive Market

“…The allocation principles discussed in this article were three, which have been identified as the most useful and used in previous environmental studies: egalitarian, utilitarian, and acquired rights. − The egalitarian principle is based on the premise that environmental burdens should be distributed equitably among the population, whereby the number of inhabitants at the global, European, and national levels will be used as the allocation share factor for calculating aSOS. This principle is also known as the “equal per capita basis”, defined as the aSOS allocated on an individual basis in a specific period of time . It is worth mentioning that for the development of the study, data for the year 2021 have been considered.…”

“…One of the main objectives in the calculation of environmental shares using the allocation principles is to determine the degree of environmental sustainability of the proposed production scenarios, denoted as R ES . It is measured as the ratio between the PB-LCA value calculated for each of the planetary boundaries and the proposed adhesive production scenarios, and the aSOS pp , where pp is the type of allocation and the principle used for its calculation . The value of this ratio will be indicative of the degree of sustainability of the production scenario.…”

“…This principle is also known as the "equal per capita basis", defined as the aSOS allocated on an individual basis in a specific period of time. 53 It is worth mentioning that for the development of the study, data for the year 2021 have been considered. The utilitarian principle considers that it would be ideal to establish the necessary guidelines to maximize the welfare of the population, 54 which is why this principle uses the economic parameters of gross value added (GVA) and final consumption expenditure (FCE) as they represent the economic value generated by producers in an economic area, in this case the timber sector, and the level of economic expenditure of consumers, respectively.…”

“…It is measured as the ratio between the PB-LCA value calculated for each of the planetary boundaries and the proposed adhesive production scenarios, and the aSOS pp , where pp is the type of allocation and the principle used for its calculation. 53 The value of this ratio will be indicative of the degree of sustainability of the production scenario. Thus, if the R ES score is equal to or less than 1, then the scenario is considered environmentally sustainable, while if it is greater than 1, it means that the scenario is unsustainable as the environmental load exceeds the established PB limit and therefore requires optimization and improvement.…”