Product Service Systems and Sustainability: Opportunities for Sustainable Solutions

Given that the concept of PSS is beginning to 'catch on' and gain attention, it is time for UNEP to contribute to, and influence the progress of PSS, to ensure that in concept and application it incorporates the idea of sustainability. In this context its potential is not generally understood by the public and private sectors or civil society. This booklet is intended to contribute to the dissemination and the discussion of the PSS concept as a promising approach to sustainability. The ultimate goal must be to achieve Sustainable Product-Service Systems. This UNEP publication is targeted at industry and government, academia and civil society to explain PSS – their potential benefits and limitations – in the sustainability context – using real company examples. To prepare this booklet, UNEP has drawn on the knowledge and experience of PSS experts to flesh out the concept of a sustainable PSS, to collect case studies of PSS in practice, to begin to document both its benefits and the hurdles which need to be overcome in its application, and to suggest ways forward in its development

What is Product-Service Systems (PSS)? A Review on PSS Researches and Relevant Policies

In order to achieve sustainable society, it is necessary to transform industrial structure to the one that does not reduce the Earth's resources. Under this circumstance, a business model of "not selling goods, but selling services" has been expected as a measure of co-existence of business and the environment. This idea, which is called as "Product-Service Systems: PSS" or "Servicizing" etc., has been studied in Europe, the United States and international organisations, and is now studied in Japan. However, the idea of PSS is still not effectively used for policy development.One of the major reasons is that PSS concept itself is under-developed. Under the unclear concept of PSS, researchers are working towards more scientific understanding while policy makers are trying to develop new policy measures, and there is confusion in those communities. In order to develop policy measures, it is necessary to make clear the position of PSS in socio-economic system. This paper overviews previous PSS researches and relevant policy measures conducted in Japan, the US and EU, and tries to grasp the context of researches and policy activities and to find out the agenda of the current status. The characteristics of PSS rest on the innovative relationship between producer and consumer. However, PSS researches are stuck at measurement of environmental loads, and relevant policies tend to be rest on the ones targeting producers. In order to get out of this situation, it is necessary to ask question what is PSS and to make it clear where PSS can be positioned in socio-economic system. PSS is important, because PSS has an element of creating sufficiency as well as eco-efficiency. It is recommended that PSS concept needs to be examined as a research effort, and environmentally sound product policy needs to be systematically organised

Greenhouse gas emissions in New Zealand: a preliminary consumption-based analysis

Abstract: New Zealand’s per capita greenhouse gas emissions are usually calculated by taking total emissions as reported under the Kyoto Protocol or the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and simply dividing by population. However this focuses on emissions associated with production within New Zealand. From the point of view of individuals, these are not the emissions they control, and hence can mitigate. Individuals can calculate their “carbon footprint” but tools to do this typically focus on a few categories of emissions (mostly electricity, direct fuel use and waste) and emissions footprints are not available for a wide range of households so cannot be used for comparative analysis. This paper explores how the carbon emissions related to the consumption categories of households in New Zealand vary with household characteristics. We use product consumption data from the 2007 Household Economic Survey. Consumption within each category is linked to a carbon intensity multiplier (tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per dollar of consumption) which is derived from: the official 2007 input–output table of 106 industries produced by Statistics New Zealand; energy data on carbon dioxide per petajoule of fuel in each industry from the Energy Data File; and the Energy Greenhouse Gas Emissions Report both provided by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. Previous literature has used similar methods to calculate the incidence of a carbon tax (e.g. Creedy and Sleeman [2006]). This paper uses these methods in order to study which sectors of household expenditure offer the greatest opportunities for mitigation and how these opportunities vary with household characteristics such as income decile, region and household composition

Innovation performance and competitive strategies in the Turkish manufacturing industry

In this paper, we report on empirical investigation within the context of the Innovations in Manufacturing Industries in Turkey Study 2004/2005. The data was gathered in nine different cities in Turkey during the period August 2004 – January 2005. The survey was conducted through face-to-face interviews due to the complex nature of the survey and was implemented in 135 manufacturing firms operating in four sectors: Textiles, chemicals, food, and metal. The study has been an extension of the European Manufacturing Survey 2004 (EMS 2004) coordinated by the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research and covering nine countries: Germany, Turkey, Austria, Switzerland, France, Slovenia, Croatia, Italy, and United Kingdom. An extended version of the questionnaire form used in EMS 2004 has been employed. Some of the basic results concerning competitive priorities, new product development, and operations management are presented

Water for People, Water for Life

This report documents the serious water crisis we are facing at the beginning of the 21st century. This crisis is one of water governance, essentially caused by the ways in which we mismanage water. But the real tragedy is the effect it has on the everyday lives of poor people, who are blighted by the burden of water-related disease, living in degraded and often dangerous environments, struggling to get an education for their children and to earn a living, and to get enough to eat. The executive summary offers an analysis of the problem as well as pilot case studies for water management and recommendations for future action

University press publishing consortium for Africa : lessons from academic libraries

This paper presents the results of a case study of the policies and practices of six African university presses. Based on the findings, it posits the formation of a consortium of African university presses. It borrows heavily from consortium formation in the library world