Eco-management accounting in Germany: Concepts and practical implementation. Final report for the project Management accounting and environmental management: Towards the sustainable enterprise. A study of operational and material flow analysis, particulary as it is practised in Germany and how it might be used as a part of management accounting. A study sponsored by the Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek NWO

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Die COMPASS-Methodik: COMPAnies and sectors path to sustainability. Unternehmen und Branchen auf dem Weg zur Zukunftsfähigkeit. Zukunftsfähiges Unternehmen (5)

-- Sustainable development remains a formidable challenge for the societies of the 21st century. A number of concepts have been put forward on how to reach sustainability at a macro-economic level. These concepts are based on different points of view of economic, social and environmental systems and their behaviour, and derive their legitimacy from economic and environmental theories. An overriding priority of companies attempting to promote sustainability at enterprise and sector level is to translate these broad concepts and the indicators behind into specific concepts and measurable indicators useful in day-to-day business decisions. For companies and sectors it is important to know what kind of targets and actions they will bring on a path to sustainability. That is true for economic targets (high profit, high competitiveness, low investment payback, etc.), as for ecological (high life-cycle wide resource productivity, low toxicity, high biodiversity, low erosion, etc.) and social targets (from employee satisfaction over a low unemployment rate to overall stability in society). Therefore, COMPASS (companies' and sectors'path to sustainability) has been developed to provide decision-makers in a company or sector withsufficient information. COMPASS offers the methodological framework, the instruments and measures to operationalise the normative concept of sustainable development at micro level. The methodology aims at considering economic, ecological and social aspects throughout the whole product system in order to enable decision-makers to optimise processes, products and services towards a sustainable satisfaction of demand. It shows the sustainability performance gaps and helps to communicate possible action to reduce these gaps.COMPASS consists of five elements. Four creative and assessing elements are COMPASSprofile, COMPASSvision, COMPASSanalysis and COMPASSmanagement. The reporting element is the COM-PASSreport.Kleine und mittelständische Unternehmen,multinationale Unternehmen,Branchen,zukunftsfähige Entwicklung,Managementsysteme,MIPS,Ökoeffizienz,Ressourcenmanagement,Faktor 4/10,Humankapital,Sozialmanagement,Wettbewerbsfähigkeit,Profit,Qualifizierung,Kommunikation,dreifache Gewinnstrategie,Innovationen,Small and medium sized companies,multinationals,sustainable development,management systems,MIPS,eco-efficiency,resource management,factor 4/10,human resources,social management,competitiveness,profits,qualification,communication,triple win strategy,innovation

Towards Sustainable Production and Consumption: Preparedness for Product Service System Concept

Eco-efficiency strategies and policies, which have resulted in environmental gains that translate into increased resource efficiency and lower levels of emissions, in particular CO2 emissions along the life cycle of products and services, might be offset by rising levels of consumption on the demand side. Hence, both sides of the coin i.e. the system of production and consumption systems need to be assessed if more sustainable patterns are to be achieved. Establishing sustainable production and consumption systems can be possible via functional thinking practices. Functional thinking takes the focus from provision of resource intensive product to satisfaction of needs and wants through service systems, where material products are treated as capital assets rather than consumables. An application of functional thinking is the Product Service System (PSS) concept. Providers of PSS applications aim to generate profit not from selling as many material products as possible, but from providing a function of the product or service. Potential environmental benefits of PSS applications stemming from decreased use of virgin materials in production and lessened resource consumption at the use phase are being recognized. Applications of PSS can be seen in many sectors such as Information and Communication Technology (ICT), energy, transportation, food and in many forms such as remanufacturing, demand side management, chemical management services, car sharing schemes, functional designs, etc. However, supply and use of such applications might need considerable assessment of business practices and consumer behaviour. For business, designing and implementing PSS applications might require a new set of internal conditions such as shifting the business vision and adjusting the corporate culture to provision of functions. On the other hand, understanding of individual and social factors guiding the consumers' acceptance of PSS applications is required.This paper is an extract from a study, which is conducted with the aim of provision of a direction enhancing business ability to offer new or improved PSS applications with increased consumer acceptance and in turn enhanced resource efficiency. Applications in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector are chosen as the focus of the paper. Although it is debated that this fast developing sector can potentially contribute to dematerialisation of systems, limitations within the sector still remain unclear. Here, it is aimed to suggest an overview of the aspects for business preparedness and consumer acceptance of PSS applications providing particular functions in the ICT sector. The focus is on the company level dynamics, despite it is recognized that factors of macro level preparedness such as infrastructure availability, economic and social conditions, public support, etc. are essential to consider for system preparedness

SAFE - Sustainability Assessment For Enterprises: Die Methodik. Ein Instrument zur Unterstützung einer zukunftsfähigen Unternehmens- und Organisationsentwicklung

-- In practice, questions of ecological company policy deal much more with technical questions than with organisational ones. In many guides for the implementation of an Environmental Management System the development of the organisation that first has to grow into this new task has not yet been fully planned, as has the participation of the employees. The deciding factors for this implementationinclude the improvement of information and communication within the company, the increase in employee motivation and the optimisation of the interfaces between economics, ecology and social aspects.Companies often show a great need for analysis and management instrumentswhich they themselves can organise and which, with the participation of the employees, help to find and to translate solutions quickly into action which show theway. Together with small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) of different branches, the SAFE - Sustainability Assessment For Enterprises instrument has been developed and tested.The instrument SAFE is used as a dialogue instrument in companies and serves as a lasting method of controlling success and of deriving new measures. The aimof the instrument is to motivate employees to become involved in change proc-esses and to cooperate in the shaping of the development of the enterprise in astreamlined procedure. They should know their participation possibilities as wellas learn how to use them. Altogether the viewpoint should be changed from anecological enterprise development to a lasting one and in doing this the develop-ment of ideas and strategies for the implementation of sustainability in the com-pany is to be supported.In a clear procedure the companies determine independently the ecological, economic and social aspects which are relevant for their enterprise's development and deduce potential for improvements and options for action for those aspects.The environmental control agents and/or quality control agents - and often alsothe managers - become qualified to use the instrument on their own. The imple-mentation of SAFE takes place together with employees from different levels inthe company who go through the procedure of several working phases in twodays. In these working phases a profile of the company's strengths/weaknesses will be drawn up as well as a list of organisational and technical suggestions forimprovement and qualification requirements. Afterwards, a plan of measures willbe deduced from those lists and suggestions. All these proceedings are based on the questionnaire Is your company fit for the future. The measures will be putinto action within a defined period of time by the persons who are responsible forthis implementation. The process will be repeated at regular intervals.In a test phase SAFE has until now been applied in approximately 40 companies for the first time and has been developed further. Its successful use shows that theinstrument can be applied to companies in all branches.Zukunftsfähige Unternehmen,Nachhaltigkeit,dreifache Gewinnstrategie,Indikatoren,Unternehmens-/Organisationsentwicklung,Kommunikation,Qualifizierung,Beteiligung,Umweltmanagementsysteme,Ressourcenproduktivität,Ressourcenmanagement,Lernendes Unternehmen,Kontinuierlicher Verbesserungsprozess (KVP),Wettbewerbsfähigkeit,Sustainable Enterprises,sustainability,triple-win-strategy,indicators,organizational learning,communication,qualification,participation,environmental management systems,resource productivity,resource management,the learning company,continious improvement,competitiveness

Forschungslandschaft biotische Rohstoffe: Unternehmen und Branchen auf dem Weg zur Nachhaltigkeit (COMPASS)

Sustainable production and the sustainable use of biotic resources have becomeincreasingly significant. This results in the demand by society for a sustainable useof biotic resources especially within the nutrition sector. But also their use for industrial purposes had led research and development being given the task to support our economy with conceptional ideas.In this respect, the Working Group Eco-Efficiency & Sustainable Enterprises at theWuppertal Institute with Dr. Christa Liedtke as head, has developed a research landscape that gives a general overview of the theme of biotic resources - their sustainable production and use. The working group defines aims of research andlists urgent and current research tasks on a macro (politico-economically), meso (branches) and micro (enterprises and production) level. It is necessary to take onthe challenge that a future sustainable development presents for us. That is to realizeecologically, socially and economically a triple gain strategy along the three pillars of sustainability - to save resources, to create wealth and to strengthencompetitiveness.To implement this strategy the Working Group Eco-Efficiency and Sustainable Enterprises has developed the methodology tool of COMPASS (COMPAnies and Sectors' Path to Sustainability). Its aim is the system-embracing optimization ofsingle process chains, of products and services considering ecological, social and economic aspects. This methodology has already been implemented in various otherbranches and enterprises and it is now necessary to further adopt, test andspecifically develop COMPASS as a decision tool in the vast area of production anduse of biotic resources.This is done in a dialogue- and practice oriented way and inclose co-operation with all actors of the corresponding production lines. Generalworking themes that the Working Group will concentrate on in future deal with theproduct lines food products and products from renewable resources as follows:Identification of the ecological, economic and social targets of sustainability and aclassification of frameworks, obstacles and supporting aspects of sustainabledevelopment Identification of main material flows and severest pollution, of areas of highestmaterial turnover and of most significant social impacts within the area ofnutrition and use of renewable resources --

Zukunftsfähige Innovationen : erste Schritte zum nachhaltig wirtschaftenden Unternehmen

In jedem Unternehmen gibt es Potenziale, um die eigene wirtschaftliche Position zu verbessern und sich gegen zukünftige Krisen abzusichern. Technische, organisatorische oder soziale Innovationen sind der Schlüssel zur dauerhaften Sicherung ihrer Wettbewerbsposition. Diese Broschüre soll kleinen und mittelständischen Unternehmen helfen, Bereiche zu finden, in denen Innovationspotenziale vorhanden sind. Anhand erster Maßnahmen, so genannten Innovationsschritten, werden Ansatzpunkte entwickelt, wie mit möglichst geringem (Zeit- und Kosten-) Aufwand gezielt die eigene Wettbewerbsposition gestärkt werden kann. Sie wendet sich an Unternehmensleitung oder Umweltmanagementbeauftragte und gibt ihnen einen ersten Ein- bzw. Überblick und konkrete Vorschläge, wie sie die Zukunftsfähigkeit ihres Unternehmens verbessern können. Damit hat diese Broschüre konkrete Hilfestellungen für den Praktiker im Unternehmen im Fokus. Mögliche Ansatzpunkte, geeignete Wege sowie passende Instrumente werden für einzelne Bereiche aufgezeigt und erläutert

Responsible corporate governance: An overview of trends, initiatives and state-of-the-art elements. What sort of globalisation is sustainable?

Transnational corporations' (TNCs) economic operations cover numerous countriesand can be diverted between several continents. These units have reached a level ofsignificance, having not only economic, but also social and environmental implications. This justifies that they shall be treated separately as a social phenomenon,when considering strategies for the development towards sustainability.This paper presents the concept of Responsible Corporate Governance (RCG), asa strategy to govern TNCs. RCG is suggested as a stakeholder based policyinstrument, which aims at allocating responsibilities to societal actors aiming atcorporate accountability. RCG recognises that the process of societal change isstrongly based on what can be called as bottom up-processes. Learning processestake place through the interaction of the different societal members, whicheventually leads to macro changes. Therefore, governing TNCs towards sustainability improvements is considered to be a collective process including all stakeholders. Firstly, the paper places the concept of RCG in the ongoing debateof political modernization based on the fact that society develops overtime and thepolitical system must correspondingly modernize. In this context, politicaloverload developed as a consequence of increased resource interdependencies isexplained and as a resolution, network approach is discussed. Secondly, demands on the orientation of the TNCs in terms of accountability and innovative actionare brought forward. Here, the paper also lists down corporate elements (stakeholder empowered corporate governance, management and performanceevaluation systems, transparency enhancement and accountability verification), which need to be in place to attain an accountable orientation in the society.Following, using an analytical framework, the orientation and capabilities of each societal actor (environmental non-governmental organisations, financial institutions, intergovernmental organisations) to affect improvements in the corporateresponsibility elements are investigated and recommendations for their effectiveorientation are listed. --

Promoting sustainable consumption with LCA : a social practice based perspective

Quantitative environmental assessments are crucial in working effectively towards sustainable production and consumption patterns. Over the last decades, life cycle assessments (LCA) have been established as a viable means of measuring the environmental impacts of products along the supply chain. In regard to user and consumption patterns, however, methodological weaknesses have been reported and, several attempts have been made to improve LCA accordingly, for example, by including higher order effects and behavioural science support. In a discussion of such approaches, we show that there has been no explicit attention to the concepts of consumption, often leading to product-centred assessments. We introduce social practice theories in order to make consumption patterns accessible to LCA. Social practices are routinised actions comprising interconnected elements (materials, competences, and meanings), which make them conceivable as one entity (e.g. cooking). Because most social practices include some sort of consumption (materials, energy, air), we were able to develop a framework which links social practices to the life cycle inventory of LCA. The proposed framework provides a new perspective of quantitative environmental assessments by switching the focus from products or users to social practices. Accordingly, we see the opportunity in overcoming the reductionist view that people are just users of products, and instead we see them as practitioners in social practises. This change could enable new methods of interdisciplinary research on consumption, integrating intend-oriented social sciences and impact-oriented assessments. However, the framework requires further revision and, especially, empirical validation

Application of the MIPS method for assessing the sustainability of production-consumption systems of food

The article estimates the natural resource consumption due to nutrition from the supply and demand sides. Using the MIPS (Material Input per Service Unit) methodology, we analyzed the use of natural resources along the supply chains of three Italian foodstuffs: wheat, rice and orange-based products. These figures were then applied for evaluating the sustainability of diets in 13 European countries. The results outline which phases in food production are more natural resource demanding than others. We also observed different levels of sustainability in the European diets and the effect of different foodstuffs in the materials, water and air consumption