Metrics for Sustainability Assessment in European Process Industries

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The Horizon 2020 SPIRE Public Private Partnership goals of the European Commission have set a new challenge for the European process industry. Aiming for a green economy being energy and resource efficient, but also internationally competitive and socially responsible, cross-sectorial cooperation along the value chain is strongly encouraged. The vision of industrial symbioses also forces practitioners in sustainability assessment to rethink their often sector-specific toolboxes.

Consequently, current methods for sustainability assessment including in-depth life cycle based methods may need to be restructured and harmonized along the value chain. This standardization of methods is essentially required for a comparison of the overall benefit of alternative strategies on an equal basis avoiding problem shifts or double counting of improvements. Comprehensive approaches for different stages along the development of such a cooperation in a consistent framework are needed as well.

The European project MEASURE accepted the challenge to provide a roadmap highlighting life cycle based evaluation approaches, which support a sustainable supply chain management including the cooperation between manufacturers and cross-sectorial co-product, recycling and reuse options in practical use. The project brings together leading European process industries in chemistry, consumer goods, steel, automotive & waste with academic experts on sustainability assessment, regulators and standardisation bodies working on this ambitious goal.