Sustainability Assessment: A Rating System Framework for Best Practices

Description

Concerns about environmental, social, economic, health, and other impacts in the building industry have led to the development of a number of environmental and sustainability assessment approaches, strategies, models, appraisals, and methodologies. Green technology and practices have been implemented to improve sustainable development performance and yield economic, social, and environmental benefits and a series of environmental and sustainability rating systems (ESRSs) have been developed around the world and used extensively with unquestionable benefits to stakeholders in the building industry. Such systems beg to be adapted and implemented in other industry contexts still seeking suitable tools with which to effectively communicate their commitment to a sustainable future and gain the “social license” to operate. Sustainability Assessment: A Rating System Framework for Best Practices shows how this can be done. It makes the case for the development and implementation of ESRSs in new industry contexts ranging from, manufacturing and transportation to mining and energy putting forward a new project sustainability rating system framework to assess the sustainability of a wide variety of organizations and projects. This assessment framework includes but is not limited to regulatory requirements, and includes approaches for measuring sustainability on social, economic, environmental, and health grounds. This book will be of interest to researchers and practitioners across a wide range of disciplines and industries. Scientists will find technical insights here that can further research while practitioners will find that they can implement the framework in any type of organization or project in order to address stakeholders'needs and expectations while achieving their short, mid, and long term sustainability vision and goals. Front Cover Sustainability Assessment Copyright Page Dedication Contents Preface Motivation and About the Organisation of this Book List of Figures List of Tables List of Graphs List of Diagrams List of Boxes List of Info Boxes List of Synopsis Boxes Part I: Sustainability Assessment Chapter 1 Assessment Approaches, Frameworks and Other Tools 1.1. Introduction 1.2. Fundamental and Generic Approaches and Frameworks 1.2.1. Steady-State Economy 1.2.2. Circular Economy and Other Schools of Thought 1.2.2.1. Cradle to Cradle (C2C) 1.2.2.2. Natural Capitalism 1.2.2.3. Performance Economy 1.2.2.4. Biomimicry 1.2.2.5. Blue Economy 1.2.2.6. Regenerative Design 1.2.2.7. Industrial Ecology 1.2.3. The Natural Step 1.2.4. Community Capital 1.2.5. Ecological Footprint 1.2.6. Monetary Approach 1.2.7. The Driving Force-State-Response (DRS) Model 1.2.8. Issues or Theme-Based Frameworks 1.2.9. Accounting Frameworks 1.2.10. Frameworks for Assessment Method Tool Kits 1.2.11. The Holistic and Integrated Framework 1.3. Strategic Approaches 1.4. Integrated Approaches 1.5. Assessment Methods 1.5.1. Environmental, Social and Economic Impact Analysis 1.5.2. Strategic Environmental Assessment 1.5.3. Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) 1.5.4. Travel Cost Theory 1.5.5. Community Impact Evaluation 1.5.6. Contingent Valuation Method 1.5.7. Hedonic Pricing Method 1.5.8. Multi-Criteria Analysis 1.5.9. Material Intensity per Service Unit (MIPS) 1.5.10. Analytic Network Process 1.5.11. Life Cycle Assessment 1.5.12. Environmental and Sustainability Rating Systems (ESRS) 1.6. Classification of Assessment Tools 1.7. Final Commentary References Chapter 2 Environmental and Sustainability Rating Systems 2.1. Introduction: The Case for Sustainability 2.2. Sustainability Assessment: ESRS as Decision-Making Tools 2.3. Environmental Regulations and Sustainability 2.4. ESRS around the World 2.5. Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) 2.5.1. LEED Credit Categories 2.6. Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) 2.7. Comprehensive Assessment System for Built Environment Efficiency (CASBEE) 2.8. Green Star 2.9. SBTool 2.10. Final Commentary References Chapter 3 Potential Benefits of Developing and Implementing Environmental and Sustainability Rating Systems 3.1. Introduction: Measuring Sustainability and ESRS 3.2. A Need for Diversification: Framing the Argument 3.3. Potential Benefits of Developing and Implementing ESRS 3.3.1. Setting Organisations’ and Projects’ Triple Bottom Line 3.3.2. Performance, Reduction of Impacts and Meeting Sustainability Objectives 3.3.3. Decision-Making Process throughout the Project’s Life Cycle 3.3.4. Economic throughout the Project’s Life Cycle 3.3.5. Increment of Energy Efficiency Processes 3.3.6. Improve Water Consumption 3.3.7. Productivity 3.3.8. Health 3.3.9. Organisation of Information for Certification Process and/or Performance Evaluation 3.3.10. Collection, Reporting and Interpretation of Data for Stakeholders and Stockholders 3.3.11. Performance Benchmarking 3.3.12. Risk and Opportunity Management 3.3.13. Market and Industry Transformation 3.3.14. Cultural and Social Change 3.3.15. Positive Publicity 3.3.16. Morale and Engagement of Employees and Stakeholders 3.3.17. Innovation and Continuous Performance Improvement 3.3.18. Companies as Pioneers and Leaders of the Way 3.3.19. Local Communities and Directly Impacted Stakeholders 3.3.20. Civil Leadership 3.4. Final Commentary References Part II: A New Sustainability Rating System Chapter 4 Origins and Fundamentals 4.1. Introduction 4.2. Identifying the Opportunity 4.3. The Knowledge and Assessment Gap 4.4. The Development Methodology 4.5. About the Origin, Name and Logo 4.6. Final Commentary References Chapter 5 The Wa-Pa-Su Project Sustainability Rating System 5.1. Sustainability: About Its Definition 5.2. Sustainability Assessment by Indicators and Rating Systems 5.3. A Need for Innovation and Diversification: Reinforcing the Argument 5.4. Areas of Integration 5.4.1. Sustainable Development: Defining the Starting Point 5.4.2. Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis: Engaging the Stakeholders 5.4.3. Continuous Performance Improvement (CPI): Exploiting Opportunities over Time 5.5. Integration: Principles and Intersections 5.6. Assessment Methodology: Rating Systems and Integrated Assessment 5.7. Is the Organisation or Project Sustainable? 5.8. A Simulated Criterion Score Calculation 5.9. Rules and Restrictions 5.10. Final Commentary References Part III: The Canadian Oil Sands Chapter 6 Background and Processes 6.1. A Brief History 6.2. Oil Sands: Overview 6.3. The Canadian Oil Sands Projects’ Life Cycle 6.3.1. Stage 1 6.3.1.1. Resource and Assessment 6.3.1.2. Rights and Exploration 6.3.2. Stage 2 6.3.2.1. Scheme Approval 6.3.2.2. Project Approval 6.3.2.3. Recovery 6.3.2.4. Upgrading 6.3.3. Stage 3 6.3.3.1. Royalties 6.3.3.2. Refining and Sale 6.3.4. Stage 4 6.3.4.1. Shutdown 6.3.4.2. Reclamation 6.4. Final Commentary References Chapter 7 Impacts of Development and Operations 7.1. Introduction: Oil and Gas Resources 7.2. The Canadian Oil Sands and the Triple Bottom Line 7.3. Environmental Impacts 7.4. Social Impacts 7.5. Economic Impacts 7.6. Health and Other Impacts 7.7. Final Commentary References Chapter 8 Resources Management and Performance: A Report 8.1. Introduction 8.2. Analysing Sustainability Performance Assessment and Reporting 8.3. The Land Resource 8.4. The Water Resource 8.4.1. Tailing Ponds 8.5. The Air Resource 8.5.1. GHGs Emissions 8.6. Social Sustainability 8.7. Economic and Organisational Sustainability 8.8. Sustainability Reporting Shortcomings 8.9. Suggestions for Improving Sustainability Assessment Performance and Reporting References Part IV: An application step by step: the surface mining process Chapter 9 Areas of Excellence and Sub-Divisions 9.1. Introduction 9.2. Areas or Categories of Excellence 9.3. Sub-Divisions 9.4. Management Interactions 9.5. Final Commentary References Chapter 10 Identifying Sustainable Development Indicators (SDIs) 10.1. Introduction: About SDIs 10.2. Identifying Resources for Selection of SDIs 10.2.1. Group 1: Indicators Selected by Consensus 10.2.1.1. Resource 1: Governmental Regulations 10.2.1.2. Resource 2: Organisations and Committees for Standardisation 10.2.2. Group 2: Indicators Identified by Practitioners and Academics 10.2.2.1. Resource 3: Management and Processes Best Practices 10.2.2.2. Resource 4: Academically and Scientifically Authored Resources 10.2.3. Group 3: Indicators Established by Organizations 10.2.3.1. Resource 5: Local, Regional, National and International Organizations 10.2.3.2. Resource 6: Standards, Programs and Initiatives Established by the Surface Mining Industry 10.3. From Too Many to Those Needed 10.4. Surface Mining Projects: The Preliminary Group of SDIs 10.5. Final Commentary References Chapter 11 Designing and Implementing SDIs: More of a Positive Thing than Not 11.1. Introduction 11.2. SDIs as Performance Assessment Tool 11.2.1. How Appropriate and Applicable Is the Use of SDIs? 11.2.2. The Practicability of Using SDIs 11.2.3. The Cost of Developing, Implementing and Measuring Performance Using SDIs 11.3. Final Commentary References Chapter 12 Weighting SDIs Using the AHP Method 12.1. Introduction 12.2. Development, Usage and Weighting of SDIs 12.3. The Wa-Pa-Su Rating System: Structure and SDIs for Surface Mining Operations 12.4. Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) Methods and the AHP 12.5. Setting the Weighting Process, SDIs Ranking and the Decision Makers (DMs) 12.6. The Hierarchy 12.7. Measurement Scale 12.8. Pairwise Comparison Matrices 12.9. Expected Results and Contributions 12.10. Final Commentary References Chapter 13 Design of Performance Improvement Factors (PIFs) 13.1. Introduction 13.2. Continuous Performance Improvement (CPI) 13.3. SDIs for Surface Mining Operations in the Oil Sands Projects 13.3.1. SDIs, KPIs and Metrics 13.3.2. SDIs for Surface Mining Operations in the Oil Sands Projects 13.4. Performance Improvement Factors (PIF) 13.4.1. Relevance Factor or Subjective Stakeholder Valuation 13.4.2. Comparative Assessment Methods (CAMs) 13.4.3. Link to Economic Metrics 13.5. Final Commentary References Chapter 14 A Simulated Case Study of Implementation and Sustainability Assessment 14.1. The Wa-Pa-Su Project Sustainability Rating System and Its Structure Applied 14.2. Assessment Methodology: An Overview 14.3. Data Required and Stakeholder Involvement 14.4. Assessing Sustainability using the Wa-Pa-Su Project Sustainability Rating System 14.4.1. Potential Minimum and Maximum Performance Scores 14.5. Restrictions and Frequency of Measurements 14.6. Final Commentary References Appendix A: Abbreviations and Acronyms A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W Appendix B: Timeline of the Energy Industry in Alberta Appendix C: Descriptions – Pre-Selected Sustainable Development Indicators (Sdis) for the Surface Mining Process C.1. Project and Environmental Management Excellence – PEME C.2. Site and Soil Resource Excellence – SSRE C.3. Water Resource Excellence – WRE C.4. Atmosphere and Air Resource Excellence – AARE C.5. Natural and Artificial Lighting Excellence – NALE C.6. Energy Resource Excellence – ERE C.7. Resource and Materials Excellence – RME C.8. Innovation in Design and Operations Excellence – IDOE C.9. Infrastructure and Buildings Excellence – IBE C.10. Education, Research, and Community Excellence – ERCE Reference Afterword Index