Featured coupled-topics

EcoBalance 2018 seeks to share and promote innovation by linking ideas from different research fields through life cycle thinking towards unraveling sustainability issues which are highly intertwined. Submissions are therefore particularly invited for papers addressing, but not limited to, one of the following featured coupled-topics.

  1. Business opportunities & Supply chain risks
  2. Artificial intelligence & Sustainability
  3. Green technologies & Material criticality
  4. Circular economy & Chemical risks
  5. Sustainable design & Behavioral science
  6. Local sustainability & Renewable energy
  7. Global mitigation & Local adaptation
  8. Water-energy-food nexus
  9. Policy-making & LCA
  10. Innovative policy design & Sustainability
  11. Technology as enabler of collective wisdom for LCA
  12. National hotspot analysis & Global supply chains
  13. Environmental Footprint - comprehensiveness of analysis vs. simplicity of communication
1.Business opportunities & Supply chain risks
Today's global supply chains have become unwieldy and are more vulnerable than ever before. Companies' business opportunities are always subject to supply chain risks. In addition to risk factors associated with natural disasters, manmade disasters and political instability could cause supply chain disruptions. We believe that, beyond assessment of environmental and social impacts as a part of corporate social responsibility (CSR), life cycle thinking should contribute to the management of potential risks in supply chains. We call for a wide range of relevant studies addressing supply chain risks that underpin companies' business opportunities.
2.Artificial intelligence & Sustainability
Recently, artificial intelligence (AI) has increasingly been applied to a variety of products and services, such as self-driving cars. Development of AI technologies is anticipated to have effects on sustainability through increasing or decreasing environmental and social impacts, while AI technologies may proactively be utilized to progress towards sustainability. We call for a wide range of studies relevant to AI technologies and seek to identify linkages between AI and sustainability.
3.Green technologies & Material criticality
Green technologies, including renewable energy, are being developed in the context of climate change and other environmental issues. On the other hand, it has been indicated that some materials and resources which are essential for such technologies may be considered "critical" due to factors such as concentration of supplier countries. Criticality issues could become more influential with the growth of such technologies. With the aim of discussing the influence of material criticality on development of green technologies, we call for studies addressing, but not limited to, criticality of specific materials/resources and material assessment of green technologies.
4.Circular economy & Chemical risks
The circular economy, which has been advocated by the European Commission and continues to draw international attention, aims at "closing the loop" of product life cycles through recycling and reuse. On the other hand, some waste products contain potentially hazardous substances including heavy metals and chemical additives. Such substances could remain in the market through recycling and reuse. In addition, chemical additives in waste plastics are of particular concern in the context of marine litter. We call for a wide range of relevant studies addressing chemical risks associated with waste products, such as substance flow and risk analysis studies.
5.Sustainable design & Behavioral science
Sustainable consumption and production (SCP) is a key research issue as highlighted by Goal 12 of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The dynamic interaction between producers and consumers is of critical importance to achieve SCP patterns. With the aim of seeking desirable linkages between production and consumption sides, we call for a wide range of relevant studies covering, but not limited to, sustainable design of products/services, consumer behaviors and the sharing economy across different disciplines, such as engineering, psychology, sociology and economics.
6.Local sustainability & Renewable energy
It is anticipated that renewable energy could play a significant role to promote regional energy independence and to stimulate regional economies through the use of local renewable resources. Life cycle assessment is a useful tool to understand quantitatively to what extent renewable energy can contribute to local development. We call for a wide range of studies that discuss the relationship between renewable energy development/deployment and local sustainability from a life cycle perspective.
7.Global mitigation & Local adaptation
Taking urgent action to combat climate change has been included in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as Goal 13, in addition to the signing of the Paris Agreement in 2016. Climate change is a serious concern, with mitigation and adaptation seen as the two wheels of a cart, although they have often been discussed in different contexts. This topic seeks to examine reasonable reduction in climate change impacts through combining both mitigation and adaptation. We call for both mitigation and adaptation studies, in particular, mitigation studies considering climate change impacts and adaptation studies considering different greenhouse gas emission pathways.
8.Water-energy-food nexus
Water and food are essential to human lives, while people need energy for daily life. Energy is necessary for food production, water intake, and water purification. On the other hand, energy supply and food production requires water. Recently such relationships have been referred to as the "water-energy-food nexus", with sustainability of these dimensions discussed as a package. For example, assessment of energy consumption for food and water supply, as well as water footprints of energy and food, are considered as part of this nexus. In this call, we seek studies which discuss the nexus of two or more of these three dimensions.
9.Policy-making and LCA
While the application of LCA by companies is established practice, the application of LCA in policy making is increasing. LCA can be an important tool in policy making to support fact-based metrics and science-based targets. Using LCA can help to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of environmental policies by checking for and reduction of unintended policy consequences, such as problem shifting between sectors, life cycle stages, and environmental problems. The session intends to discuss current developments in this field. We call for a wide range of studies addressing policy application of LCA. Both theoretical and practical contributions are welcome.
10.Innovative policy design & Sustainability
The seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN and their 169 operational targets require policy development and instrumentation for their realization. Balancing between ecological, economic and social goals is needed, somehow. Balancing requires knowledge on technical options; policy instrumentation; incentives and options; and the dynamics involved. Currently, analysis of the material and ecological basis of society tends towards specification of technical options, in increasing detail, embedded in hypothetical scenarios. The second element, policy instrumentation, is mostly absent, requiring insight in complex often global dynamic mechanisms. Opening up the specter of policy options is a prime task for our community. In this call, we seek studies which discuss the contribution of sustainability assessment to policy instrumentation.
11.Technology as enabler of collective wisdom for LCA
While the LCA community still mainly works with traditional, standalone IT solutions and Excel, many communities and business sectors are revolutionized by web-based technologies and new disruptive business models. A key element is the sharing of knowledge in communities. The LCA community can benefit from this, as there is a need to collect and share data from all kind of sources and actors in the value chain. This data should be transformed into useful information enabling a wide range of decision makers to make wise decisions. In this call, we invite presentations of such innovative-technology-based-solutions.
12.National hotspot analysis & Global supply chains
Increasingly countries design policies for sustainable consumption and production (SCP) as national development priorities. There is no harmonized methodology to help identify "hotspots" or high-impact intervention areas in sectors and supply chains through a robust, science-based but feasible analysis of their national economies. Such "hotspots analysis" must offer a balance between reliable science-based methods and pragmatism, taking into account various degrees of data availability in countries. The result of such assessment can reveal critical points in global supply chains with direct business impacts. Rigor methodological approaches, linking national hotspot analysis to sector analysis and value chain approaches, are ever more important. We call for a wide range of studies addressing hotspots analysis in the context of global supply chains.
13.Environmental Footprint - comprehensiveness of analysis vs. simplicity of communication
The European Commission led Environmental Footprint (EF) pilot phase of 2013-2018 is ending and the developed PEFCRs will be ready for companies worldwide to calculate the results for their products during the transition phase until the end of 2020, when public policies are expected to come in place. Achieving accurate and reliable multi-criteria life cycle results of comprehensive products and their global supply-chains challenge LCA experts, data providers, and reviewers. Yet, simplicity is needed to inform consumers, business clients and public procurers, for practical purchase decision support and product strategies. With the aim of discussing the respective achievements and challenges, we call for a wide range of environmental footprint studies. Both theoretical and practical contributions are welcome.