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Journal of Environmental Accounting and Management 1(1) (2013) 55--63 | DOI:10.5890/JEAM.2013.01.005

Matthias Finkbeiner; Paul König

Department of Environmental Technology, Chair of Sustainable Engineering, Technical University Berlin, Office Z1, Strasse des 17. Juni, 10623 Berlin, Germany

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Abstract

When analyzing the environmental performance of products, it has become standard practice to use a life cycle perspective. For organizations (e.g. companies) such a life cycle or supply chain oriented assessment is not yet established as common practice. The discussions on the carbon footprint of organizations and the development of the so-called ‘supply chain’- or ‘scope 3’-standard of the GHG-Protocol promoted the future use of such an approach. At the level of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) a project has just been launched to develop an LCA standard for Organizations (ISO 14072), which will address the full set of environmental interventions, not only greenhouse gases. This paper proposes a corporate environmental footprint assessment methodology by adapting the mandatory elements (“shalls”) of ISO 14044 from products to organizations. Most requirements are applicable on both the product and organizational level, such as impact assessment, reporting and review requirements. Others were partially adapted from ISO 14044, such as system boundary or allocation procedures. A third group of aspects like e.g. comparisons based on a common function, i.e. product and service portfolio, were identified as methodological challenges. As far as the data demand is concerned, it was interesting to find that even the corporate accounting approach needs product level data and in that respect does not differ from the traditional life cycle approach.

Acknowledgments

Part of this work was supported by the German Research Foundation as part of the Collaborative Research Center 1026: Sustainable Manufacturing.

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