The notion of sustainability has become an extensive area of research ever since the term emerged in the late 1980s, due to the negative effects of unsustainable production and consumption patterns on environmental stewardship, social equity and economic development. There have been various approaches developed for product design and education within the context sustainability. Biomimicry is one of those approaches, and its implications for product design education have recently started to be explored. In this study, an educational tool - Biomimicry Sketch Analysis (BSA) - was developed and integrated into the idea-generation phase of an educational design project at the undergraduate level in the Department of Industrial Design at the Middle East Technical University (METU). This integration is analyzed throughout the graduate thesis study, to understand and explore the implications of the biomimicry approach for sustainability in product design education. The educational tool within this approach was found as influential among the third year industrial design students for the idea-generation phase, yet the results of this study included both pros and cons for the incorporation of the BSA exercise.

En intégrant le cycle de vie d'un bien dans son processus de développement, l'éco-conception permet d'améliorer la performance environnementale de ce futur produit. La combinaison, dans cette thèse, des notions de la conception centrée utilisateur et de la pensée cycle de vie, permet de proposer une méthode pour l'intégration de la phase d'utilisation en éco-conception. La méthode repose sur la proposition de nouveaux modèles pour représenter l'utilisation adaptés aux spécificités de l'éco-conception. A partir du modèle de produit, un modèle de la phase d'utilisation, connectée aux phases de distribution et de fin de vie, permet d'associer l'utilisation du produit à son cycle de vie complet. Le modèle de contexte permet de positionner la performance environnementale du produit en utilisation par rapport à des paramètres associés à l'utilisateur et à l'environnement d'utilisation. L'évaluation environnementale du scénario d'utilisation regroupant tous ces modèles permet d'adapter les stratégies d'amélioration de la méthode à l'utilisation d'un produit en conception. Une application de la démarche à la re-conception d'un réfrigérateur pour la France et le Brésil permet d'illustrer le fonctionnement de la méthode. / By integrating product life cycle into the developement process, ecodesign enables the environnemental improvement of the product to be. The combination of user centred design proposition and life cycle thinking allows us to propose a method for use phase integration in ecodesign. This method is built on new models to represent product use that are compatible with ecodesign specificity. Based on the product model, the use phase model, which is connected to the distribution and end-of-life phases, facilitates the attachment of product use to the complete life cycle. Context model aims at possitionning the product use environmental performance according to influencing parameters related to the user and it environment. Environmental assessment is made based on the use scenario, a combination of the three previous models. This assessment enables to adapt the improvements strategies to the specificity of a product use phase. A case study has been perform to illustrate the capability of the new proposal to ecodesign a refrigerator for Brazil and for France.

Submitted by Silvana Teresinha Dornelles Studzinski (sstudzinski) on 2016-05-04T16:27:35Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Andrea Vargas_.pdf: 742993 bytes, checksum: 3594ce6fcca938a80f741a5eb1861a61 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-05-04T16:27:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Andrea Vargas_.pdf: 742993 bytes, checksum: 3594ce6fcca938a80f741a5eb1861a61 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-03-10 / Nenhuma / Produção e consumo sustentável são práticas que levam ao desenvolvimento sustentável e os varejistas possuem um papel crucial neste processo devido à sua posição privilegiada entre oferta e demanda. Haja vista a importância da produção sustentável em termos econômicos, ambientais e sociais, esta pesquisa analisou o desenvolvimento de práticas sustentáveis na cadeia de fornecimento varejista, em sete empresas fabricantes no Brasil nos segmentos de higiene, limpeza, papéis descartáveis, alimentos e linha branca. O estudo de caso múltiplo e de abordagem qualitativa explorou informações sobre produção e consumo sustentável desde a extração dos recursos naturais até o pós-consumo. Entre os resultados observou-se que, visando mitigar os efeitos de materiais desnecessários na produção e no transporte, as sete empresas e uma rede de hipermercado multinacional em codesign com consumidores através de informações de pesquisa de mercado, desenvolveram produtos e embalagens ambientalmente amigáveis, reduziram insumos de produção e aperfeiçoaram as operações de logística, por consequência, diminuíram as quantidades de resíduos de seus produtos e amenizaram emissões de CO² na atmosfera. Desta forma, estas grandes empresas alcançaram ganhos econômicos e ecológicos, enquanto que, no prisma social, em um dos casos foi possível erradicar o trabalho escravo em alguns subfornecedores, durante o processo de certificação ecológica. O projeto estudado restringe-se às empresas com grande capacidade de produção; altos investimentos em pesquisa e desenvolvimento de redesign de produtos e embalagens; e instrumentos para análise das implicações deste redesign em todo o ciclo de vida do produto. O cenário de negociações ganha-ganha oportunizou atendimento das demandas dos consumidores com produtos sustentáveis consumíveis à preços menores que os similares “não sustentáveis” da concorrência e da linha branca com aumento das parcelas de pagamento, entretanto a comunicação ambiental não visou atingir mais consumidores além do público fiel. Concluiu-se que práticas sustentáveis não são executadas nestas organizações sem ganhos econômicos, pressão de normas legais ou restrição ao acesso de matérias-primas. Neste contexto, tornam-se relevantes pesquisas em projetos sustentáveis para pequenas e médias empresas; integração do tema ambiental para crianças no ensino fundamental, bem como, incentivos e benefícios do governo em apoio a estas causas. A pesquisa fornece informações estruturantes para entendimento da importância do tema e sua efetiva utilização junto às empresas, consumidores, governos e sociedades. / Sustainable production and consumption are practices that lead to sustainable development and retailers have a crucial role in this process because of its prime position between supply and demand. Given the importance of sustainable production in economic, environmental and social terms, this research analyzed the development of sustainable practices in the retail supply chain. The analysis included case studies applied in Brazil in seven manufacturers in the hygiene segment, cleaning, tissue paper, white goods and food. The research was developed through a qualitative approach, multiple study case, exploring information on sustainable production and consumption from the extraction of natural resources to post-consumption. Among the results it was observed that, in order to mitigate the effects of unnecessary materials in the production and transportation, the seven companies and a network of multinational hypermarket in codesign with consumers through market research information, developed products and packaging environmentally friendly, reduced raw materials production and improved logistics operations therefore decreased the amounts of waste from their products and eased CO² emissions in the atmosphere. Therefore, these large companies have achieved economic and ecological gains, while in the social prism, in one case it was possible to eradicate slave labor in some subsuppliers during the ecological certification process. The studied project is restricted to companies with large production capacity; high investments in research and development to redesign products and packaging; and instruments for analysis of the implications of this redesign throughout the product life-cycle management. The negotiating win-win scenario provided an opportunity to meet the demands of consumers with sustainable consumable products to lower prices than similar "unsustainable" of the competition and white line with increased of the payment parcels, however the environmental communication is not aimed to reach more consumers beyond loyal following. The conclusion is that sustainable practices are not performed in these organizations without economic gains, pressure law or restriction on raw materials access. In this context, it becomes relevant research on sustainable projects for small and medium companies; integration of environmental issues for children in elementary school, as well as, government incentives and benefits to support these causes. The research provides structural information for understanding the importance of the theme and its effective use at the companies, consumers, governments and societies.

Sustainable production and consumption, as well as decoupling environmental impact from economy growth are one of the main goals for countries with transition economies. Lithuania, as other Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) countries experienced changes in political, social and economic life in relative short time after the collapse of Soviet Union. Because of an essentially reduced production, use of natural resources and environmental pollution decreased respectively. However, present pronounced growth of transition countries and demand for better quality of life could lead to the increase in material and energy consumption. Such increase would have two implications: firstly, increasing pressure on the environment and health in enlarged EU and could outweigh achievements in Western Europe, and secondly, such increase could impede to reach foreseen objectives to decouple resource consumption from economic growth. The aim of the research was to analyze the main trends of production and consumption and their environmental impact in Lithuania and to assess eco-efficiency of production and consumption and its main determinants. Research on eco-efficiency and the course of decoupling of environmental impact from economy growth in Lithuania is relatively rare and is mostly based on energy issues or covers only one sector. In this study, the eco-efficiency of production and consumption in Lithuania is analyzed jointly for the first time. For the better interpretation of ongoing... [to full text] / Darnios gamybos ir vartojimo siekimas, o tuo pačiu ir poveikio aplinkai atsiejimas nuo ekonomikos, yra vienas pagrindinių darnaus vystymosi tikslų pereinamosios ekonomikos šalims. Lietuva, kaip ir kitos posovietinės šalys, po Sovietų Sąjungos griūties paveldėjo imlų ištekliams ir neefektyvų ūkį. Ūkio restruktūrizavimas lėmė transformacinį ūkio nuosmukį ir jį sekusį išteklių naudojimo ir aplinkos teršimo sumažėjimą. Tačiau dabartinis spartus pereinamosios ekonomikos šalių, kurių dauguma jau tapo ES narėmis, augimas ir geresnės gyvenimo kokybės siekimas gali lemti didesnes medžiagų ir energijos sąnaudas, o tai savo ruožtu sąlygotų didėjantį poveikį aplinkai ir žmonių sveikatai išsiplėtusioje Europos Sąjungoje ir atsvertų kai kuriuos ES šalių senbuvių pasiekimus bei trukdytų pasiekti numatytus išteklių naudojimo atsiejimo nuo ekonomikos augimo tikslus. Darbo tikslas - išanalizuoti Lietuvos gamybos, vartojimo ir jų poveikio aplinkai kitimo tendencijas, ekologinio veiksmingumo pokyčius ir nustatyti jį lemiančius veiksnius. Ekologinio veiksmingumo bei poveikio aplinkai atsiejimo nuo ekonomikos augimo tyrimai Lietuvos mastu palyginti mažai vykdyti ir dažnai apsiriboja tik energetinių išteklių naudojimo veiksmingumo analize arba skirti tik atskiriems sektoriams. Darbe pateikiama dvigubo atsiejimo koncepcija, numatanti būtinybę atsieti gamtos išteklių naudojimą nuo ekonomikos augimo ir aplinkos teršimą nuo gamtos išteklių naudojimo bei sudaranti galimybes detaliau įvertinti... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]

Darnios gamybos ir vartojimo siekimas, o tuo pačiu ir poveikio aplinkai atsiejimas nuo ekonomikos, yra vienas pagrindinių darnaus vystymosi tikslų pereinamosios ekonomikos šalims. Lietuva, kaip ir kitos posovietinės šalys, po Sovietų Sąjungos griūties paveldėjo imlų ištekliams ir neefektyvų ūkį. Ūkio restruktūrizavimas lėmė transformacinį ūkio nuosmukį ir jį sekusį išteklių naudojimo ir aplinkos teršimo sumažėjimą. Tačiau dabartinis spartus pereinamosios ekonomikos šalių, kurių dauguma jau tapo ES narėmis, augimas ir geresnės gyvenimo kokybės siekimas gali lemti didesnes medžiagų ir energijos sąnaudas bei poveikį žmonių sveikatai, o tai savo ruožtu sąlygotų didėjantį poveikį aplinkai išsiplėtusioje Europos Sąjungoje ir atsvertų kai kuriuos ES šalių senbuvių pasiekimus bei trukdytų pasiekti numatytus išteklių naudojimo atsiejimo nuo ekonomikos augimo tikslus. Darbo tikslas - išanalizuoti Lietuvos gamybos, vartojimo ir jų poveikio aplinkai kitimo tendencijas, ekologinio veiksmingumo pokyčius ir nustatyti jį lemiančius veiksnius. Ekologinio veiksmingumo bei poveikio aplinkai atsiejimo nuo ekonomikos augimo tyrimai Lietuvos mastu palyginti mažai vykdyti ir dažnai apsiriboja tik energetinių išteklių naudojimo veiksmingumo analize arba skirti tik atskiriems sektoriams. Darbe pateikiama dvigubo atsiejimo koncepcija, numatanti būtinybę atsieti gamtos išteklių naudojimą nuo ekonomikos augimo ir aplinkos teršimą nuo gamtos išteklių naudojimo bei sudaranti galimybes detaliau įvertinti... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Sustainable production and consumption, as well as decoupling environmental impact from economy growth are one of the main goals for countries with transition economies. Lithuania, as other Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) countries experienced changes in political, social and economic life in relative short time after the collapse of Soviet Union. Because of an essentially reduced production, use of natural resources and environmental pollution decreased respectively. However, present pronounced growth of transition countries and demand for better quality of life could lead to the increase in material and energy consumption. Such increase would have two implications: firstly, increasing pressure on the environment in enlarged EU and could outweigh achievements in Western Europe, and secondly, such increase could impede to reach foreseen objectives to decouple resource consumption from economic growth. The aim of the research was to analyze the main trends of production and consumption and their environmental impact in Lithuania and to assess eco-efficiency of production and consumption and its main determinants. Research on eco-efficiency and the course of decoupling of environmental impact from economy growth in Lithuania is relatively rare and is mostly based on energy issues or covers only one sector. In this study, the eco-efficiency of production and consumption in Lithuania is analyzed jointly for the first time. For the better interpretation of ongoing... [to full text]

Tidens största utmaning idag är klimatförändringen och dess negativa effekter. En grund till många fall av att politisk instabilitet, hälsorisker och ojämlikheter i mänskliga rättigheter är ohållbara konsumtions- och produktionsmönster som leder till miljöförstöring och sociala orättvisor. Tillväxtverket (2020) utförde en undersökning som har påvisat att närmare hälften av de svenska näringsliv arbetar med ett hållbart arbete. Men å andra sidan är det viktigt att iaktta att arbetet mot hållbar utveckling har utvidgat sig och blivit allt mer komplicerad att uppfylla de senaste decennierna.  Syftet med denna studie har varit att undersöka hur de mindre företagen värdesätter FN:s globala hållbarhetsmål 12.4 i två olika branscher, samt hur de aktivt arbetar med att förbättra det. Syftet har uppfyllts genom att författarna genomfört intervjuer med två mindre fallföretag, det ena är Gästrike Ekogas och det andra är St:Eriks. Författarna har därmed genomfört en litteraturstudie i områden som anses relevanta. Studien identifierade två nyckelfaktorer, den första nyckelfaktorer är att Gästrike Ekogas inte arbetar utifrån den globala målen och har därför inte värderingar. För att förbättra arbetet inom hållbarhet har det även påvisats att verksamheten saknar resurser. Den andra nyckelfaktorer som författarna identifierat, är att St:Eriks vision är att de ska vara det självklara valet för hållbar samhällsbyggnad, vilket visar att de har en seriös värdering för hållbarhet. De tar också miljön som ett nyckelområde och har arbetar hårt med det. Eftersom företaget överväger utsläpp av kemiska ämnen och dess konsekvenser arbetar St:Eriks också ständigt för att minska dessa utsläpp med hjälp av sina interna resurser och tredje part. Det har även påvisats för att verksamheten i fråga skall ha en kapabilitet att kombinera ny teknik, förändringar till praxis, med nya affärsmodeller. För att verksamheter lyckligtvis skall anta och implementera en hållbar konsumtion och produktion handlar det i princip om att kräva förändring i organisationens vision och utbildningar. Med tanke på att St:Eriks produkter har en lång livslängd så var det väldigt viktigt för dem att förhålla sig till FN:s 12e globala mål då den innefattar produktion och konsumtion. / The biggest challenge of the time today is climate change and its negative effects. One reason for many cases of political inequality, health risks and human rights inequalities is consumption and production patterns that lead to environmental degradation and injustice. Statistics from the Swedish Agency for Growth (2020) have shown that almost half of Swedish industry works with sustainable work. On the other hand, however, it is important to observe that the work towards sustainable development has expanded and become increasingly complicated to meet the latest conditions.  The purpose of this study is to investigate how highly the smaller companies value the UN's Global Sustainability Goals 12.4 in two different industries, and how they actively work to improve that work. The purpose has been fulfilled by the authors conducting interviews with two case companies, thus the authors have conducted a literature study in areas considered relevant. The study identified two key factors, the first key factor being that Gästrike Ekogas does not work on the basis of the global goals and therefore does not have values. In order to improve the work in sustainability, it has also been demonstrated that the business lacks resources. The other key factor identified by the authors is that St:Erik's vision is that they should be the obvious choice in sustainable community building, which indicates a lot that they have a serious value about sustainability. They also have the environment as a focus area, and which they work with constantly. As the business takes into account the chemical emissions and its consequences, and that St:Eriks also works constantly to reduce these emissions with the help of resources that exist within the business and with the help of third parties.  It has also been demonstrated that the activities in question should have the capability to combine new technologies, changes to practices, with new business models. In order for businesses to fortunately adopt and implement sustainable consumption and production, it is basically about demanding change in the organization's vision and education. Since St:Erik's products have a long lifespan, it was very important for them to relate to the UN's 12th global goals as it includes production and consumption.

Les chaines d’approvisionnement contemporaines sont source de problèmes environnementaux, mais aussi d’impacts pour les communautés des abords des activités de production, consommateurs, ou encore travailleurs. Pour évaluer ces impacts, l’analyse sociale du cycle de vie (ACV-S) est développée depuis quinze ans en complément de l’ACV-E, qui traite, elle, des impacts environnementaux le long du cycle de vie des produits. Cette thèse vise à répondre à certains des défis méthodologiques pour sa conception et son application, par une évaluation de produits de systèmes alimentaires alternatifs belges (SAA), et à ces deux questions: i) que devrait évaluer l’ACV-S et ii) comment intégrer les chaines de causes à effet dans l’analyse, comme en ACV-E. Sur base de trois états de l’art (des cadres d’ACV-S, des études incluant les chaines de cause à effet, et des évaluations de produits alimentaires), nous développons et mettons en œuvre des propositions qui plaident pour i) une approche participative pour définir les critères; ii) une évaluation d’impact pour comprendre les pratiques des entreprises plutôt que leur simple rapportage, à travers l’articulation des indicateurs sur la base de théories existantes, comme l’approche de Global Commodity Chain: celle-ci place la gouvernance des chaines et la répartition de la valeur ajoutée entre les acteurs comme des facteurs explicatifs potentiels des problèmes socio-économiques présents dans les chaines; iii) une approche ‘imbriquée’ de la durabilité (ou ‘nested’), qui implique la considération des aspects économiques et de gouvernance des chaines, à côté des aspects managériaux et ‘sociaux’, et leur mise en relation. Nous cherchons ainsi à contribuer à faire de l’ACV-S un outil analytique qui vise l’amélioration des principaux problèmes dans les chaines d’approvisionnement, en analysant leurs causes profondes. Nos évaluations de produits de SAA, y. c. circuits courts et commerce équitable ‘Nord-Nord’, révèlent des rémunérations trop faibles et des conditions d’emploi précaires dans les fermes, rejetant ainsi notre hypothèse d’une durabilité plus élevée de ces produits, par rapport aux chaines dominantes. Ces faibles performances résulteraient d’une reproduction des mécanismes utilisés par les chaines dominantes (rapports de force déséquilibrés, faible engagement entre les acteurs, prix inéquitables). Ceci tendrait à confirmer notre autre hypothèse selon laquelle la gouvernance des chaines et les modalités de transaction impactent les conditions socioéconomiques des travailleurs au sein de ces chaines, d’où l’intérêt de considérer ces aspects en ACV-S. Aussi, d’autres éléments semblent jouer: la règlementation du travail en vigueur, qui encouragerait les contrats précaires, ou le contexte de marché qui influencerait fortement les prix pratiqués dans les SAA, d’où l’importance de se pencher sur les chaines dominantes pour améliorer la durabilité des produits alimentaires dans leur ensemble. Notre recherche confirme l’applicabilité et la pertinence de nos propositions, qui mériteraient d’autres applications pour une validation et des développements méthodologiques supplémentaires. / Today’s supply chains entail numerous and serious issues, concerning the environment but also regarding people, including communities’ surrounding production activities, final consumers and workers. In order to assess those latter social and socio-economic impacts on people, Social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) is a tool being currently developed to complement E-LCA, which assesses potential environmental impacts along the life cycle of products and services. This PhD aims to address some of the outstanding methodological challenges faced by S-LCA, with the support of an application on products from Belgian alternative food network (AFNs). The thesis focuses on three related main questions: i) what should S-LCA assess (topics, level of assessment, i.e. company’s practices, impacts on people, other) and ii) how to include impact pathways or cause-effect chains in the analysis, as it is done in E-LCA; iii) how should the assessment be carried out, so that it goes beyond a mere reporting? On the basis of three distinct states-of-the-art (on S-LCA frameworks, studies considering impact pathways and S-LCA studies in the food sector), we put forward and apply specific methodological proposals that argue for i) the use of a participatory approach to select assessment criteria; ii) the use of an impact assessment approach that allows to understand company’s practices rather than their mere reporting, through an articulation of assessment criteria and indicators based on existing theories, including in social sciences. In this regard, the Global commodity chain approach that identify chain governance and value distribution among chain actors as potential stressors or root causes of social and socio-economic problems in supply chains, seems particularly relevant; iii) the use of a nested approach to sustainability in which also economic and governance aspects are taken into account, in addition to managerial and “social” aspects of supply chains, which are usually included. With this work we aim to contribute for S-LCA to become an analytical tool contributing the improvement of main problems in supply chains, e.g. income, employment and working conditions, by analyzing their root causes. Our assessments of products traded under various alternative chains, including short food chains and a local Fair trade chain, reveal low income and poor employment conditions on farms. This rejects our assumption of better social sustainability performances of AFN products, when compared to those of mainstream chains. Those poor performances would originate in the mechanisms used (e.g. unbalanced power relations, low commitment between VCAs, unfair prices), which are similar in mainstream chains. This would tend to confirm our assumption that chain governance and transaction modalities (i.e. business practices of chain actors) impact on socioeconomic conditions of workers in supply chains (or for the social sustainability of products), this is why we think it is of interest to consider those aspects in S-LCA. Also, other, more contextual, elements seem to come into play, such as labor regulations in force, that would encourage the use of non-standard forms of employment, and broader market context that influences AFNs quite strongly, including on prices. This is why it seems also important to work on mainstream food chains to improve overall product sustainability. Our research confirms the applicability and relevance of our methodological proposals, however further applications could be useful for further validation and methodological developments. / Doctorat en Sciences / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Public spending of many states makes a significant contribution to the Gross Domestic Product of countries, which are the main consumers of the national economies. For this reason, the purchasing power is an opportunity to influence the market by promoting production and consumption of sustainable and friendly goods to the environment.In this sense, this article discusses the system of Sustainable Public Procurements as a way to promote Sustainable Consumption and Production patterns and, thus, reach sustainable development for a green economy. / El gasto público de muchos Estados contribuye de manera significativa en el Producto Bruto Interno de los países, siendo normalmente los principales consumidores de las economías nacionales; razón por la que dicho poder de adquisición constituye una oportunidad para influir en el mercado, fomentando la producción y el consumo de bienes sostenibles y amigables con el ambiente. En ese sentido, el artículo aborda el mecanismo de las Compras Públicas Sostenibles como una herramienta para promover patrones de Consumo y Producción Sostenibles y, consecuentemente, lograr el desarrollo sostenible en el marco del concepto de una economía verde.