Sustainability assessment is emerging as a form of impact assessment with the concept of sustainability at its heart. This thesis contributes to the process of theory-building for sustainability assessment through an exploration of the development of this policy tool within the Western Australian context. Through an analysis of the sustainability assessments of the Gorgon gas development on Barrow Island and the South West Yarragadee water supply development, and a process of personal reflection, I explore the potential of sustainability assessment to contribute to a more sustainable society by facilitating learning. While the focus of traditional forms of impact assessment has typically been ‘exterior’ forms of knowledge and learning relating to the potential impacts of a proposal, or to process methodologies and governance arrangements, in this thesis I argue that sustainability assessment processes should also facilitate ‘interior’ forms of learning that excavate and challenge underpinning assumptions about the organisation of society, including shared discourses and storylines, as well as personal views and beliefs. To achieve this aim, I maintain that sustainability assessment should be a proactive process that is integrated with the proposal development, framed by an open question and guided by a ‘sustainability decision-making protocol’ that operationalises sustainability for the decision at hand. It should be guided by a structured process framework that assures attention is given to issues that might otherwise be neglected. Each step of the process framework should represent a space for inclusive deliberation, with the concept of sustainability itself acting as a catalyst for learning and reflexivity. Located within the institutions of modern industrial society, deliberative sustainability assessment processes can contribute to the emergence of an 'integral sustainability' that embraces and reconnects the interior and exterior, collective and individual dimensions of policy-making and of society in general. The influence of sustainability assessment can thus extend beyond the immediate decision at hand to contribute to a momentum for societal change towards a more sustainable future.

abstract: Sinaloa, a coastal state in the northwest of Mexico, is known for irrigated conventional agriculture, and is considered one of the greatest successes of the Green Revolution. With the neoliberal reforms of the 1990s, Sinaloa farmers shifted out of conventional wheat, soy, cotton, and other commodities and into white maize, a major food staple in Mexico that is traditionally produced by millions of small-scale farmers. Sinaloa is now a major contributor to the national food supply, producing 26% of total domestic white maize production. Research on Sinaloa's maize has focused on economic and agronomic components. Little attention, however, has been given to the environmental sustainability of Sinaloa's expansion in maize. With uniquely biodiverse coastal and terrestrial ecosystems that support economic activities such as fishing and tourism, the environmental consequences of agriculture in Sinaloa are important to monitor. Agricultural sustainability assessments have largely focused on alternative agricultural approaches, or espouse alternative philosophies that are biased against conventional production. Conventional agriculture, however, provides a significant portion of the world's calories. In addition, incentives such as federal subsidies and other institutions complicate transitions to alternative modes of production. To meet the agricultural sustainability goals of food production and environmental stewardship, we must put conventional agriculture on a more sustainable path. One step toward achieving this is structuring agricultural sustainability assessments around achievable goals that encourage continual adaptations toward sustainability. I attempted this in my thesis by assessing conventional maize production in Sinaloa at the regional/state scale using network analysis and incorporating stakeholder values through a multicriteria decision analysis approach. The analysis showed that the overall sustainability of Sinaloa maize production is far from an ideal state. I made recommendations on how to improve the sustainability of maize production, and how to better monitor the sustainability of agriculture in Sinaloa. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. Sustainability 2011

abstract: Economic development over the last century has driven a tripling of the world's population, a twenty-fold increase in fossil fuel consumption, and a tripling of traditional biomass consumption. The associated broad income and wealth inequities are retaining over 2 billion people in poverty. Adding to this, fossil fuel combustion is impacting the environment across spatial and temporal scales and the cost of energy is outpacing all other variable costs for most industries. With 60% of world energy delivered in 2008 consumed by the commercial and industrial sector, the fragmented and disparate energy-related decision making within organizations are largely responsible for the inefficient and impacting use of energy resources. The global transition towards sustainable development will require the collective efforts of national, regional, and local governments, institutions, the private sector, and a well-informed public. The leadership role in this transition could be provided by private and public sector organizations, by way of sustainability-oriented organizations, cultures, and infrastructure. The diversity in literature exemplifies the developing nature of sustainability science, with most sustainability assessment approaches and frameworks lacking transformational characteristics, tending to focus on analytical methods. In general, some shortfalls in sustainability assessment processes include lack of: * thorough stakeholder participation in systems and stakeholder mapping, * participatory envisioning of future sustainable states, * normative aggregation of results to provide an overall measure of sustainability, and * influence within strategic decision-making processes. Specific to energy sustainability assessments, while some authors aggregate results to provide overall sustainability scores, assessments have focused solely on energy supply scenarios, while including the deficits discussed above. This paper presents a framework for supporting organizational transition processes towards sustainable energy systems, using systems and stakeholder mapping, participatory envisioning, and sustainability assessment to prepare the development of transition strategies towards realizing long-term energy sustainability. The energy system at Arizona State University's Tempe campus (ASU) in 2008 was used as a baseline to evaluate the sustainability of the current system. From interviews and participatory workshops, energy system stakeholders provided information to map the current system and measure its performance. Utilizing operationalized principles of energy sustainability, stakeholders envisioned a future sustainable state of the energy system, and then developed strategies to begin transition of the current system to its potential future sustainable state. Key findings include stakeholders recognizing that the current energy system is unsustainable as measured against principles of energy sustainability and an envisioned future sustainable state of the energy system. Also, insufficient governmental stakeholder engagement upstream within the current system could lead to added risk as regulations affect energy supply. Energy demand behavior and consumption patterns are insufficiently understood by current stakeholders, limiting participation and accountability from consumers. In conclusion, although this research study focused on the Tempe campus, ASU could apply this process to other campuses thereby improving overall ASU energy system sustainability. Expanding stakeholder engagement upstream within the energy system and better understanding energy consumption behavior can also improve long-term energy sustainability. Finally, benchmarking ASU's performance against its peer universities could expand the current climate commitment of participants to broader sustainability goals. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Sustainability 2011

The thesis describes a programme of research work to develop and apply knowledge mapping and knowledge management techniques to effectively assess and enhance sustainability within urban redevelopment projects. The research programme was initiated in collaboration with Dundee City Council to support sustainable development in a major programme of urban redevelopment. There is limited evidence that the body of knowledge arising from research in sustainable urban development is being holistically integrated within real life decision making practices to operationalise sustainability. Sustainability assessment has the potential to influence decision making and consequently by improving sustainability assessment practice project decision making should be enhanced. In addition, closer integration between assessment and decision making may not only lead to improve decisions, but also to the improved learning of those involved. This can be greatly facilitated by knowledge management, which can be used to understand and then facilitate greater learning amongst stakeholders. A theoretical framework for the assessment, monitoring and enhancement of sustainability was developed and applied in two parts to a case study, a monitoring component and an enhancement component. As a result of the case study a sustainability assessment and monitoring framework was successfully established for Dundee Waterfront in line with the assessment component of the theoretical framework. The indicators are now used by Dundee City Council at project and departmental level, providing the link across policies, programmes and projects. The key challenge addressed in developing the benchmark indicators was establishing robust governance for the monitoring framework. An enhancement framework was successfully established for Dundee Waterfront in line with the enhancement component of the theoretical framework. Decision mapping and knowledge elicitation techniques were successfully developed and applied to the case study to identify, key points in decision process, the information decision makers' need and which knowledge objects are being used in decision making. It is concluded that the knowledge elicitation and mapping approaches applied were effective at identifying both existing processes and knowledge objects used in infrastructure provision. This allowed a Knowledge Map for Sustainability to be developed to identify what information is currently used to influence sustainability and identify future opportunities to enhance practise. The map was effective in capturing the role of each stage in the process towards translating the sustainability vision as proved by user verification. The Map showed for the first time the aspects of sustainability in infrastructure provision and can be used to systematically operationalise sustainable development. However, the use of the map to embed sustainability into learning process could not be verified by practise in the currency of the thesis. A limitation of the case study application is that the integrated sustainability assessment and enhancement framework has been applied in a Scottish local authority context, to an organisation with a Quality Management System and outcome based indicators. These factors have been identified as contributing factors to the success of the sustainability assessment and enhancement framework as applied in the case study. This has the potential to limit the exportability of any findings. However, whilst considering the monitoring component it is recognised that similar outcome based indicators may exist at other local authorities and private organisations. In addition, the knowledge elicitation and mapping technique is an adaptive framework and as such is designed to respond to other organisation structures. Therefore by its nature it should be exportable to other applications. However three main questions remain to be addressed prior to the research question being answered in full. Firstly, uncertainty related to governance and long term use of the framework. Secondly, testing how the Knowledge Map for Sustainability is used in practice and thirdly the exportability of findings from the case study. It is recommended that these limitations be addressed in future work.

Évaluation de la durabilité de la production de biodiesel est un sujet d'importance croissante en raison de l'intérêt des gouvernements à effectuer des stratégies de souveraineté, diversifier leur matrice énergétique et mis en place l'impact de la production de biocarburants. Dans ce contexte, ce travail propose un modèle dynamique du système pour évaluer la production de biodiesel dans un contexte spécifique, basé sur une structure hiérarchique générale d'évaluation de la durabilité qui intègre les dimensions du développement durable avec les principes, critères et indicateurs (PC & I). Le cadre de l'évaluation de la production de biodiesel a été défini d'après un ample état de la technique, ce qui entraîne une sélection et analyse de 113 documents, y compris les lois, directives et autres documents normatifs, les documents de politique, les certificats et documents publiés dans des revues. Pour définir le cadre final, une stratégie de validation basée sur les consultations d'experts enquête et une analyse statistique descriptive a été réalisée. Ainsi, un cadre composé de cinq dimensions (sociales, économiques, environnementale, politiques et technologiques), 13 principes et 31 critères a été proposé. Par la suite, un modèle de dynamique de système (DS) a été développé et appliqué pour évaluer la durabilité de la production du biodiesel en Colombie. Au départ, le modèle DS a été utilisé pour simuler la production du biodiesel, compte tenu des conditions actuelles en Colombie, ce qui permet de déterminer le niveau de référence (années 2008-2014). Par la suite, certains indicateurs exogènes du scénario de référence ont été modifiés afin de générer une analyse de sensibilité pour définir plusieurs conditions fondamentales vers la production de biodiesel durable dans le contexte colombien. Une fois l'analyse de sensibilité a été réalisée, on a déterminé les conditions qui favorisent ou découragent la production de biodiesel et, par conséquent, des scénarios optimistes et pessimistes ont été proposées. Les résultats de l'analyse des scénarios peuvent aider les institutions, les décideurs et les autres parte prenants associés à établir les conditions à réaliser pour promouvoir une production durable du biodiesel / Sustainability assessment of biodiesel production is a topic of increasing importance due to the interest of governments to stablish sovereignty strategies, diversify their energy matrix and set up the impact of biofuels production. In this context, this work proposes a system dynamic model to assess biodiesel production in a specific context, based on a general hierarchical structure of sustainability assessment that integrates dimensions of sustainable development with principles, criteria and indicators (PC&I). The assessment framework of biodiesel production was defined based on a comprehensive state of the art, resulting in a selection and analysis of 113 documents, including laws, directives and other normative documents, policy documents, certificates and papers published in peer-reviewed journals. To define the final framework, a validation strategy based on expert survey consultations and a descriptive statistical analysis was conducted. As a result, a framework composed of five dimensions (social, economic, environmental, political and technological), 13 principles and 31 criteria was proposed. Subsequently, a System Dynamics (SD) model was developed and applied for assess the sustainability biodiesel production in Colombia. Initially, the SD model was used to simulate the biodiesel production considering the current conditions in Colombia, enabling to determine the baseline (years 2008 to 2014). Subsequently, some exogenous indicators of the baseline scenario were modified in order to generate a sensibility analysis to define several fundamental conditions for the sustainable biodiesel production in the Colombian context. Once the sensibility analysis was conducted, the conditions that promote or discourage biodiesel production were determined and, consequently, optimistic and pessimistic scenarios were proposed. The results of the analysis of the scenarios can help institutions, decision-makers and other agents related to establish the conditions to be carried out to promote a sustainable biodiesel production

Due to urbanization and governmental incapacity to cope with the consequent increase in demand for housing in cities, more than 10 % of the South African population is living in informal settlements. This group is also growing at high rates, causing settlements in cities to be established in ever less suitable conditions (Gaunt et al. 2012; Wolpe & Reddy 2010). Informal households in locations considered unsuitable for habitation are not sufficiently addressed by current national policies aimed at relieving energy poverty. These households instead resort to buying electricity from their neighbors or stealing from the grid, posing issues of revenue losses, network reliability, safety and affordability, and they also continue to rely on unclean use of fuel for cooking and lighting (Franks & Prasad 2014; Tait 2013). At the same time, alternative ways of providing energy services, such as Solar Home Systems and LPG being tested in such contexts need further examination.  This thesis explores how access to basic energy services can be sustainably provided to informal households that are ineligible for grid electrification, by comparing current and alternative ways of accessing energy services and identifying some barriers and opportunities related to these. The sustainability of the access alternatives is studied using a multi-criteria sustainability assessment (MCSA). This approach incorporates a case study in the Western Cape Province, focused on Cape Town, using semi-structured interviews to explore views and knowledge of stakeholders and experts. The MCSA identifies notable trade-offs of various access alternatives and suggests that off-grid electricity alternatives may provide a short or medium-term solution if provided along with gas for cooking accessed at local convenience stores. The case study further shows that barriers for electrification can be overcome in most cases, providing that there is political will at the local level to do so. At the same time, it is shown that the current focus on electricity is limited in its success of providing access to basic energy services. It is suggested that sustainable implementation of alternatives to grid electricity is likely to depend on a range of factors, including political will, policy framework, funding and allocation of subsidies, the model of service provision, as well as social dynamics. The case study also indicate that non-government initiatives may be necessary in some cases, both to overcome political inertia and to gain social acceptance among households. In conclusion, this study supports the suggestion that governmental efforts aimed at access to energy services, as opposed to supply of electricity, may be more effective in meeting basic needs. It also suggests that close cooperation between various government levels, as well as non-government actors and the local community is crucial to sustainably meeting these needs. As this work was limited both in time and scope, further studies should apply and/or study possible models of providing access to basic energy services, using findings from this study as a starting point. / Till följd av urbanisering och regeringens oförmåga att hantera åtföljande ökade efterfrågan på bostäder i städer lever mer än 10 % av den Sydafrikanska befolkningen i informella bosättningar eller slumområden. Denna grupp växer också kraftigt vilket leder till att bosättningar etableras på allt sämre lämpade platser (Gaunt et al. 2012; Wolpe & Reddy 2010). Informella hushåll på platser som anses olämpliga för boende nås inte av nuvarande nationella policyer inriktade på att bekämpa energifattigdom. Dessa hushåll lämnas således åt att köpa elektricitet från sina grannar eller att stjäla från elnätet, vilket orsakar problem med intäktsförluster, elnätets pålitlighet, säkerhet och betalningssvårigheter, och de får också fortsätta att förlita sig på oren användning av bränslen för matlagning och belysning (Franks & Prasad 2014; Tait 2013). Samtidigt behöver alternativa sätt att tillhandahålla energitjänster, så som Solar Home Systems och gasol, som testas i sådana sammanhang undersökas ytterligare. Denna uppsats undersöker hur tillgång till grundläggande energitjänster kan förmedlas på ett hållbart sätt till informella hushåll som inte är berättigade till elnätsanslutning, genom att jämföra nuvarande och alternativa sätt att få tillgång till energitjänster, samt genom att identifiera vissa hinder och möjligheter i samband med dessa. Hållbarheten hos försörjningsalternativen studeras genom en multi-kriteriell hållbarhetsbedömning (MCSA). Detta tillvägagångssätt inbegriper en fallstudie i Västra Kapprovinsen med fokus på Kapstaden och använder semistrukturerade intervjuer för att utforska åsikter och kunskap hos intressegrupper och experter. Med MCSA identifieras betydande avvägningar mellan olika försörjningsalternativ och det föreslås att icke nätbaserade alternativ kan utgöra möjliga lösningar på kort eller meddelång sikt, ifall de tillhandahålls tillsammans med gas för matlagning genom lokala närbutiker. Fallstudien visar vidare att hinder för elektrifiering kan övervinnas i de flesta fall, förutsatt att det finns politisk vilja på lokal nivå för detta.  Samtidigt visas att den nuvarande fokusen på elnätsanslutning är begränsad i dess förmåga att tillhandahålla grundläggande energitjänster. Det föreslås att hållbarheten i genomförande av alternativ till elnätsanslutningar i kontexten sannolikt beror på en rad faktorer, bland annat politisk vilja, politiska ramverk, finansiering och fördelning av styrmedel, modellen för tillhandahållande av tjänster, samt social dynamik. Fallstudien visar också att icke-statliga insatser kan vara nödvändiga i vissa fall, både för att övervinna politisk tröghet samt att vinna social acceptans bland hushållen. Sammanfattningsvis stöder denna studie förslaget att statliga ansatser som syftar till att tillgång till energitjänster, i motsats till elförsörjning, kan vara mer effektiva när det gäller att tillgodose grundläggande behov. Studien föreslår också att ett nära samarbete och interaktion mellan olika förvaltningsnivåer, samt icke-statliga aktörer och lokalsamhället är avgörande för att på ett hållbart sätt möta dessa behov. Vidare studier bör tillämpa och/eller studera möjliga modeller för tillhandahållande av grundläggande energitjänster, med resultaten från denna studie som utgångspunkt.

The procurement of ores and metals necessitates consideration of the sustainability of both the productand of the producer. Current trends in procurement practices move toward assuring the lowestenvironmental, social and economic impacts feasible. In order to ensure a high level of sustainability inthe raw materials acquired, the practices and methods of the producers must be evaluated. To this enddifferent assessment models may be used. This report aims to, through an investigation ofcontemporary assessment models; develop an assessment model which facilitates the sustainableprocurement of ores and metals with a reduced need for compliance from the assessed parties. Theevaluation is carried out based on the triple bottom line (TBL) definition of sustainability and considersthe practices and needs of the ores and metals industry. A number of desirable traits were found in themodels evaluated. A design for a novel assessment model is proposed for scoring ore and metalproducers. The proposed model features recommendations for weighing methods and specifications forimpact indicators, measurement methods, and grading methods. / Malm- och metallindustri arbetar allt mer med hållbar utveckling. Detta kräver metoder för attsäkerställa att potentiella underleverantörer använder sig av procedurer och strategier som anses sundaur ett hållbarhetsperspektiv. För att undersöka detta finns etablerade bedömningsmodeller. Syftet meddenna rapport är att utvärdera dessa modeller för få en grund på vilken en ny modell, anpassad förmalm- och metallindustrin, kan utformas. Denna nya modell utformas för att minska krav av storaeftergifter från de aktörer som undersöks. Utvärderingen baseras på ”triple bottom line” -definitionenav hållbar utveckling och tar hänsyn till behoven som finns i industrin, och de metoder som redananvänds. Arbetet resulterade i att ett antal egenskaper som är önskvärda för en bedömningsmodellidentifierades. Med dessa egenskaper i beaktande utformades en ny bedömningsmodell medrekommendationer för viktning av betyg och specifikationer för mätpunkter, mätmetoder, ochbetygsmodeller.

China’s spectacular economic growth during the last decade has brought many benefits and challenges. As China poised to leapfrog today’s global economics creates huge negative environmental impact thus make China becomes one of the biggest potential to reduce its emissions. Further, China made rapid progress in learning how to mitigate its pollution by becoming the major player of the global carbon market with expecting to have its own cost efficient for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by learning through the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). However, to assist Annex I countries in meeting their greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets with cost-effective reduction is not the only goal of CDM but also to achieve sustainable development in non-Annex I countries. Nonetheless, the first objective is measurable in term of the greenhouse gas reduction amount while the second objective is difficult to determine due to lacking of clear procedure and well proven methodologies and limited knowledge on the application of CDM sustainable development assessment. As China being the major player in CDM market especially in renewable energy projects therefore sustainability assessment are needed to ascertain if CDM projects are actually contributing to sustainable development. The research question that this paper aims to answer: How to measure sustainability performance from CDM renewables projects in China? I will discuss and propose a sustainability assessment tool which is based on quantified data. To provide solutions to this problem, the aim translates into a set of six specific research questions: What is the definition and criterion for CDM projects in regards to its contribution to sustainable development in China?, What are the requirements for an effective sustainability assessment for CDM renewables projects?, How suitable are the existing methodology in respond to determine sustainable development performance?, Is the developed methodology applicable with CDM renewables projects in China?, What is the best sustainable CDM renewable energy project for China?, What will China benefit in implementing this developed methodology? A SWOT analysis distinguished the MATA-CDM methodology from the other methodologies, and an appraising tool was further developed. With a flexibility and people related preferences, this tool is applicable to any size of project. As one of the objectives of the thesis is to help China define better sustainable development criteria and indicators, the ultimate sustainability performance ascertainment tool offers the height of rarity and possibility to ensure sustainability performance results for each and every examined CDM renewable energy project in China. The results of the fiveregistered CDM projects are actively exhibited that they have positively promoted sustainable development in China, even though a few projects have been ineffective in the development. Thus to improve sustainability performance of a project, project developer need to understand the implication of China’s sustainable development criteria and better understand the activities that can truly improve project sustainability performance an with the developed methodology, China can improve its society, environment, and nation economy in terms of sustainable development.

The apparel and textile industry is one of the largest in the world and is characterised by complex, global supply chains, water and chemical intensive processes as well as environmentally harmful raw material extraction and production. Because of this, environmental sustainability has become a key issue for the businesses in recent years. With this in mind, and considering an increasing demand for textile and apparel goods, the industry is in urgent need of improving the environmental footprint of its products. However, lack of transparency and available data throughout apparel supply chains decrease chances of producing accurate sustainability assessments, which in turn obstruct improvement measures. Moreover, companies often lack the in-house competence required to manage and create strategies for sustainability assessments. In this study an overview of an apparel supply chain is provided, highlighting phases, sub phases, input and environmental indicators. Appropriate tools for assessing the environmental sustainability of such a supply chain are inventoried and examined. Based on a case study, a literature review and a stakeholder opinion assessment, misalignments between actual practices within an apparel company and recommended practices of the researcher and stakeholder communities are uncovered. These identified misalignments enabled the development of a conceptual model, aiming at facilitating the process of developing an environmental sustainability assessment strategy within an apparel company.

No description available.