A Pluralistic Approach towards Sustainable Eco-Industrial Networking

Abstract

Corporate environmental responsibility is rapidly evolving into a crucial aspect of strategic management as worldwide recycling and emission regulations are tightening in order to mitigate the effects of waste and greenhouse effects towards climate change and natural disasters. Enterprises typically respond to this challenge by implementing environmental reporting and management systems. However, their environmental programs are often not properly integrated in the overall business strategy. Moreover, within Collaborative Networks (CNs), the Environmental Management (EM) effort is often not optimally coordinated amid partners in order to achieve a much needed synergy. Eco-Industrial Networking (EIN) is increasingly becoming an important CN strategy towards a systems-based approach for improving EM and competitiveness in the industrial landscape. EIN aims to maximise eco-efficiency and minimise environmental impact in value chains and networks; currently however, the effort towards a sustainable and efficient EIN is still in an infancy stage. This paper proposes a way forward in tackling the EIN challenge by means of a multidisciplinary approach grounded in the wealth of knowledge accumulated in the Collaborative Networks, Industrial Ecology, Systems Engineering and Enterprise Architecture research disciplines. This pluralistic viewpoint is expected to provide a sound holistic and lifecycle based approach towards the sustainable eco-industrial initiative.