Triple Bottom Line Sustainability Research Articles

Evaluation of social impact measurement tools and techniques: a systematic review of the literature

PurposeIn spite of the availability of metrics for measuring social impact (SI), it can be difficult for organisations to select tools that fit their precise needs. To address this challenge, this study conducts a systematic literature review by using legitimacy theory as a point of departure. It examines tools that capture three dimensions of sustainability – social, economic and environmental (SEE) – and firm size.Design/methodology/approachTop four journal databases in the social sciences from the FT50 review were searched to identify articles published in peer-reviewed journals in the 2009-2019 period, using keywords to conceptualise the construct. For comprehensive assessment, this study adopted a method that requires the logic synthesis of concepts and evidence emerging from the literature to address the research aim.FindingsThe results show that most of the articles developed tools or frameworks to measure SI based on the triple bottom line of sustainability – SEE – and firm size. However, there is insufficient evidence of their integration into practice.Research limitations/implicationsThis work contributes to the legitimisation of social enterprises (SEs) by using validated tools and frameworks to develop practical suggestions for SI measurement (SIM).Originality/valueAs legitimacy is an important rationale for SIM, this study adds value through the development of a suitability framework. The framework enables SEs to identify the most appropriate tool for their purpose and size to establish legitimacy through impact measurement and reporting.

A Strategic Location Decision-Making Approach for Multi-Tier Supply Chain Sustainability

Few studies on supply location decisions focus on enhancing triple bottom line (TBL) sustainability in supply chains; they rarely employ objective quantifiable measurements which help ensure consistent and transparent decisions or reveal relationships between business and environmental trade-off criteria. Therefore, we propose a decision-making approach for objectively selecting multi-tier supply locations based on cost and carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e) from manufacturing, logistics, and sustainability-assurance activities, including certificate implementation, sample-checking, living wage and social security payments, and factory visits. Existing studies and practices, logic models, activity-based costing, and feedback from an application and experts help develop the approach. The approach helps users in location decisions and long-term supply chain planning by revealing relationships among factors, TBL sustainability, and potential risks. This approach also helps users evaluate whether supplier prices are too low to create environmental and social compliance. Its application demonstrates potential and flexibility in revealing both lowest- and optimized-cost and CO2e supply chains, under various contexts and constraints, for different markets. Very low cost/CO2e supply chains have proximity between supply chain stages and clean manufacturing energy. Considering sustainability-assurance activities differentiates our approach from existing studies, as the activities significantly impact supply chain cost and CO2e in low manufacturing unit scenarios.

A review on sustainable metrics for Sustainability Measurement in Supply Chain

This research analyzes the performance measurement in sustainable supply chain using sustainable triple bottom line aspects, namely environmental dimension, social dimension, and economic dimension. The analysis process is accomplished for 40 articles, which are from Scopus website related to sustainable supply chain. The focus in analysis process is the sustainable dimension that has been used in the previous research. Furthermore, the other focuses are the analysis processes about the journal name, organizations that fulfill the performance measurement, the utilized approach, and the type of research. Then, in the final research, there will be explanation about the metric that is utilized to be a tool for performance measurement of sustainable supply chain in the organization.

Trade-offs across the water-energy-food nexus: A triple bottom line sustainability assessment of desalination for agriculture in the San quintín Valley, Mexico

This paper introduces a novel triple bottom line sustainability assessment to evaluate the water-energy-food nexus of desalination for agriculture. Falling technology costs and rising water scarcity worldwide make desalination an increasingly attractive proposition, and agriculture is one of the main sectors grappling with its potential impacts. To explore this issue, we combine a wide range of primary and secondary environmental, economic, and social data with a triple bottom line / WEF nexus analysis, to demonstrate both the holistic sustainability impacts of desalination for agriculture, and the multi-sectoral policy environment within which desalination is adopted. We apply this approach to 54 privately-owned desalination plants that treat brackish groundwater for agricultural use in the San Quintín Valley of Baja California, Mexico. We find that subsidized energy for local agribusinesses plays an important role in making desalination economically viable in the region. This in turn fuels a large agricultural export industry that represents a significant virtual water transfer to the US market. Rapid population growth in the area driven by agricultural labor needs exacerbates the issues of social equity and sustainability that these subsidies and transfers raise. We conclude with a discussion of how to manage these identified trade-offs across the water-energy-food nexus.

Sustainable closed-loop supply chain network for an integrated water supply and wastewater collection system under uncertainty

Today, an increase in the drought and water shortage all around the world is a challengeable threat for different governments and international committees. Water supply chain aims to manage the water consumption and to control the water shortage. Contrary to most of previous studies focused on the forward directions of the water supply chain, this paper also considers the reverse logistics known as a Closed-Loop Supply Chain (CLSC). Hence, an integrated Water Supply and Wastewater Collection System (WSWCS) under uncertainty is proposed. Furthermore, regarding the trend of sustainable development, the environmental dimensions and social benefits of the integrated WSWCS are contributed. To meet the standards of the sustainable development in developing countries, a case study in Iran is applied to a novel multi-objective stochastic optimization model based on triple bottom lines of sustainability. Having already been employed to similar optimization problems, the Social Engineering Optimizer (SEO) has been never applied in this research area. Another innovation of this study is to introduce an improved multi-objective SEO to solve this complicated model. Eventually, with regards to an extensive comparison contributing to the Pareto-based metrics and different sensitivities, some managerial implications are concluded as the main findings.

Overcoming the limitations of the green pyramid rating system in the Egyptian construction industry: a critical analysis

ABSTRACT Despite the tangible contributions of the construction industry to social development and economic growth, it is known for its natural resources overconsumption and solid waste (SW) generation both of which have major negative impacts on the natural environment. In the particular case of materials waste, the construction industry worldwide accounts for about 50% of global annual generated SW. In addition, construction materials may contribute up to 50% of the total project cost. Accordingly, the negative implications of the construction industry have compelled many nations to develop green building rating systems in order to preserve the environment, promote the economic efficiency of using resources, and enhance the quality of citizens’ lives which are necessary aspects for achieving the triple bottom line (TBL) of sustainability. Recently, Egypt developed the Green Pyramid Rating System (GPRS) in its first version in 2011. Through investigating the GPRS and especially its Materials and Resources (M&R) category, some shortcomings were identified. Towards improving the GPRS, this paper aims to investigate the GPRS and compare it with its peers BREEAM and LEED with a special focus on M&R category. The investigation and comparison results helped proposing suggestions which may improve the GPRS on the categorical level and the criteria level of M&R category. Moreover, the importance of M&R category is demonstrated by a case study through using palm fronds as a green material for concrete reinforcement to prove the positive impact of this category on the TBL of sustainability.

Developing a Framework for Assessing City Sustainability (Case Study: Bandar Lampung and Metro City, Lampung Province, Indonesia)

Sustainable city development is influenced by the availability of sustainable infrastructure. High population growth in urban areas requires improvements in many aspects, especially infrastructure. However, the need for improvements is often not fulfilled. As a result, various problems that would ultimately affect the city sustainability emerge. To overcome the problems, it is important to develop comprehensive and integrated policies and strategies framework that enables a city to meet the demand for improvement and sustainability. The very first stage of developing a city development framework is to understand the current condition of city performance and sustainability. The main objective of this paper is to develop an indicator framework of a sustainable city. The stages of developing the framework consist (1) defining the criteria and indicators of sustainable city; (2) measuring performance and sustainability level of a city and (3) identifying the influential indicators that increase the city sustainability status. The criteria of sustainability framework were developed based on the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) Sustainability of people, planet, and profit. Subsequently, the level of sustainability is measured by using a weighted-score method. This paper presented the results of the performance and sustainability assessment of two cities in the Lampung Province (Bandar Lampung and Metro City) based on the performance and sustainability framework developed in this study. It can be concluded that Bandar Lampung City is less sustainable than Metro.

Sustainability Implications of Using Hydrogen as an Automotive Fuel in Western Australia

Hydrogen is regarded as a potential solution to address future energy demands and environmental protection challenges. This study assesses the triple bottom line (TBL) sustainability performance of hydrogen as an automotive fuel for Western Australia (WA) using a life cycle approach. Hydrogen is considered to be produced through water electrolysis. Two scenarios, current grid electricity and future renewable-based hydrogen, were compared with gasoline as a base case. The results show that locally produced grid electricity-based hydrogen is good for local jobs but exhibits higher environmental impacts and negative economic benefits for consumers when compared to gasoline. After incorporating wind-generated electricity, reductions of around 69% and 65% in global warming potential (GWP) and fossil fuel depletion (FFD), respectively were achieved compared to the base case gasoline. The land utilization for the production of hydrogen is not a problem as Western Australia has plenty of land to accommodate renewable energy projects. Water for hydrogen feedstock could be sourced through seawater desalination or from wastewater treatment plants in WA. Hydrogen also performed better than gasoline in terms of human health and conservation of fossil fuel indicators under the renewable energy scenario. Local job creation potential of hydrogen was estimated to be 1.29E-03 man-hours/VKT. It has also been found that the cost of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (HFCV) needs to be similar to that of gasoline vehicles (GV) in order to be comparable with the gasoline life cycle cost per vehicle kilometre travel (VKT).

Triple bottom line sustainability assessment of window-to-wall ratio in US office buildings

The window-to-wall ratio (WWR), or the proportion of glazing in a building's envelope, influences many design and performance aspects of a building across its life cycle, including aesthetics, material use, daylighting, HVAC size and operating energy consumption, view, and human satisfaction. Prior work argued for reducing WWR to reduce operating energy consumption. The objective of this study is to comprehensively assess the environmental, economic, and social effects of various WWR levels using a triple-bottom line approach. A building information model of the US DOE's large office (12 story) prototype building was developed using Autodesk Revit®. The Tally® Revit application and DOE's EnergyPlus™ were used to perform life cycle assessment (LCA) and assess implications on HVAC equipment sizing, embodied energy of materials, and distribution of operational energy. Designs altering WWR from a baseline of 40% were compared in three different climate zones of the United States. Results showed that increasing the WWR in large office buildings leads to increases in environmental impacts, occupant dissatisfaction, and the life cycle cost for the three different climate zones studied. Most reductions in energy use and environmental impacts were approximately 1% from the baseline scenario for the office building under study. The results imply that while reductions in the WWR do result in improvements across the suite of metrics assessed, other design strategies need to be employed either in conjunction with, or separate from, in order to meet target energy consumption and environmental impact reduction goals within this building program, such as Architecture 2030 Challenges.

Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment of Alternative Energy Sources for the Western Australian Transport Sector

Environmental obligation, fuel security, and human health issues have fuelled the search for locally produced sustainable transport fuels as an alternative to liquid petroleum. This study evaluates the sustainability performance of various alternative energy sources, namely, ethanol, electricity, electricity-gasoline hybrid, and hydrogen, for Western Australian road transport using a life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) framework. The framework employs 11 triple bottom line (TBL) sustainability indicators and uses threshold values for benchmarking sustainability practices. A number of improvement strategies were devised based on the hotspots once the alternative energy sources failed to meet the sustainability threshold for the determined indicators. The proposed framework effectively addresses the issue of interdependencies between the three pillars of sustainability, which was an inherent weakness of previous frameworks. The results show that the environment-friendly and socially sustainable energy options, namely, ethanol-gasoline blend E55, electricity, electricity-E10 hybrid, and hydrogen, would need around 0.02, 0.14, 0.10, and 0.71 AUD/VKT of financial support, respectively, to be comparable to gasoline. Among the four assessed options, hydrogen shows the best performance for the environmental and social bottom line when renewable electricity is employed for hydrogen production. The economic sustainability of hydrogen fuel is, however, uncertain at this stage due to the high cost of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (HFCVs). The robustness of the proposed framework warrants its application in a wide range of alternative fuel assessment scenarios locally as well as globally.

Identifying the Key Barriers to Promote Sustainable Construction in the United States: A Principal Component Analysis

The need to build more facilities has intensified the inherited adverse impacts of the construction industry on the triple bottom lines of sustainability (i.e., people, planet, and profit). The current practice of sustainability in the construction industry is far from reaching the targeted green goals. In order to foster these endeavors, this study aims to explore sustainable construction barriers in the United States. To achieve the objective, first, 12 sustainability barriers were identified based on an excessive and comprehensive literature review and solicitation of experts’ opinions to validate the barriers. Next, a questionnaire survey was developed and distributed among 135 industry professionals to evaluate the relative importance of factors. To offer a practical solution, principal component analysis (PCA) was used to analyze the data and find the most effective barriers. The results show that four major barriers, including (1) pre-construction constraints, (2) managerial constraints, (3) legislative constraints, and (4) financial and planning constraints are the most influential challenges that the industry faces to foster sustainable construction. Practical solutions are suggested to tackle sustainable construction barriers. The findings of this study are beneficial to the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry members along with owners and policymakers.

An Approach to Increase the Sustainability of Projects and their Outcomes in Public Sector through Improving Project Definition

The pressure to incorporate sustainability principles and objectives into policies and activities is growing, particularly in project management. A successful project cannot disregard any of the three triple bottom line (TBL) sustainability pillars (economic, social and environmental). Stakeholders representing each of those pillars have to be satisfied to a certain degree in each successful project, even if the way of balancing the three pillars varies depending on project type. Project definition is of primary importance for the proper addressing of stakeholder expectations during the project, and thus for project success. The problem is that project definitions in practice are not written in a way which would guarantee a sufficient degree of project sustainability. However, the hypothesis can be formulated that a systematic analysis and modification of project definition can increase the degree of project sustainability, and thus the degree of project success. That is why we propose here a method of checking and improving existing project definitions in order to improve the chances of project success through increasing the satisfaction of the stakeholders representing the three TBL pillars. The method is based on a careful identification of missing and ambiguous information in a project definition and on correcting it on the basis of TBL stakeholders’ opinions and preferences. These preferences are modelled, wherever possible, by means of fuzzy sets, in order to provide a systematic, formal measurement of sustainability degree in TBL sustainability pillars, represented by project stakeholders. The method’s use and potential advantages are illustrated by means of two real world projects. The initial verification of the method allows us to formulate the hypothesis that analysing and improving project definition may considerably contribute to increasing the sustainability degree of projects, and thus to their success.

A multi-stage multi-criteria hierarchical decision-making approach for sustainable supplier selection

Sustainable supplier selection is known as a crucial objective in supply chains due to its impact on profitability, adorability, flexibility, and agility of the system. This study proposes a new multi-stage hierarchical fuzzy index-based approach with which decision-makers are empowered to select the most sustainable supplier based on sustainability triple bottom line criteria. Besides, a new fuzzy extension for the best-worst method is proposed considering trapezoidal fuzzy membership functions that can cover uncertainty under imprecise environments. This study makes a contribution to the literature of sustainable supply chains in the sense that it facilitates the computational complexity of previous decision-making approaches by collecting the most relevant criteria and a straightforward fuzzy process. Besides, the graded mean integration representation method has been adopted for prioritizing the supplier based on their performance of sustainable development, which enhances the accuracy of selection compared with previous ranking methods. The proposed study can be utilized as a benchmark for sustainability evaluations between suppliers. A real-world case study is resolved to illustrate the superiority and broad application of the proposed model.

Assessment of triple bottom line of sustainability for geotechnical projects

The American Society of Civil Engineers set three pillars of sustainability, the triple bottom line approach, revolving around the environment, economy and equity. This approach is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations. Activities undertaken in any construction project must follow this approach and must be audited to validate their impact on sustainability. Geotechnical projects lack an audit/assessment tool encompassing the triple bottom line. Efforts were made to modify SPeAR (Sustainable Project Appraisal Routine) into Geotechnical SPeAR, but the system lacks the quantification scale as used by Environmental Geotechnics Indicators. The study aims to develop a new tool called Geo-SAT (Geotechnical Sustainability Assessment Tool), overcoming these limitations, incorporating engineering as a vital pillar. Geo-SAT is based on indicators quantified on a scale of 1 (detrimental) to 5 (significantly improved) to assess the impact of actions taken or considered, on sustainability. The total number of indicators developed is 169 out of which 79 are specific to the triple bottom line approach and 90 to engineering. These indicators are generic and can be used for geotechnical projects with the flexibility of exclusion as per the nature of the project. The different fields targeted are dams, foundations, landslides, contaminated site remediation, soil and erosion control, offshore construction and transportation. This tool will serve as a potential code of sustainability for geotechnical projects.

A likelihood-based multi-criteria sustainable supplier selection approach with complex preference information

Interval type-2 fuzzy sets are more valuable than conventional type-1 fuzzy sets in terms of covering more uncertain and complex preference information. Interval type-2 trapezoidal fuzzy sets, as a particular form of interval type-2 fuzzy sets, can precisely express subjective evaluations and qualitative assessments. In this paper, the concept of the likelihoods of interval type-2 fuzzy preference relations are utilized to propose a novel multi-criteria decision-making model for the sustainable supplier selection problems in which the weights of criteria and performance ratings are expressed as interval type-2 trapezoidal fuzzy sets. A new likelihood-based multi-criteria sustainable supplier selection model is proposed by encapsulating assorted sustainability triple bottom line criteria, collected from the state-of-the-art literature, which turns this framework into a benchmark approach for the evaluations of sustainable suppliers. The practical effectiveness of the proposed likelihood-based method is illustrated by the applications to four real cases and the comparative analysis demonstrates the validation and advantages of the proposed method over conventional multi-criteria sustainable supplier selection methods.

More or Less Sustainable? Assessment from a Policy Perspective

Sustainability of tourism destinations has become the main focus in planning and managing tourism development. Despite existing legislation and an institutional framework to safeguard balanced tourism growth, many destinations fail to properly address it. So far, studies are limited in exploring sustainable tourism impacts from a policy perspective. This study follows previous ones in using the triple bottom line sustainability approach to define tourism impacts. It argues, in particular, for a nexus between understanding of policy perception and sustainability, and it applies this to tourist destinations in Serbia to determine whether they are operating sustainably. For this purpose, the data were collected using a combination of multiple methods, involving interviews with policymakers and content analysis of strategic documents. This study further suggests a model that assesses the extent of the sustainability of tourist destinations. The results illustrate the importance of understanding policy perceptions in shaping and facilitating sustainability and informing policy enablers on how to improve and reform current tourism development. The model can be adopted and applied to any tourist destination facing an inevitable need to re-shape their tourism development plans and policies, while the implications address the need to build a participative policy approach to sustainable tourism development.

An investigation into solid waste problem in the Egyptian construction industry: A mini-review

Solid waste management (SWM) is one of the most critical global challenges nowadays. It has a severe negative effect on the triple bottom line of sustainability. Construction and demolition waste (CDW) contributes about 50% of the total global annual generated SW. In the particular case of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region including Egypt, the SW problem has become a major challenge, and the need to find sustainable solutions is overwhelming. However, the region faces several challenges that hinder the development of an effective and efficient SWM system. This has resulted in the predominance of unsustainable SWM practices such as indiscriminate disposals. The aim of this paper is to investigate the escalating problem of SW in the MENA region, while focusing on CDW in Egypt as a part of the total generated SW, by reviewing the most recent research papers, and technical and governmental reports on the SW problem. The main challenges towards effective and efficient SWM systems and recommendations for improvement are gathered in this study based on the explored literature. Findings from this study are expected to be beneficial to local and central governments, academics, construction industry practitioners, and policymakers contending with the problems of SW in the MENA region and especially CDW in Egypt.

Prioritization of sustainability indicators using regression analysis: A case study

Abstract Sustainability helps us satisfy to the current needs without obstructing future generations to meet their demands. The idea of sustainability is composed of three pillars - economic, environmental and social, also known as triple bottom-line of sustainability. Sustainability emerged as a part of corporate ethics in response to perceived public discontent over the long-term harm originated by the focus on short-term gains. This study focuses on determining the influence of various sustainability indicators used by major Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) companies. The future for the FMCG sector is very bright due to its inherent capacity and favourable changes in the environment. The sustainability indicators namely CO2 emission, energy consumption, water consumption and the percentage of female employees have been examined in this study. The data was gathered from sustainability reports of the case companies, and classified based on the triple bottom-line of sustainability. Multivariate regression analysis approach was used to assess the influence of these indicators. Various models were tested by different hypothesis tests to understand the significance of the sustainability indicators in this study. The regression analysis suggests that among the four sustainability indicators namely total electricity consumption, total water consumption, total CO2 emission and female employee %,the indicator that does not affect the total production is female employee (%)

Analysis of key performance indicators for sustainable manufacturing in sugar industry using analytical hierarchy process

Industries around the globe are facing challenges with respect the implementation of sustainable manufacturing in their respective firms. Sugar industries are pointed as a major consumer of natural raw materials, energy, and pollutants, resulting in a major concern, which demands an immediate attention as it contributes to global warming at large. Hence, assessing sustainability in this industry has become an essential. This paper makes an effort to recognize vital key performance indicators (KPIs) build on the concept of the triple bottom line of sustainability. KPI’s are ranked using analytical hierarchy process (AHP). It has been anticipated that the projected KPIs provides aid to the sugar industry in achieving higher performance in sustainable manufacturing.

Toward an Integrated Sustainability Assessment in Through-life Engineering Services

Through-life Engineering Services (TES) is comprised of develop, prepare, utilize and retire phases for complex engineering assets with a focus on maximizing their availability, predictability and reliability at the lowest possible life-cycle cost. TES employs a set of technologies and solutions to improve asset performance efficiently. On the other hand, optimal solutions for minimizing waste in terms of service time and resources is crucial for designing the right service at the right time. Thereby, specifying the possible TES opportunities within the economic, social and environmental sustainability dimensions can be an added value across different manufacturing sectors when deploying TES. However, due to the complexities and immensity of TES approaches, it is challenging to perceive such opportunities. To this end, the existing literature is limited to the effect of TES on economic sustainability and mostly focuses on investigating how TES has modified the service design to improve productivity and profitability. However, a comprehensive study on integrated sustainability has not been yet conducted. This paper presents a holistic view of the potential TES opportunities associated with the sustainability triple bottom line following a systematic review of empirical and theoretical advancements and methodological approaches in the literature. The outcome from this research raises the awareness of TES contribution in the design of sustainable service solutions and technologies, and offers a benchmark and reference point for future research in the field. Finally, this paper provides a set of recommendations that call for the further development of an integrated sustainability assessment framework for TES.