The inclusion of environmental issues into business and finance is rapidly growing. Current practice is evolving from the evaluation of companies and investments with qualitative indicators (e.g. checking the implementation of environmental management systems) towards more integrated frameworks, which include also quantitative assessments of environmental damages or improvements. Such environmental assessments rely on a large range of environmental indicators e.g., CO2 emissions, energy or water consumption. Scientific knowledge is required to make the appropriate choices with respect to identification of key sectoral issues, insuring indicators’ quality, developing relevant benchmarking scheme or assessing the environmental performance of green funds.

Life cycle thinking has the potential to provide the basis for better criteria and tools to assess companies and measure their life cycle environmental performance. It is a powerful, inclusive and quantitative approach going further the traditional production-centred view and considering direct and indirect impacts, including supply chain as well as products use and disposal. Life-cycle analysis already gave proof of its usefulness to evaluate, for example, environmental aspects of sustainable production and consumption.

The 26th LCA discussion forum aims first at exploring the environmental side of SRI (Socially Responsible Investment). How do the various actors, investors and environmental analysts, choose the companies for investment? What are their main criteria, objectives and corresponding investment & risk management philosophies? Both qualitative and quantitative methods as well as the link between environmental and economic performances will be discussed. The second aim is to determine and illustrate how life cycle approaches can be practically used in the area of SRI, i.e., to identify key environmental issues within each sector, to ease the analysis of companies and to propose alternative benchmarks for environmental performance measures.

In particular the 26th LCA Forum will look at:

• Is green investment really leverage for a more sustainable development?
• What are the current qualitative and quantitative approaches?
• What is the link between economic and environmental performance?

How can life-cycle thinking provide the basis for:

• Assessing the environmental performance of green and traditional funds?
• Assessing the quality of published data?
• Reducing the number of monitored indicators by concentrating on key issues?
• Helping companies to understand their environmental impacts?

Proposals for additional short presentations (10 min) are welcome.

We are persuaded that this forum will be of interest to all interested in Socially Responsible Investment and we are looking forward to welcoming you in Lausanne.
Best regards.
Prof. Olivier Jolliet, Damien Friot, Yves Loerincik, for the Industrial Ecology – Life Cycle Systems group, EPFL & Thomas Köllner from NSSI-ETHZ

Download:    Program DF26