Sustainability Questions, Answers and Evidence

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SustainabilityQuestions, Answers and Evidence

• Jon Johnson
• Walton College Professor of Sustainability
• Applied Sustainability Center
• Sam M. Walton College
• University of Arkansas

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Fundamental or fad?

• Distinguishing market for ideas from
• idea bubbles

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What will endure?

• Supply side shifts
• Demand side shifts
• Approaches to externalities

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Good or bad for business?

• Added cost of doing business
• Vs.
• Risk management
• Cost leadership
• Differentiation
• Innovation

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Evidence?

• Meta-Analysis
• Environmental Performance ? Financial Performance
• 35 Studies of 32,482 firms
• Robust small but positive relationship
• True for internal and external indicators

Dixon-Fowler, Ellstrand, Johnson, Romi Slater
(2009)
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Paper or Plastic?

• How do you decide?

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Life Cycle Analysis
Energy
Water
Raw Materials
Production Process
Raw Materials
End Product
Raw Materials
Gas Emission
Solid Waste
Liquid Waste
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Aggregate of Processes in Supply Chains
Water
Energy
Water
Energy
Production Process
Energy
Water
Production Process
Raw Materials
Production Process
Gas Waste
Raw Materials
Gas Waste
Solid Waste
Liquid Waste
Solid Waste
Liquid Waste
Gas Waste
Water
Raw Materials
Energy
Solid Waste
Liquid Waste
Production Process
End Product
Gas Waste
Solid Waste
Liquid Waste
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Paper vs. Plastic Characterization

• Paper bags higher impacts than plastic with two
  exceptions
• Plastic bags higher fossil fuel use
• Paper bags sequester carbon in paper growing

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Results Damage Assessment

• Three damage categories Human Health, Ecosystem
  impacts, Resource Depletion

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Notes

• Both impact slides are normalized so that option
  with highest impact is 100.
• What about relative importance of the categories?
  Two dimensions of importance
• What of the total annual impacts in each
  category, from ALL sources, is attributable to
  these product life cycles --gt Normalization
• How much value-based importance do we, as
  decision makers, assign to each category--gt
  Valuation

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Normalization Results

• Impacts of land use on ecosystems important after
  normalization

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LCA for Managers

• Strategy and policy
• Supply chain insights
• Modeling and optimization
• Metrics (for buyers, consumers, et al.)

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LCA for Poultry

• No large empirical US studies (yet)
• Preliminary Indications
• Feed production and energy are hot spots
• Not so much for transportation
• Poultry compares favorably as protein source