TY - JOUR
T1 - Life cycle assessment in corporate sustainability reporting: Global, regional, sectoral, and company-level trends
AU - Stewart, Raphaëlle Marie Marianne
AU - Fantke, Peter
AU - Bjørn, Anders
AU - Owsianiak, Mikołaj
AU - Molin, Christine
AU - Hauschild, Michael Zwicky
AU - Laurent, Alexis
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - Large companies now commonly release corporate sustainability (CS) reports in which they describe their approach to handle sustainability challenges. To guide environmental sustainability efforts in the industry, the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology has been recognized as an important tool by researchers and policy makers. But to what extent has the LCA methodology been present in companies' narratives through their CS reports up to now? To answer this question, we map references to the LCA methodology in CS reports over the past two decades at geographical, sectoral, and company levels through keyword searching within an extensive database (~45,000 CS reports), analyze trends, and highlight challenges, opportunities, and recommendations to strengthen the presence of LCA in CS reports. The results show that LCA generally remains weakly present in CS reporting, with some geographical and sectoral variations. Recommendations to strengthen LCA presence in CS reports are derived for method developers, policy makers, and companies.
AB - Large companies now commonly release corporate sustainability (CS) reports in which they describe their approach to handle sustainability challenges. To guide environmental sustainability efforts in the industry, the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology has been recognized as an important tool by researchers and policy makers. But to what extent has the LCA methodology been present in companies' narratives through their CS reports up to now? To answer this question, we map references to the LCA methodology in CS reports over the past two decades at geographical, sectoral, and company levels through keyword searching within an extensive database (~45,000 CS reports), analyze trends, and highlight challenges, opportunities, and recommendations to strengthen the presence of LCA in CS reports. The results show that LCA generally remains weakly present in CS reporting, with some geographical and sectoral variations. Recommendations to strengthen LCA presence in CS reports are derived for method developers, policy makers, and companies.
U2 - 10.1002/bse.2241
DO - 10.1002/bse.2241
M3 - Journal article
SN - 0964-4733
VL - 27
SP - 1751
EP - 1764
JO - Business Strategy and the Environment
JF - Business Strategy and the Environment
IS - 8
ER -