Sustainability Assessment: A Rating System Framework for Best Practices

Front Cover
Sustainability Assessment
Copyright Page
Dedication
Contents
Preface
Motivation and About the Organisation of this Book
List of Figures
List of Tables
List of Graphs
List of Diagrams
List of Boxes
List of Info Boxes
List of Synopsis Boxes
Part I: Sustainability Assessment
	Chapter 1 Assessment Approaches, Frameworks and Other Tools
		1.1. Introduction
		1.2. Fundamental and Generic Approaches and Frameworks
			1.2.1. Steady-State Economy
			1.2.2. Circular Economy and Other Schools of Thought
				1.2.2.1. Cradle to Cradle (C2C)
				1.2.2.2. Natural Capitalism
				1.2.2.3. Performance Economy
				1.2.2.4. Biomimicry
				1.2.2.5. Blue Economy
				1.2.2.6. Regenerative Design
				1.2.2.7. Industrial Ecology
			1.2.3. The Natural Step
			1.2.4. Community Capital
			1.2.5. Ecological Footprint
			1.2.6. Monetary Approach
			1.2.7. The Driving Force-State-Response (DRS) Model
			1.2.8. Issues or Theme-Based Frameworks
			1.2.9. Accounting Frameworks
			1.2.10. Frameworks for Assessment Method Tool Kits
			1.2.11. The Holistic and Integrated Framework
		1.3. Strategic Approaches
		1.4. Integrated Approaches
		1.5. Assessment Methods
			1.5.1. Environmental, Social and Economic Impact Analysis
			1.5.2. Strategic Environmental Assessment
			1.5.3. Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA)
			1.5.4. Travel Cost Theory
			1.5.5. Community Impact Evaluation
			1.5.6. Contingent Valuation Method
			1.5.7. Hedonic Pricing Method
			1.5.8. Multi-Criteria Analysis
			1.5.9. Material Intensity per Service Unit (MIPS)
			1.5.10. Analytic Network Process
			1.5.11. Life Cycle Assessment
			1.5.12. Environmental and Sustainability Rating Systems (ESRS)
		1.6. Classification of Assessment Tools
		1.7. Final Commentary
		References
	Chapter 2 Environmental and Sustainability Rating Systems
		2.1. Introduction: The Case for Sustainability
		2.2. Sustainability Assessment: ESRS as Decision-Making Tools
		2.3. Environmental Regulations and Sustainability
		2.4. ESRS around the World
		2.5. Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED)
			2.5.1. LEED Credit Categories
		2.6. Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM)
		2.7. Comprehensive Assessment System for Built Environment Efficiency (CASBEE)
		2.8. Green Star
		2.9. SBTool
		2.10. Final Commentary
		References
	Chapter 3 Potential Benefits of Developing and Implementing Environmental and Sustainability Rating Systems
		3.1. Introduction: Measuring Sustainability and ESRS
		3.2. A Need for Diversification: Framing the Argument
		3.3. Potential Benefits of Developing and Implementing ESRS
			3.3.1. Setting Organisations’ and Projects’ Triple Bottom Line
			3.3.2. Performance, Reduction of Impacts and Meeting Sustainability Objectives
			3.3.3. Decision-Making Process throughout the Project’s Life Cycle
			3.3.4. Economic throughout the Project’s Life Cycle
			3.3.5. Increment of Energy Efficiency Processes
			3.3.6. Improve Water Consumption
			3.3.7. Productivity
			3.3.8. Health
			3.3.9. Organisation of Information for Certification Process and/or Performance Evaluation
			3.3.10. Collection, Reporting and Interpretation of Data for Stakeholders and Stockholders
			3.3.11. Performance Benchmarking
			3.3.12. Risk and Opportunity Management
			3.3.13. Market and Industry Transformation
			3.3.14. Cultural and Social Change
			3.3.15. Positive Publicity
			3.3.16. Morale and Engagement of Employees and Stakeholders
			3.3.17. Innovation and Continuous Performance Improvement
			3.3.18. Companies as Pioneers and Leaders of the Way
			3.3.19. Local Communities and Directly Impacted Stakeholders
			3.3.20. Civil Leadership
		3.4. Final Commentary
		References
Part II: A New Sustainability Rating System
	Chapter 4 Origins and Fundamentals
		4.1. Introduction
		4.2. Identifying the Opportunity
		4.3. The Knowledge and Assessment Gap
		4.4. The Development Methodology
		4.5. About the Origin, Name and Logo
		4.6. Final Commentary
		References
	Chapter 5 The Wa-Pa-Su Project Sustainability Rating System
		5.1. Sustainability: About Its Definition
		5.2. Sustainability Assessment by Indicators and Rating Systems
		5.3. A Need for Innovation and Diversification: Reinforcing the Argument
		5.4. Areas of Integration
			5.4.1. Sustainable Development: Defining the Starting Point
			5.4.2. Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis: Engaging the Stakeholders
			5.4.3. Continuous Performance Improvement (CPI): Exploiting Opportunities over Time
		5.5. Integration: Principles and Intersections
		5.6. Assessment Methodology: Rating Systems and Integrated Assessment
		5.7. Is the Organisation or Project Sustainable?
		5.8. A Simulated Criterion Score Calculation
		5.9. Rules and Restrictions
		5.10. Final Commentary
		References
Part III: The Canadian Oil Sands
	Chapter 6 Background and Processes
		6.1. A Brief History
		6.2. Oil Sands: Overview
		6.3. The Canadian Oil Sands Projects’ Life Cycle
			6.3.1. Stage 1
				6.3.1.1. Resource and Assessment
				6.3.1.2. Rights and Exploration
			6.3.2. Stage 2
				6.3.2.1. Scheme Approval
				6.3.2.2. Project Approval
				6.3.2.3. Recovery
				6.3.2.4. Upgrading
			6.3.3. Stage 3
				6.3.3.1. Royalties
				6.3.3.2. Refining and Sale
			6.3.4. Stage 4
				6.3.4.1. Shutdown
				6.3.4.2. Reclamation
		6.4. Final Commentary
		References
	Chapter 7 Impacts of Development and Operations
		7.1. Introduction: Oil and Gas Resources
		7.2. The Canadian Oil Sands and the Triple Bottom Line
		7.3. Environmental Impacts
		7.4. Social Impacts
		7.5. Economic Impacts
		7.6. Health and Other Impacts
		7.7. Final Commentary
		References
	Chapter 8 Resources Management and Performance: A Report
		8.1. Introduction
		8.2. Analysing Sustainability Performance Assessment and Reporting
		8.3. The Land Resource
		8.4. The Water Resource
			8.4.1. Tailing Ponds
		8.5. The Air Resource
			8.5.1. GHGs Emissions
		8.6. Social Sustainability
		8.7. Economic and Organisational Sustainability
		8.8. Sustainability Reporting Shortcomings
		8.9. Suggestions for Improving Sustainability Assessment Performance and Reporting
		References
Part IV: An application step by step: the surface mining process
	Chapter 9 Areas of Excellence and Sub-Divisions
		9.1. Introduction
		9.2. Areas or Categories of Excellence
		9.3. Sub-Divisions
		9.4. Management Interactions
		9.5. Final Commentary
		References
	Chapter 10 Identifying Sustainable Development Indicators (SDIs)
		10.1. Introduction: About SDIs
		10.2. Identifying Resources for Selection of SDIs
			10.2.1. Group 1: Indicators Selected by Consensus
				10.2.1.1. Resource 1: Governmental Regulations
				10.2.1.2. Resource 2: Organisations and Committees for Standardisation
			10.2.2. Group 2: Indicators Identified by Practitioners and Academics
				10.2.2.1. Resource 3: Management and Processes Best Practices
				10.2.2.2. Resource 4: Academically and Scientifically Authored Resources
			10.2.3. Group 3: Indicators Established by Organizations
				10.2.3.1. Resource 5: Local, Regional, National and International Organizations
				10.2.3.2. Resource 6: Standards, Programs and Initiatives Established by the Surface Mining Industry
		10.3. From Too Many to Those Needed
		10.4. Surface Mining Projects: The Preliminary Group of SDIs
		10.5. Final Commentary
		References
	Chapter 11 Designing and Implementing SDIs: More of a Positive Thing than Not
		11.1. Introduction
		11.2. SDIs as Performance Assessment Tool
			11.2.1. How Appropriate and Applicable Is the Use of SDIs?
			11.2.2. The Practicability of Using SDIs
			11.2.3. The Cost of Developing, Implementing and Measuring Performance Using SDIs
		11.3. Final Commentary
		References
	Chapter 12 Weighting SDIs Using the AHP Method
		12.1. Introduction
		12.2. Development, Usage and Weighting of SDIs
		12.3. The Wa-Pa-Su Rating System: Structure and SDIs for Surface Mining Operations
		12.4. Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) Methods and the AHP
		12.5. Setting the Weighting Process, SDIs Ranking and the Decision Makers (DMs)
		12.6. The Hierarchy
		12.7. Measurement Scale
		12.8. Pairwise Comparison Matrices
		12.9. Expected Results and Contributions
		12.10. Final Commentary
		References
	Chapter 13 Design of Performance Improvement Factors (PIFs)
		13.1. Introduction
		13.2. Continuous Performance Improvement (CPI)
		13.3. SDIs for Surface Mining Operations in the Oil Sands Projects
			13.3.1. SDIs, KPIs and Metrics
			13.3.2. SDIs for Surface Mining Operations in the Oil Sands Projects
		13.4. Performance Improvement Factors (PIF)
			13.4.1. Relevance Factor or Subjective Stakeholder Valuation
			13.4.2. Comparative Assessment Methods (CAMs)
			13.4.3. Link to Economic Metrics
		13.5. Final Commentary
		References
	Chapter 14 A Simulated Case Study of Implementation and Sustainability Assessment
		14.1. The Wa-Pa-Su Project Sustainability Rating System and Its Structure Applied
		14.2. Assessment Methodology: An Overview
		14.3. Data Required and Stakeholder Involvement
		14.4. Assessing Sustainability using the Wa-Pa-Su Project Sustainability Rating System
			14.4.1. Potential Minimum and Maximum Performance Scores
		14.5. Restrictions and Frequency of Measurements
		14.6. Final Commentary
		References
Appendix A: Abbreviations and Acronyms
	A
	B
	C
	D
	E
	F
	G
	H
	I
	J
	K
	L
	M
	N
	O
	P
	R
	S
	T
	U
	V
	W
Appendix B: Timeline of the Energy Industry in Alberta
Appendix C: Descriptions – Pre-Selected Sustainable Development Indicators (Sdis) for the Surface Mining Process
	C.1. Project and Environmental Management Excellence – PEME
	C.2. Site and Soil Resource Excellence – SSRE
	C.3. Water Resource Excellence – WRE
	C.4. Atmosphere and Air Resource Excellence – AARE
	C.5. Natural and Artificial Lighting Excellence – NALE
	C.6. Energy Resource Excellence – ERE
	C.7. Resource and Materials Excellence – RME
	C.8. Innovation in Design and Operations Excellence – IDOE
	C.9. Infrastructure and Buildings Excellence – IBE
	C.10. Education, Research, and Community Excellence – ERCE
	Reference
Afterword
Index