In this communication, we present some lessons learned on the construction of an internal carbon price by businesses, based on the four-dimensional framework of the Carbon Disclosure Project. We illustrate the scheme with the example of a car manufacturer. Based on grey literature and the conclusions of exchanges with various companies, we discuss the different dimensions of the CDP framework within the scope of the automotive sector. We also analyse the various risk and success factors associated with the carbon pricing tool at organizational, tooling, business and cultural levels within a car manufacturer. We conclude that the carbon pricing tool requires many design choices and a reflection on the company’s objective regarding climate change mitigation.

Research on sustainability transitions has generally focused on socio-technical systems, but less on organizations and firms. However, the decisions of actors within companies are based on performance indicators, roadmaps, dashboards, etc., all sorts of management tools that embody their decision-making routines and contribute to maintaining the regimes in place. Our research links the literature on sustainability transitions with that of management instrument approaches in management science, by analyzing the conditions under which management instruments can contribute to impulse a sustainability transition at a company level. We use the concept of performativity to describe the ability of these artifacts to change the reality they point to. Indeed, through the design of a simplified LCA tool and an internal carbon pricing tool within a car manufacturer in the frame of a research-intervention, we have found that these conditions require the construction of the tools legitimacy with their users, but also the mobilization of windows of opportunity in a storytelling and sensemaking process. Finally, we propose a typical organization-wide model of sustainability transition inspired by the multilevel perspective framework. Our work thus contributes to the Sub-theme 54 of the 36th EGOS colloquium: Bridging Systems and Organizational Perspectives to Tackle Grand Challenges.

The purpose of the article is twofold. We first present a Life Cycle Costing methodology applied at different scales to compare between design options in terms of materials use: in an automobile vehicle part, a whole vehicle, and a car manufacturer's portfolio. The Life Cycle Costs consider costs for different stakeholders, including environmental damage costs (supported by the civil society), fuel expenses (supported by the customer) and materials costs (supported by the car manufacturer). The second objective of the article is to bring a management and socio-technical vision to the issue of material use in the automobile industry, in order to challenge the idea that all decisions regarding material use depend on purely technical and economic criteria. Through a qualitative research, we investigated the barriers to material efficiency and integrating the environmental criterion in decision making from a French car manufacturer's perspective. Within the same company, we also collected material experts' feedbacks on the LCC tool developed in the first Part, both in terms of methodology and potential integration in decision-making.

The practice of monetary valuation of environmental impacts has gained popularity in the private sector in recent years. The underlying assumption of the advocates of these methods is that adopting economic language to talk about environmental impacts helps to accelerate decisions in favor of sustainability in companies. This communication aims to investigate the role of management instruments, particularly those based on the monetary evaluation of environmental impacts, in the sustainability transition at company level. To do this, in order to compare expectations with usage, a survey of thirteen organizations (including three consultancy firms and nine multinationals) was conducted in order to understand this growing practice, to map existing impact assessment tools, as well as the way they are mobilized by companies. We concluded that impact assessment approaches are plural and range from communication to risk assessment, from measurement tools to discussion supports, whether between different departments of companies or with other stakeholders. Indeed, through some examples we illustrate how such tools can serve as a support to enroll decision-makers in the sustainability transition process, as well as the mediation role they play.

vers une création et captation de valeur pérenne ?Les enseignements du recyclage et de la réutilisation automobiles

This article summarizes the panel session "Life Cycle Management approaches to support Circular Economy" of the 8th International Conference on Life Cycle Management (LCM2017 conference, Luxembourg). Four panellists were invited to share their point of view on this topic. Each of them brought a different perspective, addressing the topic from both the academic and industrial point of view; focusing on a raw materials aspect or considering a life cycle (or eco-design) related scope; in the context of a certification process (for products or activities) or of an eco-innovation process (including new business models for circular economy). After short presentation by each of the panellists, the discussion especially addressed the complementarity between several LCM concepts to be considered jointly when developing circular concepts and models.

The automotive sector is organized for mass production of complex products. Therefore, the reign of a dominant design is ineluctable. Nevertheless, carmakers shall bring to the market ground breaking products. How to solve this paradox? How to invite ideas, delve deeper into the best ones, conceive ground-breaking innovations and bring them to life in realistic prototypes? Renault proposal is to enable an eco-innovation community. This community shares three pillars: a common culture, original structures and collaborative practices. This work propose to provide a feedback of these pillars implementation. A common culture arise within the Renault Creative People network. They enhance original means of emulation (temporary expositions, social networks) to reveal ideas. An original ‘think tank’ structure gather engineers, designers and customer specialists: this is the Cooperative Innovation Laboratory (LCI). Finally, two Practices support eco-innovation activities. In one hand the Collaborative Life Cycle activities (Co-LCA) framework. It counts five steps: explore, engage, elucidate, evaluate and extend. In the other hand the landing process guarantee a successful implementation in vehicle development. Three case studies are described. The first one is a concept aiming to a crazy target “zero footprint mobility”; the second is the Renault Twizy Delivery concept to tackle ‘final kilometers’ logistics and the last one is the Electric Vehicle Footprint study. Our case studies confirm the needs to create new workplaces, new tools based on social network and new skills for managers-facilitators, such as flexibility, reactivity, empathy. Astoundingly, those skills are currently developed by online gamers! Could they be the future top manager of eco-innovation?

Corporations are being pressured to integrate life cycle thinking and practices across global supply chains. The UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative has been developing a life cycle management capability maturity model (LCM CMM) to help mainstream life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle management (LCM). Pilot projects in small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to apply the model showed the companies were able to identify and implement projects that delivered both near-term business value and developed the organizational capability for LCM. A key benefit of the life cycle approach was enhanced cross-functional integration and collaboration with suppliers and customers. The projects did identify a need for more guidance on how to interpret the business impact of environmental concerns and to align LCM efforts with company business strategy. Collaborative networks where more advanced companies can share their knowledge are a key enabler, particularly in developing economies.

Until recently, the automotive industry was solely relying on one energy resource: oil. However, because of several environmental, political and economical issues, new alternatives are now emerging, such as electric vehicles (EVs). The greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of an EV are linked with the manufacturing of the car and the electricity production during the use phase. In this article, we study the GHG emissions linked with EVs using photovoltaic (PV) and wind electricity associated with a Renault EV. GHG emissions are compared with EVs using average electricity from various European countries and from conventional thermal vehicles. The results show that using wind electricity always allows decreasing GHG emissions while PV impact is dependent on the country studied. Nonetheless, when using PV electricity, GHG emissions are always lower than conventional thermal vehicles.

Because of its reliance to oil, the automotive indu stry is facing new environmental challenges. Therefore, alternative fuels are being developed: biofuels, synthetic fuels, electricity, hydrogen, etc. To assess their sustainability, life cycle assessment is probably the most appropriate tool. I n this article, we compare fossil fuels (gasoline and Diesel fuel) to electricity com ing from coal and rapeseed biodiesel. Various environmental impacts are compar ed using CML2001, ReCiPe2008 and USEtox indicators. Since USEtox cons iders the distinction between rural and urban atmospheric emissions, a ge ographical information system was used to assess the urban share of emissi ons during the production stage of the fuels. The eleven indicators have been aggregated to seven impacts, exhaustively showing the various environmental adva ntages / drawbacks of each pathway.

In order to provide more sustainable fuels and address the depletion of oil as a feedstock, the automotive industry must adapt to a growing market share of alternative fuels. The environmental impacts of the automotive industry to date would suggest that these alternatives will be more environmentally friendly than petroleum-based fuels. This is nonetheless an assumption that cannot be confirmed without a systematic life cycle assessment (LCA). This article explores the feasibility of USEtox to provide information needed for automotive-fuel LCA.

As new alternative automotive fuels are being developed, life cycle assessment (LCA) is being used to assess the sustainability of these new options. A fuel LCA is commonly referred as a “Well To Wheels” analysis and calculates the environmental impacts of producing the fuel (the “Well To Tank” stage) and using it to move a car (the “Tank To Wheels” stage, TTW). The TTW environmental impacts are the main topic of this article.

The launch of new technologies such as electric vehicles will be a major change on several levels such as new business models and possible changes of consumer’s habits. The results of the life cycle assessment (LCA) are key as they will be used for decision support for governmental policies, for vehicle design, and finally to disclose environmental data to specific stakeholders around the world. It was clear that only a multidisciplinary approach could open a successful way in this work. A new methodology is proposed, by crossing the capability of understanding and action, through the human development index and level of awareness by using the environmental performance index. Based on these indexes it is possible to assess the "eco-maturity" level of many countries. Main stakeholder needs in environmental information are then screened. The various life cycle based communication are analysed on four axes, feasibility, life cycle coverage, ability to help the decision and finally educate the consumer. An example is calculated to show concrete facts and the LCA communication strategy wheel is created to determine the right effort to provide, toward the right target, in the most efficient way.

International conferences in the framework of the United Nations are working towards an "Environmentally Friendly Vehicles" (EFV) concept. However, any claim about environmental friendliness is not in line with fundamental ISO rules to avoid misleading and vague claims. Nevertheless, there is the aim to establish an information system covering the environmental performance of vehicles to support public and private purchase decisions. Different approaches to establish such an information system are evaluated by a SWOT analysis. The result is that, based on current approaches, a definition of an EFV concept is technically not feasible. However, recommendations for further work arc derived.