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Vanessa Bach
Department of Sustainable Engineering, Institute of Environmental Technology, Technische Universität Berlin, 10623 Berlin, Germany

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Journal article
Published: 29 June 2021 in Sustainability
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Cities account for 70% of carbon emissions and are therefore a vital driver for climate change. Thus, a city’s main contributing sectors need to be identified. Territorial-based footprints focus on the final energy consumption, which is derived from the stationary and transport sectors. The consumption-based approach is based on consumption data, which are converted into carbon emissions using an input–output model. If the consumption-based approach is applied to an urban district not only emissions in the investigated area are considered, but also those that occur along the supply chain of consumed products in the urban district. The goal of this study was to apply and evaluate two different approaches to calculate an urban district’s carbon footprint to support climate protection management at the local government level. To achieve this goal, these two different approaches were applied to calculate the carbon emissions of the urban district Wedding in Berlin and were compared regarding criteria such as data availability and relevance. The footprints resulted in 400,947 t CO2-eq. for the territorial approach and in 401,371 t CO2-eq. per year for the consumption-based approach, which resulted in 4.61 t CO2-eq and 4.62 t CO2-eq per capita and year, respectively. Methodologically, the two approaches differ significantly, but the total results showed a difference of only 0.1%. Thus, this study cannot verify that the consumption-based approach mostly leads to higher emissions per capita in the Global North. This could be due to lower purchasing power and a higher share of multiple-person households in the relatively poor urban district of Wedding, Berlin. The territorial approach is more suitable to derive measures for local climate action, whereas the consumption-based approach highlights the responsibility of consumers for GHG emissions along the supply chain and the importance of the food sector.

ACS Style

Clara Lenk; Rosalie Arendt; Vanessa Bach; Matthias Finkbeiner. Territorial-Based vs. Consumption-Based Carbon Footprint of an Urban District—A Case Study of Berlin-Wedding. Sustainability 2021, 13, 7262 .

AMA Style

Clara Lenk, Rosalie Arendt, Vanessa Bach, Matthias Finkbeiner. Territorial-Based vs. Consumption-Based Carbon Footprint of an Urban District—A Case Study of Berlin-Wedding. Sustainability. 2021; 13 (13):7262.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Clara Lenk; Rosalie Arendt; Vanessa Bach; Matthias Finkbeiner. 2021. "Territorial-Based vs. Consumption-Based Carbon Footprint of an Urban District—A Case Study of Berlin-Wedding." Sustainability 13, no. 13: 7262.

Journal article
Published: 31 May 2021 in Resources
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In times of increasing awareness of limited resources, companies are becoming especially interested in criticality assessments. Based on the existing approaches of ESSENZ (integrated method to assess resource efficiency) and SCARCE (approach is to enhance the assessment of critical resource use at the country level), a method called CS-ESSENZ (company-specific ESSENZ) has been developed to measure the company-specific aspects of criticality and social impact in supply chains for abiotic resources. These comprise 20 categories and corresponding indicators, based on 19 ESSENZ and 25 SCARCE categories. Eleven of these indicators were modified, four were newly developed (e.g., economic importance), and the last five were applied as they are in ESSENZ or SCARCE. CS-ESSENZ was tested using the case study of a smartphone, demonstrating the method’s applicability as well as generating additional information on company-specific improvement potential. The results for supply risk showed that 29 out of 58 ESSENZ hotspots showed high, and 12 showed medium, improvement potential from the company perspective. CS-ESSENZ enables companies to obtain specific information on criticality and social aspects in their supply chains and points out areas for improvement, e.g., with respect to purchasing strategies for cobalt.

ACS Style

Kim Yavor; Vanessa Bach; Matthias Finkbeiner. Adapting the ESSENZ Method to Assess Company-Specific Criticality Aspects. Resources 2021, 10, 56 .

AMA Style

Kim Yavor, Vanessa Bach, Matthias Finkbeiner. Adapting the ESSENZ Method to Assess Company-Specific Criticality Aspects. Resources. 2021; 10 (6):56.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Kim Yavor; Vanessa Bach; Matthias Finkbeiner. 2021. "Adapting the ESSENZ Method to Assess Company-Specific Criticality Aspects." Resources 10, no. 6: 56.

Review
Published: 28 May 2021 in Sustainability
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The reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by the energy transition may lead to trade-offs with other impacts on the environment, society, and economy. One challenge is resource use impacts due to increasing demand for high-tech metals and minerals. A review of the current state of the art resource assessment of energy systems was conducted to identify gaps in research and application. Publications covering complete energy systems and supplying a detailed resource assessment were the focus of the evaluation. Overall, 92 publications were identified and categorized by the type of system covered and the applied abiotic resource assessment methods. A total of 78 out of 92 publications covered sub-systems of renewable energy systems, and nine considered complete energy systems and conducted a detailed resource use assessment. Most of the publications in the group “complete energy system and detailed resource assessment” were found in grey literature. Several different aspects were covered to assess resource use. Thirty publications focused on similar aspects including criticality and supply risks, but technology-specific aspects are rarely assessed in the resource assessment of renewable energy systems. Few publications included sector coupling technologies, and among the publications most relevant to the aim of this paper one third did not conduct an indicator-driven assessment.

ACS Style

Kim Yavor; Vanessa Bach; Matthias Finkbeiner. Resource Assessment of Renewable Energy Systems—A Review. Sustainability 2021, 13, 6107 .

AMA Style

Kim Yavor, Vanessa Bach, Matthias Finkbeiner. Resource Assessment of Renewable Energy Systems—A Review. Sustainability. 2021; 13 (11):6107.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Kim Yavor; Vanessa Bach; Matthias Finkbeiner. 2021. "Resource Assessment of Renewable Energy Systems—A Review." Sustainability 13, no. 11: 6107.

Journal article
Published: 03 March 2021 in Cleaner Environmental Systems
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Under the German Climate Action Plan, greenhouse gas emissions are to be reduced by 40–42% until 2030 as a mid-term goal for the transport sector. Furthermore, the European Union has set requirements to reduce emissions of air pollutants like nitrous oxides and particulate matter by up to 65% until 2030. Even though there are different mobility strategies, there is no clear solution on how transport systems need to be adapted in terms of utilized means of transport and mobility behavior to meet the requirements set for 2030. Thus, the aim of this paper is to derive mobility scenarios for traffic systems in urban areas, in which the targets set by the German Federal Government and the European Union for the reduction of greenhouse gases and pollutant emissions are met. Therefore, data on the population's mobility behavior as well as emissions and resource use of the means of transport using the example of Hamburg, Germany are collected. Three scenarios are subsequently derived for the year 2030. Each scenario places a different emphasis on the following aspects: expansion of electric mobility, improvement of specific emission factors and mobility behavior, especially regarding the use of cars, public transport, and bicycles. The first scenario shows that it is possible to reduce traffic-related emissions according to the targets without significant behavioral changes, but by increasing the share of electric cars and plug-in hybrid vehicles to over 30% each. Similarly, a shift of 46% of passenger car traffic to public transport and doubling bicycle traffic will ensure that the emission targets are met in the third scenario. The second scenario achieves this with a more moderate combination of the other scenarios’ boundary conditions. However, such a strong expansion of electric mobility increases the demand for critical resources such as cobalt, neodymium and dysprosium used in electric vehicles by a factor of 62–72 compared to 2019. The shift of car traffic to public transport and cycling in conjunction with the use of alternative propulsion systems limits the increase in the demand for critical resources to a factor of 20–23 while at the same utilizing the potentials for reducing pollutant emissions.

ACS Style

Lukas Byrne; Vanessa Bach; Matthias Finkbeiner. Urban transport assessment of emissions and resource demand of climate protection scenarios. Cleaner Environmental Systems 2021, 2, 100019 .

AMA Style

Lukas Byrne, Vanessa Bach, Matthias Finkbeiner. Urban transport assessment of emissions and resource demand of climate protection scenarios. Cleaner Environmental Systems. 2021; 2 ():100019.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Lukas Byrne; Vanessa Bach; Matthias Finkbeiner. 2021. "Urban transport assessment of emissions and resource demand of climate protection scenarios." Cleaner Environmental Systems 2, no. : 100019.

Full paper
Published: 23 February 2021 in Circular Economy and Sustainability
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China is globally the largest and a rapidly growing market for electric vehicles. The aim of the paper is to determine challenges related to criticality and environmental impacts of battery electric vehicles and internal combustion engine vehicles, focusing not only on a global but also the Chinese perspective, applying the ESSENZ method, which covers a unique approach to determine criticality aspects as well as integrating life cycle assessment results. Real industry data for vehicles and batteries produced in China was collected. Further, for the criticality assessment, Chinese import patterns are analyzed. The results show that the battery electric vehicle has similar and partly increased environmental impacts compared with the internal combustion engine vehicle. For both, the vehicle cycle contributes to a large proportion in all the environmental impact categories except for global warming. Further, battery electric vehicles show a higher criticality than internal combustion engine vehicles, with tantalum, lithium, and cobalt playing essential roles. In addition, the Chinese-specific results show a lower criticality compared to the global assessment for the considered categories trade barriers and political stability, while again tantalum crude oil and cobalt have high potential supply disruptions. Concluding, battery electric vehicles still face challenges regarding their environmental as well as criticality performance from the whole supply chain both in China and worldwide. One reason is the replacement of the lithium-ion power battery. By enhancing its quality and establishing battery recycling, the impacts of battery electric vehicle would decrease.

ACS Style

Xin Sun; Vanessa Bach; Matthias Finkbeiner; Jianxin Yang. Criticality Assessment of the Life Cycle of Passenger Vehicles Produced in China. Circular Economy and Sustainability 2021, 1, 435 -455.

AMA Style

Xin Sun, Vanessa Bach, Matthias Finkbeiner, Jianxin Yang. Criticality Assessment of the Life Cycle of Passenger Vehicles Produced in China. Circular Economy and Sustainability. 2021; 1 (1):435-455.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Xin Sun; Vanessa Bach; Matthias Finkbeiner; Jianxin Yang. 2021. "Criticality Assessment of the Life Cycle of Passenger Vehicles Produced in China." Circular Economy and Sustainability 1, no. 1: 435-455.

Journal article
Published: 06 February 2021 in Sustainability
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Environmental impacts of textile production increased over the last decades. This also led to an increasing demand for sustainable textiles and ecolabels, which intend to provide information on environmental aspects of textiles for the consumer. The goal of the paper is to assess selected labels with regard to their strengths and weaknesses, as well as their coverage of relevant environmental aspects over the life cycle of textiles. We applied a characterization scheme to analyse seven selected labels (Blue Angel Textiles, bluesign®, Cotton made in Africa (CMiA), Cradle to Cradle CertifiedTM, Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), Global Recycled Standard (GRS), VAUDE Green Shape), and compared their focus to the environmental hotpots identified in the product environmental footprint case study of t-shirts. Most labels focus on the environmental aspects toxicity, water use, and air emissions predominantly in the upstream life cycle phases of textiles (mainly garment production), whereas some relevant impacts and life cycle phases like water in textile use phase remain neglected. We found significant differences between the ecolabels, and none of them cover all relevant aspects and impacts over the life cycle. Consumers need to be aware of these limitations when making purchase decisions.

ACS Style

Felice Diekel; Natalia Mikosch; Vanessa Bach; Matthias Finkbeiner. Life Cycle Based Comparison of Textile Ecolabels. Sustainability 2021, 13, 1751 .

AMA Style

Felice Diekel, Natalia Mikosch, Vanessa Bach, Matthias Finkbeiner. Life Cycle Based Comparison of Textile Ecolabels. Sustainability. 2021; 13 (4):1751.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Felice Diekel; Natalia Mikosch; Vanessa Bach; Matthias Finkbeiner. 2021. "Life Cycle Based Comparison of Textile Ecolabels." Sustainability 13, no. 4: 1751.

Review
Published: 15 December 2020 in Sustainability
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Different LCA methods based on monetization of environmental impacts are available. Therefore, relevant monetization methods, namely Ecovalue12, Stepwise2006, LIME3, Ecotax, EVR, EPS, the Environmental Prices Handbook, Trucost and the MMG-Method were compared quantitatively and qualitatively, yielding results for 18 impact categories. Monetary factors for the same impact category range mostly between two orders of magnitude for the assessed methods, with some exceptions (e.g., mineral resources with five orders of magnitude). Among the qualitative criteria, per capita income, and thus the geographical reference, has the biggest influence on the obtained monetary factors. When the monetization methods were applied to the domestic yearly environmental damages of an average EU citizen, their monetary values ranged between 7941.13 €/capita (Ecotax) and 224.06 €/capita (LIME3). The prioritization of impact categories varies: Stepwise and Ecovalue assign over 50% of the per capita damages to climate change, while EPS and LIME3 assign around 50% to mineral and fossil resource use. Choices regarding the geographical reference, the Areas of Protection included, cost perspectives and the approach to discounting strongly affect the magnitude of the monetary factors. Therefore, practitioners should choose monetization methods with care and potentially apply varying methods to assess the robustness of their results.

ACS Style

Rosalie Arendt; Till Bachmann; Masaharu Motoshita; Vanessa Bach; Matthias Finkbeiner. Comparison of Different Monetization Methods in LCA: A Review. Sustainability 2020, 12, 10493 .

AMA Style

Rosalie Arendt, Till Bachmann, Masaharu Motoshita, Vanessa Bach, Matthias Finkbeiner. Comparison of Different Monetization Methods in LCA: A Review. Sustainability. 2020; 12 (24):10493.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Rosalie Arendt; Till Bachmann; Masaharu Motoshita; Vanessa Bach; Matthias Finkbeiner. 2020. "Comparison of Different Monetization Methods in LCA: A Review." Sustainability 12, no. 24: 10493.

Review
Published: 13 March 2020 in Resources
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Changes in the mobility patterns have evoked concerns about the future availability of certain raw materials necessary to produce alternative drivetrains and related batteries. The goal of this article is to determine if resource use aspects are adequately reflected within life cycle assessment (LCA) case studies of electric vehicles (EV). Overall, 103 LCA studies on electric vehicles from 2009 to 2018 are evaluated regarding their objective, scope, considered impact categories, and assessment methods—with a focus on resource depletion and criticality. The performed analysis shows that only 24 out of 76 EV LCA and 10 out of 27 battery LCA address the issue of resources. The majority of the studies apply one of these methods: CML-IA, ReCiPe, or Eco-Indicator 99. In most studies, EV show higher results for mineral and metal resource depletion than internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEV). The batteries analysis shows that lithium, manganese, copper, and nickel are responsible for the highest burdens. Only few publications approach resource criticality. Although this topic is a serious concern for future mobility, it is currently not comprehensively and consistently considered within LCA studies of electric vehicles. Criticality should be included in the analyses in order to derive results on the potential risks associated with certain resources.

ACS Style

Iulia Dolganova; Anne Rödl; Vanessa Bach; Martin Kaltschmitt; Matthias Finkbeiner. A Review of Life Cycle Assessment Studies of Electric Vehicles with a Focus on Resource Use. Resources 2020, 9, 32 .

AMA Style

Iulia Dolganova, Anne Rödl, Vanessa Bach, Martin Kaltschmitt, Matthias Finkbeiner. A Review of Life Cycle Assessment Studies of Electric Vehicles with a Focus on Resource Use. Resources. 2020; 9 (3):32.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Iulia Dolganova; Anne Rödl; Vanessa Bach; Martin Kaltschmitt; Matthias Finkbeiner. 2020. "A Review of Life Cycle Assessment Studies of Electric Vehicles with a Focus on Resource Use." Resources 9, no. 3: 32.

Lci methodology and databases
Published: 27 November 2019 in The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment
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Ferro niobium (FeNb) is a metallic alloy whose industrial use has been increasing steadily in the last decades. This work aims to systematize the available information on FeNb production, provide its inventory data and generate its first technologically representative publicly available life cycle impact assessment (LCIA). The production of 1 kg of FeNb from pyrochlore in the baseline year 2017 was modelled following a cradle-to-gate approach. Primary information on mass, energy and water flows was collected when possible from the Brazilian leading FeNb supplier, CBMM (80% of the world market). The CML method (CML-IA 4.7) was applied for the impact assessment including global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP), eutrophication potential (EP), ozone layer depletion potential (ODP), abiotic depletion potential (fossil and elemental) (ADPfossil and ADPelemental) and photochemical ozone creation potential (POCP). The first stage of pyrochlore processing (pyrochlore ore extraction, mechanical processing and flotation) and the last stage (aluminothermic reaction) bear the highest impact in all analyzed CML impact categories. The primary aluminium consumption has the most important contribution in five out of seven impact categories (50% in ADPfossil, 55% in AP, 35% in EP, 57% in GWP and 40% in POCP). In this sense, the industry should promote a higher share of secondary aluminium in the production process. Also, the impact from electricity consumption and processing chemicals showed to be relevant. This work is the first LCIA on ferro niobium to be published with representative, high-quality data. A dataset was produced in order to enable ferro niobium to be incorporated to future LCIA-modelling.

ACS Style

Iulia Dolganova; Fabian Bosch; Vanessa Bach; Martin Baitz; Matthias Finkbeiner. Life cycle assessment of ferro niobium. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 2019, 25, 611 -619.

AMA Style

Iulia Dolganova, Fabian Bosch, Vanessa Bach, Martin Baitz, Matthias Finkbeiner. Life cycle assessment of ferro niobium. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment. 2019; 25 (3):611-619.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Iulia Dolganova; Fabian Bosch; Vanessa Bach; Martin Baitz; Matthias Finkbeiner. 2019. "Life cycle assessment of ferro niobium." The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 25, no. 3: 611-619.

Journal article
Published: 30 April 2019 in Resources
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In the last decade, several methods were developed to determine potential supply risks due to short term socio-economic aspects. One of them is the ESSENZ method (comprehensive method to measure and assess resource efficiency of products in the context of sustainable development) developed by the authors. Due to newly available data (e.g., production statistics) the characterization factors (CFs) of the ESSENZ method were updated (based on data from the years 2011 to 2015, with focus on 2014 and 2015) and compared with the original CFs (based on data from the years 2009 to 2013, with focus on 2012 and 2013) for six of the overall eleven categories. The goal of the paper is to analyze if changes in the underlying data are adequately reflected in the CFs of ESSENZ for the considered categories. Further, the updated CFs are provided. The six categories are analyzed by comparing original and updated CFs and clustering them into four groups: declining, emerging, persistent, and non-occurring potential supply risks. Significant differences in the CFs are evaluated by analyzing changes in the underlying data as well as the steps to determine the CFs. It could be shown, that for most of the considered categories and resources changes in the underlying data are reflected adequately in the CFs. However, some methodological challenges of ESSENZ, which limit the reflection of potential supply risks changes, could also be identified.

ACS Style

Vanessa Bach; Markus Berger; Natalia Finogenova; Matthias Finkbeiner. Analyzing Changes in Supply Risks for Abiotic Resources over Time with the ESSENZ Method—A Data Update and Critical Reflection. Resources 2019, 8, 83 .

AMA Style

Vanessa Bach, Markus Berger, Natalia Finogenova, Matthias Finkbeiner. Analyzing Changes in Supply Risks for Abiotic Resources over Time with the ESSENZ Method—A Data Update and Critical Reflection. Resources. 2019; 8 (2):83.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Vanessa Bach; Markus Berger; Natalia Finogenova; Matthias Finkbeiner. 2019. "Analyzing Changes in Supply Risks for Abiotic Resources over Time with the ESSENZ Method—A Data Update and Critical Reflection." Resources 8, no. 2: 83.

Input output and hybrid lca
Published: 05 November 2018 in The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment
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Environmental burden caused by an organization occurs both within its boundaries and in its value chain. Organizational life cycle assessment (LCA) was proposed as a method for calculating impacts of an organization throughout its life cycle; nevertheless, companies are still lacking a universal approach to conduct inventory analysis and face challenges in data collection. This paper introduces a hybrid approach for compiling the inventory for the indirect activities on organizational level in an effective manner. Three existing accounting methods (namely product related, process based, and monetary based) are connected within the hybrid approach. The potential to apply each method for an indirect activity is analyzed with regard to the system boundary requirements and availability of activity data and emission factors. The calculation procedures are introduced for selected activities. The advantages and limitations of the hybridization on organizational level are discussed. The developed approach is applied in a case study to the automotive supplier Brose Fahrzeugteile GmbH & Co.KG. The framework for application of the hybrid approach including the required activity data and emission factors for every indirect activity and each accounting method is provided. The product-related and process-based methods are recommended as more robust; nevertheless, hybridization with the monetary-based method might be essential for compiling a comprehensive inventory by limited data availability. Such limitations as double counting, truncation error, and insufficient data resolution may influence the results and should be considered when applying the hybrid approach. The case study demonstrated that the proposed approach allowed establishing an inventory for all relevant indirect activities. However, due to missing emission factors, only the impact category climate change was calculated for all activities; acidification and water use were quantified for six activities. The introduced hybrid approach enables selecting the most suitable accounting method for the indirect activities depending on data availability. This promotes application of the organizational life cycle assessment in particular for small and medium enterprises and companies that do not have access to the commercial LCA datasets. Availability of the emission factors for all impact categories in public databases is essential to provide robust results using the hybrid approach.

ACS Style

Natalia Finogenova; Vanessa Bach; Markus Berger; Matthias Finkbeiner. Hybrid approach for the evaluation of organizational indirect impacts (AVOID): combining product-related, process-based, and monetary-based methods. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 2018, 24, 1058 -1074.

AMA Style

Natalia Finogenova, Vanessa Bach, Markus Berger, Matthias Finkbeiner. Hybrid approach for the evaluation of organizational indirect impacts (AVOID): combining product-related, process-based, and monetary-based methods. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment. 2018; 24 (6):1058-1074.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Natalia Finogenova; Vanessa Bach; Markus Berger; Matthias Finkbeiner. 2018. "Hybrid approach for the evaluation of organizational indirect impacts (AVOID): combining product-related, process-based, and monetary-based methods." The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 24, no. 6: 1058-1074.

Journal article
Published: 15 August 2018 in Sustainability
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The main goal of the European product environmental footprint (PEF) method is to increase comparability of environmental impacts of products within certain product categories by decreasing flexibility and therefore achieving reproducibility of results. Comparability is supposed to be further increased by developing product category specific rules (PEFCRs). The aim of this paper is to evaluate if the main goal of the PEF method has been achieved. This is done by a comprehensive analysis of the PEF guide, the current PEFCR guide, the developed PEFCRs, as well as the insights gained from participating in the pilot phase. The analysis reveals that the PEF method as well as its implementation in PEFCRs are not able to guarantee fair comparability due to shortcomings related to the (1) definition of product performance; (2) definition of the product category; (3) definition and determination of the representative product; (4) modeling of electricity; (5) requirements for the use of secondary data; (6) circular footprint formula; (7) life cycle impact assessment methods; and (8) approach to prioritize impact categories. For some of these shortcomings, recommendations for improvement are provided. This paper demonstrates that the PEF method has to be further improved to guarantee fair comparability.

ACS Style

Vanessa Bach; Annekatrin Lehmann; Marcel Görmer; Matthias Finkbeiner. Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) Pilot Phase—Comparability over Flexibility? Sustainability 2018, 10, 2898 .

AMA Style

Vanessa Bach, Annekatrin Lehmann, Marcel Görmer, Matthias Finkbeiner. Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) Pilot Phase—Comparability over Flexibility? Sustainability. 2018; 10 (8):2898.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Vanessa Bach; Annekatrin Lehmann; Marcel Görmer; Matthias Finkbeiner. 2018. "Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) Pilot Phase—Comparability over Flexibility?" Sustainability 10, no. 8: 2898.

Research article
Published: 20 July 2018 in Environmental Science & Technology
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Due to the increasing relevance of analyzing water consumption along product life cycles, the water accounting and vulnerability evaluation model (WAVE) has been updated and methodologically enhanced. Recent data from the atmospheric moisture tracking model WAM2-layers is used to update the basin internal evaporation recycling (BIER) ratio, which denotes atmospheric moisture recycling within drainage basins. Potential local impacts resulting from water consumption are quantified by means of the water deprivation index (WDI). Based on the hydrological model WaterGAP3, WDI is updated and methodologically refined to express a basin’s vulnerability to freshwater deprivation resulting from the relative scarcity and absolute shortage of water. Compared to the predecessor version, BIER and WDI are provided on an increased spatial and temporal (monthly) resolution. Differences compared to annual averages are relevant in semiarid and arid basins characterized by a high seasonal variation of water consumption and availability. In order to support applicability in water footprinting and life cycle assessment, BIER and WDI are combined to an integrated WAVE+ factor, which is provided on different temporal and spatial resolutions. The applicability of the WAVE+ method is proven in a case study on sugar cane, and results are compared to those obtained by other impact assessment methods.

ACS Style

Markus Berger; Stephanie Eisner; Ruud Van Der Ent; Martina Flörke; Andreas Link; Joseph Poligkeit; Vanessa Bach; Matthias Finkbeiner. Enhancing the Water Accounting and Vulnerability Evaluation Model: WAVE+. Environmental Science & Technology 2018, 52, 10757 -10766.

AMA Style

Markus Berger, Stephanie Eisner, Ruud Van Der Ent, Martina Flörke, Andreas Link, Joseph Poligkeit, Vanessa Bach, Matthias Finkbeiner. Enhancing the Water Accounting and Vulnerability Evaluation Model: WAVE+. Environmental Science & Technology. 2018; 52 (18):10757-10766.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Markus Berger; Stephanie Eisner; Ruud Van Der Ent; Martina Flörke; Andreas Link; Joseph Poligkeit; Vanessa Bach; Matthias Finkbeiner. 2018. "Enhancing the Water Accounting and Vulnerability Evaluation Model: WAVE+." Environmental Science & Technology 52, no. 18: 10757-10766.

Journal article
Published: 14 May 2018 in Sustainability
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Concepts and tools supporting the design of environmentally friendly products (including materials, goods or services) have increased over the last years. The Cradle to Cradle Certified™ Products Program (C2CP) is one of these approaches. In this work, the ability of C2CP to reliably determine the environmental performance of products was analyzed through the application of a criteria-based assessment scheme. Additionally, to compare C2CP with three other already established tools (life cycle assessment, product environmental footprint and material flow analysis), the same criteria-based scheme was applied. Results show that C2CP is not scientifically reliable enough to assure that certified products actually have a good environmental performance. The most relevant shortcoming of C2CP relates to its limited assessment scope, due to the fact that neither the entire life cycle of the product nor all relevant environmental impacts are covered. Based on already established tools and their practical implementation recommendations for increasing the reliability of C2CP are provided.

ACS Style

Vanessa Bach; Nikolay Minkov; Matthias Finkbeiner. Assessing the Ability of the Cradle to Cradle Certified™ Products Program to Reliably Determine the Environmental Performance of Products. Sustainability 2018, 10, 1562 .

AMA Style

Vanessa Bach, Nikolay Minkov, Matthias Finkbeiner. Assessing the Ability of the Cradle to Cradle Certified™ Products Program to Reliably Determine the Environmental Performance of Products. Sustainability. 2018; 10 (5):1562.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Vanessa Bach; Nikolay Minkov; Matthias Finkbeiner. 2018. "Assessing the Ability of the Cradle to Cradle Certified™ Products Program to Reliably Determine the Environmental Performance of Products." Sustainability 10, no. 5: 1562.

Journal article
Published: 01 April 2018 in Ecological Indicators
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ACS Style

Vanessa Bach; Markus Berger; Silvia Forin; Matthias Finkbeiner. Comprehensive approach for evaluating different resource types – Case study of abiotic and biotic resource use assessment methodologies. Ecological Indicators 2018, 87, 314 -322.

AMA Style

Vanessa Bach, Markus Berger, Silvia Forin, Matthias Finkbeiner. Comprehensive approach for evaluating different resource types – Case study of abiotic and biotic resource use assessment methodologies. Ecological Indicators. 2018; 87 ():314-322.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Vanessa Bach; Markus Berger; Silvia Forin; Matthias Finkbeiner. 2018. "Comprehensive approach for evaluating different resource types – Case study of abiotic and biotic resource use assessment methodologies." Ecological Indicators 87, no. : 314-322.

Journal article
Published: 07 March 2018 in Sustainability
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(1) Background: The Cradle to Cradle Certified™ Products Program (C2C Certified for short) is a scheme for the certification of products that meet the criteria and principles of the Cradle to Cradle® design approach. The objective of this paper is to characterize C2C Certified as an instrument for external communication in the context of environmental labeling and declarations. (2) Method: An eco-label characterization scheme consisting of 22 attributes was used to analyze C2C Certified. In addition, it was compared with the established standardization labeling typologies, namely Type I and Type III. This was further illustrated in an example within the building and construction sector. (3) Results: C2C Certified can be classified neither as a Type I, nor a Type III label. The main weaknesses of C2C Certified from a labeling perspective are: the generic, but not product-specific focus of the awarding criteria, the lack of a life cycle perspective, and the incompletely transparent stakeholder involvement procedure. Nevertheless, for certain attributes (e.g., the awarding format), C2C Certified provides practical solutions and goes beyond a Type I eco-label. Substantial similarities between Type III declarations and C2C Certified cannot be identified. (4) Conclusions: The main advantages and shortcomings of C2C Certified from a labeling perspective are pointed out. The approach shows similarities to a Type I eco-label, and efforts toward conformance with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) labelling standards would result in improving its comparability, recognition, and robustness.

ACS Style

Nikolay Minkov; Vanessa Bach; Matthias Finkbeiner. Characterization of the Cradle to Cradle Certified™ Products Program in the Context of Eco-labels and Environmental Declarations. Sustainability 2018, 10, 738 .

AMA Style

Nikolay Minkov, Vanessa Bach, Matthias Finkbeiner. Characterization of the Cradle to Cradle Certified™ Products Program in the Context of Eco-labels and Environmental Declarations. Sustainability. 2018; 10 (3):738.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Nikolay Minkov; Vanessa Bach; Matthias Finkbeiner. 2018. "Characterization of the Cradle to Cradle Certified™ Products Program in the Context of Eco-labels and Environmental Declarations." Sustainability 10, no. 3: 738.

Journal article
Published: 18 January 2017 in Sustainability
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Availability of abiotic resources has been a topic of concern in recent years, resulting in several approaches being published to determine their availability on country and product level. However, the availability of biotic materials has not been analyzed to this extent yet. Therefore, an approach to determine possible limitations to availability of terrestrial biotic materials over the entire supply chain is introduced. The approach considers 24 categories overall as well as associated category indicators for the five dimensions: physical, socio-economic, abiotic, social and environmental constraints. This ensures a comprehensive availability assessment of bio-based product systems. The approach is applied to a case study comparing biodiesel produced from rapeseed and soy beans. The study shows that the determination of indicator values is feasible for most categories and their interpretation leads to meaningful conclusions. Thus, the approach leads to a more comprehensive assessment of availability aspects and supports better informed decision making in industry and policy.

ACS Style

Vanessa Bach; Markus Berger; Natalia Finogenova; Matthias Finkbeiner. Assessing the Availability of Terrestrial Biotic Materials in Product Systems (BIRD). Sustainability 2017, 9, 137 .

AMA Style

Vanessa Bach, Markus Berger, Natalia Finogenova, Matthias Finkbeiner. Assessing the Availability of Terrestrial Biotic Materials in Product Systems (BIRD). Sustainability. 2017; 9 (1):137.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Vanessa Bach; Markus Berger; Natalia Finogenova; Matthias Finkbeiner. 2017. "Assessing the Availability of Terrestrial Biotic Materials in Product Systems (BIRD)." Sustainability 9, no. 1: 137.

Book chapter
Published: 22 November 2016 in Partial Order Concepts in Applied Sciences
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ACS Style

Alexander Hilckmann; Vanessa Bach; Robert Ackermann; Matthias Finkbeiner; Marco Fattore; Rainer Brüggemann. Partial Order Analysis of the Government Dependence of the Sustainable Development Performance in Germany’s Federal States. Partial Order Concepts in Applied Sciences 2016, 219 -228.

AMA Style

Alexander Hilckmann, Vanessa Bach, Robert Ackermann, Matthias Finkbeiner, Marco Fattore, Rainer Brüggemann. Partial Order Analysis of the Government Dependence of the Sustainable Development Performance in Germany’s Federal States. Partial Order Concepts in Applied Sciences. 2016; ():219-228.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Alexander Hilckmann; Vanessa Bach; Robert Ackermann; Matthias Finkbeiner; Marco Fattore; Rainer Brüggemann. 2016. "Partial Order Analysis of the Government Dependence of the Sustainable Development Performance in Germany’s Federal States." Partial Order Concepts in Applied Sciences , no. : 219-228.

Journal article
Published: 01 November 2016 in Journal of Cleaner Production
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ACS Style

Vanessa Bach; Markus Berger; Martin Henßler; Martin Kirchner; Stefan Leiser; Lisa Mohr; Elmar Rother; Klaus Ruhland; Laura Schneider; Ladji Tikana; Wolfgang Volkhausen; Frank Walachowicz; Matthias Finkbeiner. Integrated method to assess resource efficiency – ESSENZ. Journal of Cleaner Production 2016, 137, 118 -130.

AMA Style

Vanessa Bach, Markus Berger, Martin Henßler, Martin Kirchner, Stefan Leiser, Lisa Mohr, Elmar Rother, Klaus Ruhland, Laura Schneider, Ladji Tikana, Wolfgang Volkhausen, Frank Walachowicz, Matthias Finkbeiner. Integrated method to assess resource efficiency – ESSENZ. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2016; 137 ():118-130.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Vanessa Bach; Markus Berger; Martin Henßler; Martin Kirchner; Stefan Leiser; Lisa Mohr; Elmar Rother; Klaus Ruhland; Laura Schneider; Ladji Tikana; Wolfgang Volkhausen; Frank Walachowicz; Matthias Finkbeiner. 2016. "Integrated method to assess resource efficiency – ESSENZ." Journal of Cleaner Production 137, no. : 118-130.

Journal article
Published: 14 July 2016 in The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment
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Purpose Initiatives like the EU Product Environmental Footprint have been pushing the discussion about the choice of life cycle impact assessment methods. Practitioners often prefer to use established methods for performance tracking, result stability, and consistency reasons. Method developers rather support newly developed methods. As case studies must provide consistent results in order to ensure reliable decision-making support, a systematic approach to qualify decision support maturity of newly developed impact assessment methods is needed. Methods A three step approach referring to key aspects for decision maturity was developed which takes the established life cycle impact assessment methods as a benchmark. In the first step, the underlying models of the methods and their respective differences are analyzed to capture the scope and detail of the characterization models. Second, the considered and available elementary flows covered by the methods are identified and compared to reveal consistent coverage, respectively, gaps between alternatives. In the third step, neglected elementary flows are evaluated with regard to their potential impact to the particular impact category. Furthermore, the characterization factors of concurring elementary flows are analyzed for significant differences in their shares. The developed approach was tested for LCIA methods for eutrophication and acidification in Europe. Results and discussion A systematic and practical qualification of decision support maturity can be achieved by a three-step approach benchmarking model scope, quantitative and qualitative coverage of elementary flows for new methods with established ones. For the application example, the established CML-IA method was compared with the ReCiPe method and the method of accumulated exceedance. These models vary regarding subdivision of environmental compartments, consideration of fate, as well as regionalization of characterization factors. The amount of covered elementary flows varies significantly as CML-IA covers about 28 more flows within the category acidification and about 35 more flows within the category eutrophication compared to ReCiPe and accumulated exceedance. The significance of all neglected elementary flows for the categories eutrophication and acidification is significant and represents a gap of up to 80 %. Furthermore, it was shown that the shares of some concurring elementary flows differ significantly. Conclusions The introduced approach allows the benchmarking of newly developed against established methods based on application-oriented criteria. It was demonstrated that significant differences between the methods exist. To guarantee reliable decision-making support, newly developed methods should not replace established ones until a minimum level of decision support maturity is reached.

ACS Style

Vanessa Bach; Matthias Finkbeiner. Approach to qualify decision support maturity of new versus established impact assessment methods—demonstrated for the categories acidification and eutrophication. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 2016, 22, 387 -397.

AMA Style

Vanessa Bach, Matthias Finkbeiner. Approach to qualify decision support maturity of new versus established impact assessment methods—demonstrated for the categories acidification and eutrophication. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment. 2016; 22 (3):387-397.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Vanessa Bach; Matthias Finkbeiner. 2016. "Approach to qualify decision support maturity of new versus established impact assessment methods—demonstrated for the categories acidification and eutrophication." The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 22, no. 3: 387-397.