As a result of the worldwide depletion of natural resources, increased energy use, and environmental, economic, and social imbalance, organizations are working to identify the proper strategies supporting the continuous reduction of their impacts. While this trend is fundamentally agreed upon in the literature, several manufacturing industries still fail to identify which elements most influence their contributions to the impact of sustainability and how to easily manage the calculation of these effects within a manufacturing system. The purpose of this article is to incorporate sustainability practices into manufacturing by developing a set of key performance indicators (KPIs) for assessing and improving environmental and economic management practices at the corporate and production level. The definition of the framework began with in-depth research of the leading indicators and framework types in the literature, integrating the most exploited industrial standards to make them easily acceptable in the industrial domain. Then, to provide a broad view of company behavior, the framework has been designed to take either an inventory and impact point of view, thus providing indicators for the online monitoring of the company operations, or assessing their impacts in an LCA-LCC perspective. In selecting the indicators and the definition of the framework structure, five industrial cases covering different business sectors were involved in identifying the most critical indicators in terms of calculability and defining a structure that would allow for their application in various business situations. Therefore, the defined framework has been validated at a conceptual level, thus laying the basis for future quantitative validation. Twenty key performance indicators (KPIs) for assessing the sustainability of manufacturing firms have been created based on the 163 indicators studied.

Investments towards sustainable development are vital for the future and they must be carefully planned to deliver immediate and long-term benefits. Hence, the ability to communicate the forms of impact of sustainable investments to local societies, people, investors and other stakeholders can provide a competitive advantage. However, the assessments are often under pressure to demonstrate short-term effects rather than emphasise the long-term impact. In addition, indirect and intangible forms of impacts should not be measured solely in economic terms. This paper proposes an assessment framework to support the integrated economic and social impact assessment of sustainable investments aimed at improving physical and socio-economic wellbeing. The framework is demonstrated in two case studies: new construction and renovation investments in affordable housing and social impact investment in sustainable development. The investments in the case studies are evaluated, selected and prioritized not only in terms of money but also with regard to sustainability, social acceptability and their overall impact on society, as a whole. The results indicate that a systematic integrated assessment of monetary and non-monetary factors can be successfully combined with the sustainable development decisions.

Extreme weather forms a major threat to electricity distribution networks and has caused many severe power outages in the past. A reliable electrical grid is something most of us take for granted, but storms, heavy snowfall, and other effects of extreme weather continue to cause disruptions in electricity supply. This paper contributes to ensuring the continuity of electricity supply under adverse weather events. The aim is to describe and to analyze how the continuity of electricity supply can be ensured in the case of extreme weather. Based on the research, the energy sector is highly dependent on the existing locations and structures of the current infrastructure. Aging infrastructure is commonly seen as a main vulnerability factor. The most vulnerable parts of the electricity distribution system to extreme weather conditions are the networks built as overhead lines. However, the resilience of the networks against extreme weather can be increased significantly in all phases of a disaster management cycle. Methods and technological solutions proposed in this paper to alleviate such problems include adjacent forest management and periodic aerial inspections, situational awareness, distributed generation and microgrids, placement of overhead lines, underground cabling, and unmanned air vehicles. However, it must be noticed that the methods and their value for stakeholders are context-dependent. Thus, their applicability and appropriateness may change over time.

The resilience of critical infrastructure (CI) to extreme weather events (EWE) is one of the most demanding challenges for all stakeholders in modern society. Although partial risk reduction is feasible through the introduction and implementation of various risk mitigation measures (RMM), decision-makers at all decision-making levels are pressured to find ways to cope with the impending extreme weather and to have a thorough understanding of the EWE impacts on CI. This paper discusses how the value of RMMs can be created and assessed in a stakeholder network. Qualitative research methods, namely literature review and AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process), were applied as research methods. The paper examines how disaster management and value creation both converge and differ from each other. It also presents a case study on the value of various RMM and the impacts of extreme winter conditions on electricity distribution in Finland. Based on the case study, the most important value criterion was the benefits of the RMM in economic, social, and environmental terms. At a fundamental level, the value of RMM should be expressed not only in terms of money but also in regard to safety, security, societal acceptability, CI dependability, and other typically intangible criteria. Moreover, the results reveal that the interrelationship of value creation and disaster management offers new insights to both approaches.

Wave power is a potential technology for generating sustainable renewable energy. Several types of wave energy converters (WECs) have been proposed for this purpose. WECs operate in a harsh maritime environment that sets strict limitations on how and when the device can be economically and safely reached for maintenance. Thus, to ensure profitable energy generation over the system life cycle, system reliability is a key aspect to be considered in WEC development. In this article, we describe a reliability analysis approach for WEC development, based on the use of reliability block diagram (RBD) modelling. We apply the approach in a case study involving a submerged oscillating wave surge converter device concept that utilizes hydraulics in its power take-off system. In addition to describing the modelling approach, we discuss the data sources that were used for gathering reliability data for the components used in a novel system concept with very limited historical or experimental data available. This includes considerations of the data quality from various sources. As a result, we present examples of applying the RBD modelling approach in the context of WEC development and discuss the applicability of the approach in supporting the development of new technologies.