Life Cycle Assessment: Implications for performance management of oil sands development

1
Life Cycle Assessment Implications for
performance management of oil sands development
Sarah Jordaan and Dr. Irene Herremans University
of Calgary

• Life Cycle Assessment of Oil Sands Technologies
• Kick-off Meeting
• November 3, 2006

2
Introduction

• LCA as tool for developing indicators
• Trends in reporting/impact assessments
• Stakeholder expectations
• Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and significance to
  performance management
• Help define roles and responses of actors
• Focus management efforts on the value chain for
  strategic investment
• Forward looking approach opens door for
  developing predictive indicators

3
Performance indicators Overview

• What are indicators?
• Forms of feedback
• Indicator Types
• Sustainability, environmental, social, economic
• Input, output, outcome
• Leading, lagging
• Selection of indicators
• measurable
• easy to interpret
• require action if negative trends occur
• clear benefits if positive trends occur

4
Relationship to LCA
Action and performance improvements
Modified from EPA (1993)
5
Determining Roles and Responses
Contingency table for environmental and social
controls at the firm level
6
For discussion

• What is your experience with environmental and
  social performance management?
• Is standardizing metrics an important thing to do
  for oil sands development and technologies?
  Specifically, is it important for life cycle
  indicators? Why or why not?

7
References

• Organization for Economic Co-operation and
  Development (OECD). (1993). OECD Core Set of
  Indicators for Environmental Performance Reviews.
  A Synthesis Report by the Group on the State of
  the Environment. OECD, Paris. 35 p.
• Pflieger, J., Fischer, M., Kupfer, T., and P.
  Eyerer. (2005). The contribution of life cycle
  assessment to global sustainability reporting of
  organizations. Management of Environmental
  Quality An International Journal, 16(2) 167-179
• Schuh, C. (2002). Performance Indicators for
  Indoor Air Quality. PhD dissertation,
  Environmental Design, University of Calgary.
• Schuh, C. and D. Thompson. (2002).
  Environmental Indicators, Chapter 12 in Tools for
  Environmental Management A practical
  Introduction and Guide. New Society Publishers,
  Gabriola Island, BC.
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (1993).
  Life Cycle Assessment Inventory Guidelines and
  Principles (EPA 600/R-92/245). Cincinnati, OH
  U.S.EPA, Office of Research and Development, Risk
  Reduction Engineering Laboratory.