Sirkka Koskela

How Can the Eco‐Efficiency of a Region Be Measured and Monitored?

The concept of eco‐efficiency is commonly referred to as a business link to sustainable development. In this article, ecoefficiency is examined at a regional level as an approach to promoting the competitiveness of economic activities in the Finnish Kymenlaakso region and mitigating their harmful impacts on the environment. The aim is to develop appropriate indicators for monitoring changes in the eco‐efficiency of the region. A starting point is to produce indicators for the environmental and economic dimensions of regional development and use them for measuring regional eco‐efficiency. The environmental impact indicators are based on a life‐cycle assessment method, producing different types of environmental impact indicators: pressure indicators (e.g., emissions of CO), impact category indicators (e.g., CO equivalents in the case of climate change), and a total impact indicator (aggregating different impact category indicator results into a single value). Environmental impact indicators based on direct material input, total material input, and total material requirement of the Kymenlaakso region are also assessed. The economic indicators used are the gross domestic product, the value added, and the output of the main economic sectors of Kymenlaakso. In the eco‐efficiency assessment, the economic and environmental impact indicators are monitored in the same graph. In a few cases eco‐efficiency ratios can also be calculated (the economic indicators are divided by the environmental indicators). Output (= value added + intermediate consumption) is used as an economic indicator related to the environmental impact indicators, which also cover the upstream processes of the regions activities. In the article, we also discuss the strengths and weaknesses of using the different environmental impact indicators.

The Finnish metals industry and the environment

Abstract An extensive R&D project—Life Cycle Assessment as a Tool for the Management of Environmental Issues in the Finnish Metals Industry—was carried out as part of the Finnish Environmental Cluster Research Programme 1998–2000. Life cycle inventory (LCI) data of the main product groups—steel plates and coils, steel bars, steel wires, stainless steel, copper, nickel, zinc and aluminium were produced and company specific environmental impact assessments were made based on these. The LCI data was interpreted by an impact assessment model based on decision analysis and methods used in life cycle impact assessment. The results revealed that the Finnish metals industry is far from homogenous as regards its environmental impacts. The life cycle assessment (LCA) data was also used to identify important areas of environmental protection needed in the industry from the standpoint of eco-efficiency. Notwithstanding the current good level of environmental protection in the Finnish metals industry, reduction of energy use, deposits, sludges, dusts and emissions of carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and metals needs to continue. It is possible to upgrade eco-efficiency by producing more metals and by-products from smaller amounts of raw materials and by recovering wastes. Increasing further the reusability and recyclability of metals is also a desirable trend. In the long term, eco-efficiency can best be improved by decreasing the use of metals by developing and better utilising their properties and by increasing the life times of metallic end products. There is also a need for R&D work on land use and landscape issues, as well as the environmental impacts of metals, which cannot currently be properly handled in LCAs.

Life cycle inventory analyses for five waste management options for discarded newspaper

This paper presents the results of life cycle inventory (LCI) analyses that were carried out to determine the environmental impacts (emissions, resource extractions and land use) of different newspaper waste management options for the Helsinki Metropolitan Area (HMA). LCI analyses were performed for five product systems, in which discarded newspapers were divided into two streams: separately collected newspapers and newspapers in mixed waste. In all the options, the manufacturing and printing processes of newspaper were kept unchanged. The waste management alternatives included combinations of material recycling, energy recovery and landfilling. These product systems were modelled using the current collection rate of newspaper and four additional collection rates. The LCIs of the product systems showed that the life cycle phase causing the most environmental impacts was the paper mill. When comparing the different waste management systems, the energy recovery options were in general superior to landfilling. The ecological implications of the increased energy recovery and decreased material recycling of newspaper were, however, not yet considered in the study. These aspects were assessed in the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA), which was performed after the LCI phase.

The eco‐efficiency of regions – case Kymenlaakso

The ECOREG project, which is funded by the Life‐Environment programme, aims to demonstrate the concept and implementation of eco‐efficiency, using the Finnish Kymenlaakso region as a case study. Indicators for regional eco‐efficiency, combining the ecological, economic, social and cultural aspects of development, will be designed and quantified for the year 2000. A long‐term (2005, 2010, …) mechanism will also be prepared for evaluating progress made in regional eco‐efficiency in Kymenlaakso and for prioritizing actions needed for further improvement.