A decision-support tool for prioritizing environmental actions with complementary circularity insights at company and industrial park levels

Cleaner Environmental Systems, vol. 21, pp. 100441

Abstract

Industrial activities account for 28 % of global greenhouse gas emissions, and many operational decisions at company (micro) and industrial park (meso) levels are taken without quantitative ex-ante assessment of their environmental and circularity impacts. This paper presents a low-effort decision-support tool (DST) that integrates life cycle assessment and multi-criteria decision-making to rank operational actions by environmental performance while assessing circularity as a complementary aspect. The DST requires only three readily available company inputs (number of employees, electricity demand, and transport distance), while 15 generic and 5 case-specific actions are pre-quantified for five environmental indicators. Methodologically, the DST contributes a generic ex-ante scoring tool that combines LCA results with core MCDM elements (normalization, weighting, aggregation) and adds a complementary circularity perspective. It produces a single environmental score per action and action portfolio, alongside circularity information based on R-strategies and optional circularity indicators. Applications to a consulting firm, an electronics manufacturer, a soil-treatment company, and a detergent producer show that selected action portfolios can reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions by up to 10 kt CO 2 -eq, cumulative energy demand by 148 TJ, and raw material input by 58 kt. The applications also reveal trade-offs, such as increased land use for some renewable electricity options. Workplace and mobility actions dominate in service-oriented contexts, whereas logistics and closed-loop product actions (e.g., refill packaging, internal PA 6.6 regranulation) are most effective in production settings. The DST’s contribution is a micro–meso tool that can jointly inform environmental and circularity decisions across various sectors. • An ex-ante assessment tool used by companies to reduce environmental impacts • 20 pre-quantified actions for companies • Five environmental indicators with complementary circular economy aspects • Action-based max normalization, equal weighting, and linear aggregation for scoring • Supports decision-making and resource allocation with minimal input data

Authors 4

1. Benedikt Verkic corresponding Aachen ANTS - Department of Anthropogenic Material Cycles

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   ANTS - Department of Anthropogenic Material Cycles, RWTH Aachen University, Wüllnerstraße 2, 52062 Aachen, Germany

2. Annalisa Karin Nolte Aachen ANTS - Department of Anthropogenic Material Cycles

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   ANTS - Department of Anthropogenic Material Cycles, RWTH Aachen University, Wüllnerstraße 2, 52062 Aachen, Germany

3. Kathrin Greiff Aachen ANTS - Department of Anthropogenic Material Cycles

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   ANTS - Department of Anthropogenic Material Cycles, RWTH Aachen University, Wüllnerstraße 2, 52062 Aachen, Germany

4. Juliano B Araujo

   Pforzheim University of Applied Sciences

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute for Industrial Ecology, Pforzheim University, Tiefenbronner Straße 65, 75175 Pforzheim, Germany