To avert the upcoming crisis of climate change, significant changes on different scales and secto... more To avert the upcoming crisis of climate change, significant changes on different scales and sectors are necessary. The knowledge and research of the higher education sector is an essential part in the fight against climate change already. Many universities admit the urgency of acting within their institution as well and have started to measure their impact on the environment to formulate emission-reduction goals. As part of its sustainability strategy, the University of Graz launched the Institutional Carbon Management (ICM) project to calculate its emissions via a greenhouse gas emissions inventory. In comparison to other inventories, the ICM also includes the gastronomy services on and around the campus of the University of Graz, which is also the focus of this paper. It was found that especially energy- and carbon-intensive food products such as meat and dairy contribute to the emissions of a gastronomy service. In total, the gastronomy service emissions contribute 1.1% to the to...
The global food production industry is responsible for producing high levels of greenhouse gas (G... more The global food production industry is responsible for producing high levels of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Along the entire food supply chain (FSC), potential for mitigation exists because approximately one-third of all food globally produced is wasted, equivalent to 1.3 billion tons per year. On a global scale, emissions from livestock production are about 4600–7100 Mt CO2-eq/year when considered over the whole life cycle. These numbers represent roughly 9.4–14.5% of the total global GHG emissions. In Austria, the livestock sector was responsible for producing about 11.6% of the total GHG emissions in 2012 as a result of the production of about 909,000 t of meat. A high potential for mitigation of GHG emissions from livestock production exists, especially during the farming and production phases. A reduction in meat waste would, in the long-term, directly reduce GHG emissions stemming from livestock production. Two scenarios were considered to assess the GHG mitigation potential of waste from meat production: a business-as-usual (BAU) scenario and a reduction (RED) scenario (assuming a one-third reduction in waste from meat production in Austria). Because food waste is influenced by several phenomena along the FSC, taking an approach such as the life cycle assessment (LCA) offers only a partial solution. By using a Sustainability Impact Assessment (SIA) approach, researchers can consider social, economic and ecological impacts. It is possible to analyze and compare food waste reduction potentials through the use of such a tool, which can support GHG mitigation efforts in terms of their social, environmental and economic contribution to the livestock and meat processing sector. This approach allowed the identification of indicators that contribute to all sustainability dimensions and support the conclusion that preventing waste from meat processing would save at least 4.8 Mt CO2-eq emissions per year in Austria, which represented 6% of Austria’s total CO2-eq emissions in 2012.
Sowohl in Umweltvertraglichkeitsprufungen als auch in strategischen Umweltprufungen zahlt die men... more Sowohl in Umweltvertraglichkeitsprufungen als auch in strategischen Umweltprufungen zahlt die menschliche Gesundheit zu den wesentlichen Schutzgutern und bildet den masgeblichen Fokus einer Gesundheitsfolgenabschatzung (GFA). In Osterreich hat sich in den letzten Jahren eine Vielzahl von GFA-Aktivitaten entfaltet, die in diesem Uberblicksartikel vorgestellt werden. Die Spannweite der Aktivitaten reicht von einem detaillierten Etablierungskonzept fur GFA in Osterreich uber einen GFA-Leitfaden bis zur Durchfuhrung mehrerer Pilotprojekte und wissenschaftlicher Arbeiten.
Higher education for sustainable development plays a crucial role in the transformation of societ... more Higher education for sustainable development plays a crucial role in the transformation of society towards a more sustainable pathway of development. The new trends in society and technology experienced in the course of the fourth industrial revolution come with challenges, but also provide opportunities. In this paper, we reflect on the conceptual basis of education for sustainable development as approached at the University of Graz, Austria, and contrast this basis with the expectations stated by students. The results showed that students acknowledged the high importance of digital competencies and found it highly important to be confronted with future-oriented topics and contents. Interestingly, students seemed skeptical about online course formats and digitalization of teaching and clearly preferred the interactive classroom experience. Students also rated international topics and transdisciplinary thinking as fairly important. Interestingly, a relatively high share of students ...
Various municipal solid waste management (MSWM) innovations have emerged in developing countries ... more Various municipal solid waste management (MSWM) innovations have emerged in developing countries in face of the challenges posed by increasing waste generation and poor MSWM practice. We present a methodology to assess the potential sustainability impact of MSWM innovations in a holistic manner. The Life Cycle Sustainability Analysis (LCSA) framework and the United Nations (UN) sustainable development goals (SDGs) facilitated the methodology development. The result of applying the methodology to the case of waste bank (WB) in Bandung City shows that WB potentially generates the greatest sustainability impact in the resource recovery phase and the smallest impact in the collection and final disposal phase. All negative impacts could arise in the economic dimension. Surprisingly, WB as a national strategy to achieve 3Rs would not effectively solve Bandung City’s landfill problem. Almost all SDGs would benefit from the WB program under the assumed conditions. This methodology will faci...
Results: N¼ 1086 participants (61% females, mean age 47 years) walked or cycled to work or school... more Results: N¼ 1086 participants (61% females, mean age 47 years) walked or cycled to work or school in the past months. Of those people, 56% passed through natural outdoor environments on a daily basis. Preliminary analysis showed that participants commuting daily through natural outdoor environments have on average a 5.09 (95% confidence interval 3.24-6.94) higher score on the SF-36 mental health subscale than those who commute less frequently through natural outdoor environments. Conclusions: Active commuting through natural outdoor environments may be related to better mental health. These findings could have implications for urban spatial planning policies targeted at improving commuting routes for walking and cycling.
With 7.5% total nutritional value, pork is a staple food for many members of the Austrian populat... more With 7.5% total nutritional value, pork is a staple food for many members of the Austrian population. Among members of the general public, little is known about the environmental impacts "from farm to fork" in the production of pork. This paper identifies three main impact categories for the environmental profile of Austrian pork using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method. In a transparent and comprehensive manner, this LCA studied environmental impacts occurring throughout the production chain of pork, also including the transport and consumption stages. The results are expressed in terms of the global warming potential (GWP), soil acidification and eutrophication, specifically in CO 2-equivalents, SO 2-equivalents and NO 3-equivalents normalized to one kg of fresh Austrian pork (carcass weight) as the functional unit. The main results of the study indicated that the environmental burden is primarily related to the farming stage: 92.3% of GWP, 98.4% of soil acidification and 95.4% of eutrophication. The processes taking place after the agriculture stage (i.e., during the slaughtering stage, retail market and consumption) play a minor role, except for the relative impact of eutrophication during the slaughtering stage. The transportation that took place between the different life cycle stages only marginally influenced the emissions analysed, with private transport from the retail market to the household contributing most of the emissions considered in this part of the life cycle. These results point to the farming stage as the main focus for future improvements. Due to its high contribution to the GWP, soil acidification and eutrophication potential, enhancing the efficiency and environmental protection measures implemented during the farming stage (or improving the choice of commodities used from feed production) could generate the highest reductions in impacts on soil acidification, eutrophication and potentially on the global climate.
highly politicized contexts. This paper reports on a study carried out for the European Commissio... more highly politicized contexts. This paper reports on a study carried out for the European Commission to review the mechanisms of integration at strategic decision levels and to examine the role of SEA in helping to achieve better integration. This was undertaken by first reviewing integration and SEA in all EU member states and in a range of other countries and international financing organizations, and then analysing in detail 20 SEA and integration case studies at various strategic decision levels, primarily policy and plan levels. What is clear is that SEA at the most strategic level needs to be W. R. SHEATE ET AL. flexible in relating to the policy-making process, but can bring significant advantages by providing a more systematic approach to the consideration of environmental issues. Existing institutional mechanisms may already provide elements of SEA that can be harnessed together in a more systematic process. At the most strategic levels qualitative, participation and communication processes become much more important than technical methodologies. SEA should be seen as complementary to the newly emerging tool of sustainability appraisal, although the exact relationship will depend upon the preferred interpretation of sustainable development.
This chapter introduces the EA handbook, summarising the main points made. It is divided into fou... more This chapter introduces the EA handbook, summarising the main points made. It is divided into four sections. First, the purpose of the handbook is explained and an outline of the three parts and 18 chapters is given. Second, the chapters of part 1 'EA related master programmes: experiences, current practice and prospects' are introduced.–This is followed by a summary of part 2, the 'curriculum for EA related master programmes'. Finally, the chapters presented under the third part of the handbook 'Key sources for some key EA ...
To avert the upcoming crisis of climate change, significant changes on different scales and secto... more To avert the upcoming crisis of climate change, significant changes on different scales and sectors are necessary. The knowledge and research of the higher education sector is an essential part in the fight against climate change already. Many universities admit the urgency of acting within their institution as well and have started to measure their impact on the environment to formulate emission-reduction goals. As part of its sustainability strategy, the University of Graz launched the Institutional Carbon Management (ICM) project to calculate its emissions via a greenhouse gas emissions inventory. In comparison to other inventories, the ICM also includes the gastronomy services on and around the campus of the University of Graz, which is also the focus of this paper. It was found that especially energy- and carbon-intensive food products such as meat and dairy contribute to the emissions of a gastronomy service. In total, the gastronomy service emissions contribute 1.1% to the to...
The global food production industry is responsible for producing high levels of greenhouse gas (G... more The global food production industry is responsible for producing high levels of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Along the entire food supply chain (FSC), potential for mitigation exists because approximately one-third of all food globally produced is wasted, equivalent to 1.3 billion tons per year. On a global scale, emissions from livestock production are about 4600–7100 Mt CO2-eq/year when considered over the whole life cycle. These numbers represent roughly 9.4–14.5% of the total global GHG emissions. In Austria, the livestock sector was responsible for producing about 11.6% of the total GHG emissions in 2012 as a result of the production of about 909,000 t of meat. A high potential for mitigation of GHG emissions from livestock production exists, especially during the farming and production phases. A reduction in meat waste would, in the long-term, directly reduce GHG emissions stemming from livestock production. Two scenarios were considered to assess the GHG mitigation potential of waste from meat production: a business-as-usual (BAU) scenario and a reduction (RED) scenario (assuming a one-third reduction in waste from meat production in Austria). Because food waste is influenced by several phenomena along the FSC, taking an approach such as the life cycle assessment (LCA) offers only a partial solution. By using a Sustainability Impact Assessment (SIA) approach, researchers can consider social, economic and ecological impacts. It is possible to analyze and compare food waste reduction potentials through the use of such a tool, which can support GHG mitigation efforts in terms of their social, environmental and economic contribution to the livestock and meat processing sector. This approach allowed the identification of indicators that contribute to all sustainability dimensions and support the conclusion that preventing waste from meat processing would save at least 4.8 Mt CO2-eq emissions per year in Austria, which represented 6% of Austria’s total CO2-eq emissions in 2012.
Sowohl in Umweltvertraglichkeitsprufungen als auch in strategischen Umweltprufungen zahlt die men... more Sowohl in Umweltvertraglichkeitsprufungen als auch in strategischen Umweltprufungen zahlt die menschliche Gesundheit zu den wesentlichen Schutzgutern und bildet den masgeblichen Fokus einer Gesundheitsfolgenabschatzung (GFA). In Osterreich hat sich in den letzten Jahren eine Vielzahl von GFA-Aktivitaten entfaltet, die in diesem Uberblicksartikel vorgestellt werden. Die Spannweite der Aktivitaten reicht von einem detaillierten Etablierungskonzept fur GFA in Osterreich uber einen GFA-Leitfaden bis zur Durchfuhrung mehrerer Pilotprojekte und wissenschaftlicher Arbeiten.
Higher education for sustainable development plays a crucial role in the transformation of societ... more Higher education for sustainable development plays a crucial role in the transformation of society towards a more sustainable pathway of development. The new trends in society and technology experienced in the course of the fourth industrial revolution come with challenges, but also provide opportunities. In this paper, we reflect on the conceptual basis of education for sustainable development as approached at the University of Graz, Austria, and contrast this basis with the expectations stated by students. The results showed that students acknowledged the high importance of digital competencies and found it highly important to be confronted with future-oriented topics and contents. Interestingly, students seemed skeptical about online course formats and digitalization of teaching and clearly preferred the interactive classroom experience. Students also rated international topics and transdisciplinary thinking as fairly important. Interestingly, a relatively high share of students ...
Various municipal solid waste management (MSWM) innovations have emerged in developing countries ... more Various municipal solid waste management (MSWM) innovations have emerged in developing countries in face of the challenges posed by increasing waste generation and poor MSWM practice. We present a methodology to assess the potential sustainability impact of MSWM innovations in a holistic manner. The Life Cycle Sustainability Analysis (LCSA) framework and the United Nations (UN) sustainable development goals (SDGs) facilitated the methodology development. The result of applying the methodology to the case of waste bank (WB) in Bandung City shows that WB potentially generates the greatest sustainability impact in the resource recovery phase and the smallest impact in the collection and final disposal phase. All negative impacts could arise in the economic dimension. Surprisingly, WB as a national strategy to achieve 3Rs would not effectively solve Bandung City’s landfill problem. Almost all SDGs would benefit from the WB program under the assumed conditions. This methodology will faci...
Results: N¼ 1086 participants (61% females, mean age 47 years) walked or cycled to work or school... more Results: N¼ 1086 participants (61% females, mean age 47 years) walked or cycled to work or school in the past months. Of those people, 56% passed through natural outdoor environments on a daily basis. Preliminary analysis showed that participants commuting daily through natural outdoor environments have on average a 5.09 (95% confidence interval 3.24-6.94) higher score on the SF-36 mental health subscale than those who commute less frequently through natural outdoor environments. Conclusions: Active commuting through natural outdoor environments may be related to better mental health. These findings could have implications for urban spatial planning policies targeted at improving commuting routes for walking and cycling.
With 7.5% total nutritional value, pork is a staple food for many members of the Austrian populat... more With 7.5% total nutritional value, pork is a staple food for many members of the Austrian population. Among members of the general public, little is known about the environmental impacts "from farm to fork" in the production of pork. This paper identifies three main impact categories for the environmental profile of Austrian pork using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method. In a transparent and comprehensive manner, this LCA studied environmental impacts occurring throughout the production chain of pork, also including the transport and consumption stages. The results are expressed in terms of the global warming potential (GWP), soil acidification and eutrophication, specifically in CO 2-equivalents, SO 2-equivalents and NO 3-equivalents normalized to one kg of fresh Austrian pork (carcass weight) as the functional unit. The main results of the study indicated that the environmental burden is primarily related to the farming stage: 92.3% of GWP, 98.4% of soil acidification and 95.4% of eutrophication. The processes taking place after the agriculture stage (i.e., during the slaughtering stage, retail market and consumption) play a minor role, except for the relative impact of eutrophication during the slaughtering stage. The transportation that took place between the different life cycle stages only marginally influenced the emissions analysed, with private transport from the retail market to the household contributing most of the emissions considered in this part of the life cycle. These results point to the farming stage as the main focus for future improvements. Due to its high contribution to the GWP, soil acidification and eutrophication potential, enhancing the efficiency and environmental protection measures implemented during the farming stage (or improving the choice of commodities used from feed production) could generate the highest reductions in impacts on soil acidification, eutrophication and potentially on the global climate.
highly politicized contexts. This paper reports on a study carried out for the European Commissio... more highly politicized contexts. This paper reports on a study carried out for the European Commission to review the mechanisms of integration at strategic decision levels and to examine the role of SEA in helping to achieve better integration. This was undertaken by first reviewing integration and SEA in all EU member states and in a range of other countries and international financing organizations, and then analysing in detail 20 SEA and integration case studies at various strategic decision levels, primarily policy and plan levels. What is clear is that SEA at the most strategic level needs to be W. R. SHEATE ET AL. flexible in relating to the policy-making process, but can bring significant advantages by providing a more systematic approach to the consideration of environmental issues. Existing institutional mechanisms may already provide elements of SEA that can be harnessed together in a more systematic process. At the most strategic levels qualitative, participation and communication processes become much more important than technical methodologies. SEA should be seen as complementary to the newly emerging tool of sustainability appraisal, although the exact relationship will depend upon the preferred interpretation of sustainable development.
This chapter introduces the EA handbook, summarising the main points made. It is divided into fou... more This chapter introduces the EA handbook, summarising the main points made. It is divided into four sections. First, the purpose of the handbook is explained and an outline of the three parts and 18 chapters is given. Second, the chapters of part 1 'EA related master programmes: experiences, current practice and prospects' are introduced.–This is followed by a summary of part 2, the 'curriculum for EA related master programmes'. Finally, the chapters presented under the third part of the handbook 'Key sources for some key EA ...
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