Strategy Development and Sustainable Solutions
Since 13 years, TBU is developing systems and strategies which enable an environmentally compatible and economically viable (‘eco-efficient’) treatment and/or recovery of resources in approximation to a closed loop economy.
The area of waste management and recycling was one of the first in which the impoacts of our economy were analysed in a broader frame. Substance flow and life cycle analyses were the tools that brought a wealth of knowledge and new findings about the ecological characteristics of products, from rwa material extraction through to production, marketing, use and disposal (‘cradle-to-grave’) or recycling (‘cradle-to-cradle’). This knowledge can and is now being applied to other areas as well.
Another important point in the conceptional development and in the analysis of options is the consideration of social aspects. This includes: The immediate implications of a certain activity for residents, the impacts on the community and last not least the consultation and co-operation with interested (or concerned) members of the community from an early stage of the project onwards.
The need to account for all three factors - Economic, Environmental and Social – is generally accepted as being an essential prerequisit for sustainable development. This is also being promoted by the the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, an association of several hundred of the largest businesses worldwide. The consideration of these factors is known as ‘Triple Bottom Line Accounting’. TBU is familiar with methods and literature and has experience in using this tool in cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analyses.
In this context, TBU offers the following services:
Sustainable strategies using triple bottom line accounting and sound technical evaluation
Development of quantifiable and understandable decision support systems
Evaluation of options and multi criterion analyses
Environmental reporting
Community consultation