A number of analytical tools are used to determine the impacts of different societal systems on the environment; for example a product´s total environmental impact with respect to material and energy use. There are life-cycle analyses, strategic environmental assessments, socioeconomic evaluations, etc. The problem is that the different tools are usually developed independently of each other. “We can learn a lot from the different tools, but also find sub-components that can be common and therefore useful for several tools. We wanted to both improve understanding of which tools are appropriate for which sorts of analysis and to examine whether there are different combinations of tools that could be useful together," says Göran Finnveden, project leader for the idea-support project Common techniques for environmental systems analysis tools.
Deepened understanding
The project was initiated in 2002, and was granted eight million Swedish crowns over a four-year period. Since then it has been extended for an additional two years.
“We have contributed with documented methodological developments that have already been put to use. We have also contributed with a better and deepened understanding of which tools fit which environmental analysis, as well as different tools´ limitations and potential. The project has also been in part about developing common components for different environmental systems analyses," says Finnveden.
Additional users
The users of the results are first and foremost those who use one or more of the methods and environmental-analysis tools that are available: researchers, companies and public agencies. “But even those who commission different analyses, such as counties, can benefit directly from our results," says Göran Finnveden.
About 15 researchers in total, connected to seven universities and research institutes (the Royal Institute of Technology, the Institute of Technology at Linköping University, Chalmers University of Technology, Statistics Sweden and the Swedish Defence Research Agency), have participated.
Final report
The project will submit its final report at the end of this year and the last doctoral student attached to the project will complete his degree. In total, five of the researchers involved in the project will have presented either masters or doctoral dissertations, and an additional five will have become senior lecturers.
In addition, Göran Finnveden has been promoted to Professor in the Environmental Strategies Research Group at the Royal Institute of Technology, a department that was created while the project was underway. Thus, Mistra´s support for this project has been valuable in many different ways that would have been difficult to achieve through traditional research funding. “Several of our researchers have established their careers under this project. So we have delivered results, created new contacts, and developed as researchers," says Göran Finnveden.
Research that has grown
“Beyond laying a foundation for concrete research results, the idea support has had several side-effects for the researchers participating in the project. In addition to our primary work, the idea support has meant that we have been able to establish contacts on the one hand, and have had opportunities to extend and deepen collaborations on the other. This, in turn, has lead to new projects and relationships with new funding agencies," says Finnveden. Amongst other activities, several of our researchers participate in the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency´s research programme Mist, which is also a methodological-development project. “We also run a research project funded by Swedish Rescue Services, which is a new form of continuation of the original project," he says.
