Development of a guide to support the selection of product-related environmental performance indicators

• Grant number: 12/06890-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: June 01, 2012
• End date: October 31, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Production Engineering - Product Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Henrique Rozenfeld
• Grantee: Isabela Ianhez Issa
• Host Institution: Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos (EESC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 13/00407-3 - Development and evaluation of a guide to support the selection of ecodesign indicators for monitoring the environmental performance of products, BE.EP.IC

Abstract

The improvement of the environmental performance of products aims to reduce the environmental impacts associated with their entire life-cycle, contributing to the development of a sustainable society. Ecodesign is a proactive approach that defines a new way to develop products, in which environmental issues have the same status that functionality, durability, aesthetics, costs, etc. By implementing this approach in the product development process, it's necessary to measure and monitor the environmental performance of the developed products, since the establishment of measurable goals and performance indicators are critical to achieving success in a project. Despite the existence in the literature of several researches related to environmental performance indicators, companies still face difficulties in the selection and use of these indicators. As a consequence, it becomes necessary to classify and systematize these indicators in order to assist the effective implementation of Ecodesign. This research aims to develop a guide to support companies in the selection of environmental performance indicators of products. The methodology employed is composed of a systematic literature review in order to gather the state of the art of these indicators, and a case study to evaluate the developed guide. As result, it is expected that the guide supports companies in the use of indicators in order to monitor the environmental performance of their products.(AU)