Perspectives on Measurements in Sustainability

Sustainability is about complex systems and their interrelated parts. Measurement of sustainability is therefore complex and challenging and lends itself to many interpretations and approaches. This session will present some approaches to how to quantify the sustainability aspects and attributes of municipalities, supply chains, and a company and its processes and products. Several collaborative efforts which are underway will be reviewed as to how they are developing ways to quantify aspects – including energy and GHG metrics - benchmark results, and move toward consensus on criteria for measurement. Among those collaborative projects highlighted will be The Founder Society Technologies for Carbon Management Project, AIChE biofuels metrics effort, and the AIChE Sustainability Index for Chemical Producers. Additional presentations include EPA’s metrics for designing sustainable supply chains, a sustainability metrics system or a chemical company, and a prototypical sustainable cities suite of metrics.