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Industrial sustainability involves the creation of manufactured goods through processes that are economically sound and guarantees minimal negative impact on the environment while at the same time conserving natural resources and energy. Industrial sustainability encompasses human, economic, social, and environmental pillars (Sutherland et al., 2020). Industrial sustainability will require new frameworks, tools, and strategies, all of which form a systematic design approach that presents sustainable manufacturing, organizational change, new supply chain design, and a type of management that is sustainable.
The Impact of Greenhouse Gas / Carbon Emission
Greenhouse gases (GHG) are recognized as gases that absorb infrared radiation hence leading to the greenhouse effect. Examples of these gases are chlorofluorocarbons and carbon dioxide (Cassia et al., 2018). GHG is recognized as an atmospheric gaseous constituent that absorbs radiation and emits it in a thermal infrared range. When GHG gases are tapped into the atmosphere, they contribute to various environmental and health effects that include; an increase in wildfires, increased respiratory diseases due to the polluted air and smog, extreme weather patterns, and disruption in the food supply.
Industrial Impact
Industries primarily emit greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels to obtain the energy used in mechanical operations. Additionally, GHGs can be produced through reactions of chemicals that are used within the industries. In the US the industrial sector is recognized to contribute 24 percent of the total emission (Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), n.d). The emission that takes place through direct and indirect means makes the industrial sector the 3rd contributor to greenhouse gas emissions after other sectors such as electricity and transportation.
Agricultural Sector / Vertical farming
Food provisioning in the agricultural sector leads to the release of greenhouse gases into the earth’s atmosphere. Farming is therefore recognized to be responsible for the release of two major powerful greenhouse gases, they are nitrous oxide and methane. CO2 is recognized as the major contributing factor to climate change (Solaymani, 2019). Additionally, farm activities like fertilizer and pesticide application, planting, and tilling, all contribute to the emission of carbon dioxide. Synthetic fertilizers and livestock manure when left on the pastures contribute to the addition of nitrous oxide in the atmosphere.
Food processing
Production of food in various firms results in the emission of various effluents into the atmosphere, these gases that contribute to the greenhouse effects include methane, CO2, and other gases that cause global warming. 25 percent of the total emissions that comes from food products are considered to be from beef (Ritchie, & Roser, 2020). The greenhouse effect is also likely to contribute to a reduction of protein levels and some other essential minerals due to the increased levels of CO2 in the atmosphere (Yoro, & Daramola, 2020). It is a serious threat to human health when there is a reduced amount of essential nutrients in food crops.
The Importance of Carbon Emission Reductions
Reduction in the carbon print will result in the mitigation of global climate change, this means that the less human emits GHG into the atmosphere, the less contribution they make to the global change. Reduction in the emission of carbon will lead to a reduction of millions of premature deaths that are caused yearly by the huge amounts of pollution over the coming century (Sun et al., 2020). Reduction in carbon footprint is likely to result in reduced loss incurred by various economies.
Paris Agreement Impact on Companies to Reduce Emission
The Paris agreement which was adopted in 2015 and entered into force in 2016, is recognized as a climate change treaty that is legally binding internationally. With a goal to limit the rate of global warming to a preferred level of 1.5 degrees Celsius (Rabani et al.,2021). The agreement will also impact negatively on the organizations that do not consider the change, this is because, fossil fuels will no longer be less risky, cheap, and safer than before (Liu et al., 2020). The agreement also encourages the use of the concept of carbon capture and storage (CSS) which will be applicable in drawing the CO2 emitted in the atmosphere (Sunny, Mac Dowell, & Shah, 2020).
Process of Decarbonization
Decarbonization refers to the process of carbon reduction, it precisely involves an economic system that compensates for and reduces the emission of CO2 into the atmosphere. According to Musacchio et al. (2021), this process that was introduced to create a globe free of CO2 has got various steps that include; recognition of potential and baseline, calls for the setting of goals that are achievable, and enables fast decision-making by allowing one to where and how to act.
Additionally, the second step is the creation and announcement of the targets. During this step, an industry will announce its goals after carrying out the analysis. This is a strategic way of pushing the industry to work faster on achieving its goals. In the third step, an industry will deploy strategies and programs that aim at decarbonization. This step embraces the nature of each industry where different ways of decarbonization are accessed to achieve energy efficiency and an economy that is decarbonized. The last step involves monitoring and adjustment that is required by every industry to keep up with the achieved trend of sustainability by using the appropriate and relevant technologies.
Measuring GHG/Carbon Emissions
GHG emissions are usually measured in CO2 equivalents, conversion of the gas emissions into CO2 equivalents is attained by multiplying the emission of the gas by the Global Warming Potential (GWP) of the gas (Roth, Lewis, & Hancock, 2021). The Global Warming Potential takes into consideration the idea that several gases are always warming the earth more effectively that the per unit mass of the CO2 (Roth, Lewis, & Hancock, 2021). The unit of measure of the GHG is thus identified as tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e).
Different Measurement Methods
Methods and frameworks used to measure the emission of greenhouse gas is life cycle assessment (LCA) and greenhouse gas emissions. LCA is recognized as a systematic analysis of an environmental impact over the course of a material product or a process. LCA enables the comparison of two products and selects which impacts least on the environment. This process avoids shifting the burden by considering the full life cycle of a product, LCA elevates the impact of stages of a product’s life cycle rather than one stage. In addition, greenhouse gas emission is another method or framework that is applicable in the measurement of GHG emission through calculations. Recognizing the manner in which greenhouse gas emissions are done, is a suitable way to determine the rate of emission in various industries. The measurement is usually done in carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent (CO2-eq) (Roth, Lewis, & Hancock, 2021). The emission of different GHG gases is compared on the basis of the global warming potential (GWP) through conversion to CO2 equivalent amount with the same GWP.
LCA – Advantages/Disadvantages
Advantages, life cycle assessment (LCA) aims to quantify the impacts of the environment that is recognized to rise from material outputs and inputs like emissions and the use of energy. Additionally, over an entire life cycle of a given product, this consumer is able to make a viable decision that aims at the benefit of the environment (Zheng, & Peng, 2021). Lastly, LCA also allows for the industry to connect meaningfully with its consumers.
Disadvantages, there is the specificity with the LCA and hence cannot be transposed to other operations that are similar. Sometimes best estimates are used as there is difficulty in obtaining inventory data. Additionally, LCA can be costly and time-consuming due to the need for pulling together data (Dieterle et al., 2022). Lastly, LCA does not always identify the type of product or technique that performs the best or is the most economically efficient, thus they should be utilized as a part of a larger research.
(research Other Methods at least 2 ) – Advantages/Disadvantages
The International financial institution framework for a harmonized approach to greenhouse gas accounting. The purpose of this approach is to ensure that every International Financial institution (IFIs) is accountable for the GHG emitted from the projects in which they have directly invested (World Bank Group, 2015). In addition, their policy on emissions should be made public to be recognized by various industries. Another accord is the Kyoto Protocol, a treaty that enforces various industries not to exceed certain limits on the emission of GHG, hence a great contributor to sustainability. Monitoring and measuring the amount of carbon that is emitted from the construction supply chain is carried out through a web service framework (Onat, & Kucukvar, 2020). This process involves the emissions from the site of construction and the individuals involved in the various processes of the supply chains. Lastly, ENVIFOOD Protocol is a framework concerned with the environmental assessment of food, and drinks. The protocol is recognized to have been developed by the EU legislation and is meant to monitor the generic food and drink life cycle.
Greenhouse Gas Protocol
Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHGP), was established in 1998 through a partnership between World Business Council for Sustainable Development and World Resources Institute. GHG Protocol is meant to establish a global standardized framework that is comprehensive, measures, and manages the emissions of GHG from operations of public and private sectors, mitigation actions, and value chain (Neri et al., 2018). The GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard are meant to provide guidance and requirements for organizations and companies like government agencies, universities, and NGOs that are preparing a GHG emission inventory at a corporate level.
Agricultural Sector – Vertical Farming: Process
Vertical farming involves the artificial growth of crops through the stacking of plants in a vertical manner above each other, this can be done by either the usage of a skyscraper or utilizing the third dimension of the space. The growth of crops in this manner involved controlled environmental components such as the dosing systems, the sterilization system, disinfection of the chemicals, sanitation of the ozone, control of lighting, and sterilization using UV light.
Which stage has the highest carbon emission
Vertical farming would lead to the lowest emission of CO2 if the process or the mechanization of the activities in the project is powered by renewable energy. However, if the process is likely to lead to the production of the highest amount of CO2 emission if the procedure is by other sources of energy such as fuel and coal, a stage that denotes it to be the highest pollutant process as compared to conventional farming.
Supply Chain
A supply chain entails a network of organizations, individuals, resources, technology, and activities that are involved in the creation and sale of various goods. Approximately 90 percent of a company’s environmental impacts are caused by the process and activities taking place in the supply chain. In the stage of supply change, there is the production of GHG gases, toxic waste, pollution of water, loss of biodiversity, and deforestation.
Which stage has the highest carbon emission
The transportation sector contributes to approximately 27 percent of the total emission factors. This is recognized as the largest share of the greenhouse gases that are emitted in the supply chain sector. The transport sector involved several types of motor vehicles, these include medium and heavy trucks, passenger cars, and light duty trucks. Among those, passengers’ car contributes a significant part of the GHG emission, because of their high number and frequent usage.
References
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