There is an imbalance between the cycles of nature and the material flows caused by humans. This imbalance can be expressed in figures and presented as an ecological footprint.
The Sustainable Process Index (SPI) – as a type of ecological footprint – compares human activities, in which resources are consumed and pollutants are released into nature, with nature’s ability to provide resources and assimilate pollutant. The more humans exceed these natural renewal rates, the larger the ecological footprint.
When calculating the ecological footprint, the Sustainable Process Index (SPI) takes the direct area, the area for long-term storage of fossil carbon on the sea floor, the areas for renewable and non-renewable raw materials and those for the absorption of emissions into air water and soil that are needed to manufacture a product or to provide a service, into account.
The Sustainable Process Index therefore calculates an “area” as a measure of environmental impact with the unit m2. The larger this area, the greater the environmental impact. In addition, STRATECO can also show the Global Warming Potential (or just CO2 emissions) in kg in the results.
The Sustainable Process Index shows the environmental pressure at each stage of the life cycle and shows the differences between products and processes based on renewable resources and those based on non-renewables or fossil resources. It also provides a good representation of the ecological hotspots within the individual process chains.
STRATECO bases the preparation of the life cycle assessments on the procedures defined in ISO standards 14040 to 14044. Thereby objectives and framework conditions are defined, then the data is collected and subsequently evaluated with the Sustainable Process Index. The definitions and interpretations are always carried out in a joint dialog with the customers.