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Sustainability investors are in need of updated standards, indexes and in general better tools and instruments to facilitate company information on its impacts on people, planet and profit. Such instruments to reveal reliable, independent metrics and indicators to evaluate companies’ performances on sustainability exist, however, in research fields that previously have not been used extensively, for instance, life cycle assessments (LCAs). ISO 14001:2015 has implemented life cycle perspective, however, without being explicitly clear on which methodology is preferred. This paper aims to investigate LCA as to improve companies’ transparency towards sustainability investors through a literature review on sustainable investment evaluation.

The literature review is conducted through the search engine Google Scholar, which to date hosts the most comprehensive academic database across other databases such as Scopus, ISI Web of Knowledge, Science Direct, etc. Search words such as “Sustainable finance”, “Sustainable Investments”, “Performance metrics”, “Life cycle assessment”, “LCA”, “Environmental Management Systems”, “EMS” and “Environmental Profit and Loss Account” were used. Special journals that publish research on LCA such as International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, Journal of Cleaner Production and Journal of Industrial Ecology were also investigated in-depth.

The combination of using LCA in, for instance, environmental profit and loss accounts studied in this paper shows a comprehensive and reliable tool for sustainability investors, as well as for social responsibility standards such as ISO 14001, ISO 26000, UN Global Compact, GIIN, IRIS and GRI to incorporate. With a LCA-based hybrid input-output account, both upstream and downstream’s impact on the environment and society can be assessed by companies to attract more funding from sustainability investors such as shareholders, governments and intergovernmental bodies.

The literature review is based on publicly disclosed academic papers as well as five displayed company Environmental Profit and Loss accounts from the Kering Group, PUMA, Stella McCartney company, Novo Nordisk and Arla Group. Other company experiences with integration of LCA as a reporting tool have not been found, yet it is not to conclude that these five companies are the only ones to work extensively with LCA.

The paper may contribute to the clarification of LCA-thinking and perspective implementation in both ISO 14001 and ISO 26000, as well as in other social responsibility standards such as the UN Global Compact, the Global Impact Investing Networks, IRIS performance metrics, the Global Reporting Initiative and others.

The paper is one of the first that evaluates LCA and environmental profit and loss accounts for sustainability investors, as well as for consideration of implementation in social responsibility standards such as the ISO 14001 and ISO 26000, as well as in other social responsibility standards such as the UN Global Compact, the Global Impact Investing Networks, IRIS performance metrics and the Global Reporting Initiative.

Avoided emissions refer to greenhouse gas emission reductions that are a result of using a product or are emission removals due to a decision or an action. Although there is no uniform standard for calculating avoided emissions, market actors have started referring to avoided emissions as “Scope 4” emissions. By default, making a claim about Scope 4 emissions gives an appearance that this Scope of emissions is a natural extension of the existing and accepted Scope-based emissions accounting framework. The purpose of this study is to explore the implications of this assumed legitimacy.

Via a desktop review and interviews, we analyse extant Scope 4 company reporting, associated accounting methodologies and the practical implications of Scope 4 claims.

Upon examination of Scope 4 emissions and their relationship with Scopes 1, 2 and 3 emissions, we highlight a dynamic and interdependent relationship between quantification, commensuration and standardization in emissions accounting. We find that extant Scope 4 assessments do not fit the established framework for Scope-based emissions accounting. In line with literature on the territorializing nature of accounting, we call for caution about Scope 4 claims that are a distraction from the critical work of reducing absolute emissions.

We examine the implications of assumed alignment and borrowed legitimacy of Scope 4 with Scope-based accounting because Scope 4 is not an actual Scope, but a claim to a Scope. This is as an act of accounting territorialization.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the interplay between configuration dimensions (network structure, network flow, relationship governance, and service architecture) of last-mile supply networks (LMSN) and the underlying mechanisms influencing omnichannel performance.

Based on mixed-method design incorporating a multiple embedded case study, mapping, survey, and archival records, this research involved undertaking in-depth within- and cross-case analyses to examine seven LMSNs, employing a configuration approach.

The existing literature in the operations management (OM) field was shown to provide limited understanding of LMSNs within the emerging omnichannel context. Case results suggest that particular configurations have intrinsic capabilities, and that these directly influence omnichannel performance. The study further proposes a taxonomy of LMSNs comprising six forms, with two hybrids, supporting the notion of equifinality in configuration theory. Propositions are developed to further explore interdependencies between configurational attributes, refining the relationship between LMSN types, and factors influencing omnichannel performance.

The findings provide retailers with a set of design parameters for the (re)configuration of LMSNs and facilitate performance evaluation using the concept of fit between configurational attributes. The developed model sheds light on the consequential effects when certain configurational attributes are altered, preempting managerial attention. Given the global trend in urbanization, improved LMSN performance would have positive societal impacts in terms of service and resource efficiency.

This is one of the first studies in the OM field to critically analyze LMSNs and their behaviors in omnichannel retailing. Additionally, the paper offers several important avenues for future research.

The study attempts to capture the comprehensive accounting framework of the inverted U-shaped Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis relevant for an emerging economy based on an emission-growth decoupling approach. The paper intends to re-examine and analyze the roles of influential production- and consumption-based drivers for the prominently observable increasing pattern of the energy-related carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from the Indian Territory.

The study adopted an annual time series structural decomposition analysis (SDA) based on a single-country input-output framework for the period 2000–2014 to identify and elaborate the contribution of the responsible drivers to the production-based carbon emission of India. The study further proceeded to analyze a decoupling index to explore the features of economic growth and carbon emissions comovement over time.

The results from the empirical exercise reflect a pattern of consistently developing relative decoupling character for most of the production-based drivers. The paper produces insightful results on the pattern of energy-related CO₂ emissions from the perspective of the EKC hypothesis and highlights the importance of consumption-based drivers as substantial contributors to the economy-wide CO₂ emissions to be controlled for effective decoupling of the aggregate production-based CO₂ from the volume of aggregate production to enhance the opportunities for sustainable economic development.

The study uniquely correlates the declining trend of the emission intensity of India's gross domestic product (GDP) and the inclining trend of the overall emissions due to ever-increasing gross output in the form of a comprehensive accounting relationship.

Over the last decade, multiple initiatives have been undertaken to learn how to capture the carbon footprint of a supply chain at a product level. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the process of standardization to secure consistency of product carbon footprinting (PCF) and to outline how the current developments in PCF support the need for a standardized method to measure and report environmental performance in supply chains.

This paper is based on a literature review and a review of international standards for PCF which brings knowledge of PCF to the existing literature of green supply chain management.

The multiple initiatives for standardization each improve the understanding of standardized methods of conducting PCF. At the same time, however, important differences exist between the standards in terms of the modelling framework to be used when conducting a PCF, and a paradox exists concerning methods for securing future standardization of PCF.

Standards for evaluating emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in supply chains are evaluated without consideration of other environmental impacts. In addition, the research only compares international standards, thereby excluding national initiatives.

Standardization efforts can be expected to shape the future practice of measuring emission of GHGs in companies and supply chains which provides a framework for reducing impacts.

Papers that outline the standardization process for PCF have been examined, but this paper adds value by categorizing the field, outlining the latest standards, and by being the first paper to compare standards for PCF on selected criteria and identify gaps.

The construction and operation of buildings is a major contributor to global energy demand, greenhouse gases emissions, resource depletion, waste generation, and associated environmental effects, such as climate change, pollution and habitat destruction. Despite its wide relevance, research on building-related environmental effects often fails to achieve global visibility and attention, particularly in premiere interdisciplinary journals – thus representing a major gap in the research these journals offer. In this article we review and reflect on the factors that are likely causing this lack of visibility for such a prominent research topic and emphasise the need to reconcile the construction and operational phases into the physical unity of a building, to contribute to the global environmental discourse using a lifecycle-based approach. This article also aims to act as a call for action and to raise awareness of this important gap. The evidence contained in the article can support institutional policies to improve the status quo and provide a practical help to researchers in the field to bring their work to wide interdisciplinary audiences.

The systems approach is an exemplar of design science research (DSR), whereby specific designs yield generic knowledge. DSR is increasingly being adopted in logistics and operations management research, but many point to neglect of the human aspects of solutions developed. The authors argue that it is possible to look back at the history of the systems movement to seek precedent for ‘dealing’ with the social components, providing a methodologically pluralistic ‘research design’ framework. Thereby, systems approaches are foundational to providing a design-based ‘science’ to progressing the logistics and supply chain management field, dealing with contemporary topics such as resilience.

The authors undertake a discursive assessment of relevant streams of engineering, social science and systems research, with a conceptual development of how the latter influences supply chain design approaches.

Building on a phenomenological framework, the authors create a generic design science research design (DSRD) that enables researchers to choose and integrate the right tools and methods to address simple, complicated and complex problems, dealing with technological, process and social problems.

The DSRD provides a framework by which to exploit a range of methodological stances to problem solving, including quantitative modelling perspectives and ‘soft’ systems social science approaches. Four substantive gaps are identified for future research – establishing the root cause domain of the problem, how to deal with the hierarchy of systems within systems, establishing appropriate criteria for the solution design and how best to deal with chaotic and disordered systems.

The authors argue that the systems approaches offer methodological pluralism by which a generic DSRD may be applied to enhance supply chain design. The authors show the relevance of the DSRD to supply chain design problems including in reducing supply chain dynamics and enhance resilience. In doing so, the study points towards an integrated perspective and future research agenda for designing resilient supply chains.

Explains the exogenous and endogenous types of relationships between ethics and economics in neoclassical and non‐neoclassical framework. Studies market consequentialism, deontological preferences and polity‐market (ecology) interactions in recent developments in economic theory and political philosophy. A review of literature is covered. From these studies, bordering ethics and economics, is evolved the contrasting methodology and world view of an endogenous theory underlying the interface between ethics and economics. The underlying principle of ethical endogeneity of this new paradigm is treated with an institution‐economy interface by addressing the issue of sustainability. A simple mathematical formulation is done to show how ethics can be methodologically endogenized in a scientific framework for theory, policy development and institutionalism. Examines Canada′s Green Plan in light of the exogenous and endogenous ethical relationships. The critique is developed and ethico‐economic policy‐theory alternatives are proposed.

The exogenous and endogenous types of relationships between ethics and economics are explained in neoclassical and non‐neoclassical frameworks. Market consequentialism, deontological preferences and polity‐market (ecology) interactions are brought out to configure the theoretical perspectives of the endogenous theory underlying the interface between ethics and economics. The principle of ethical endeogeneity is treated in an institution‐economy interface by addressing the issue of sustainability. In this respect a simple mathematical formulation is done to show how ethics can be endogenized in a scientific framework for theory, policy development and institutionalism. Critically examines Canada′s Green Plan in light of the exogenous and endogenous ethical relationships. Develops the critique and proposes ethico‐economic policy‐theoretic alternatives.

The purpose of this paper is to draw on the experiences of a real company to develop a framework of management processes for an organizational network model that has enabled a network of enterprises to develop new levels of organizational flexibility, particularly with regards to improving the network's capacity to innovate.

A longitudinal case study of an Italian enterprise network forms the basis of the analysis described in this paper.

The key operational and organizational activities of the principal agent in a novel organizational network model known as the Virtual Development Office (VDO) are identified and discussed.

The (VDO) concept is identified as a realistic and practical means of leveraging the competences of an enterprise network to achieve competitive advantage. However, more empirical data are required before the concepts described herein can be generalised more widely.

The small to medium‐sized enterprise (SME) is a major contributor to the European economy. However, the constraints that these organizations operate under mean that they are often at a competitive disadvantage. The organizational network model outlined in this paper can assist in leveraging their capacity to innovate.

Research in collaborative networks has become increasingly important given the significant impact it can have on competitiveness. This paper demonstrates a framework of management processes for a novel organizational network model that facilitates collaboration amongst networks of SMEs.