IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/corsem/v10y2003i2p78-90.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Limited LCAs of pharmaceutical products: merits and limitations of an environmental management tool

Author

Listed:
  • Anne Marie de Jonge

Abstract

This article explores both the merits and the limitations of life cycle analysis (LCA) as an environmental management tool in the framework of the pharmaceutical industry. In this study, limited LCAs in the form of product lifecycle‐oriented energy balances were established for two rather different pharmaceutical products. Primary energy requirements served as the single indicator for the products' direct and indirect environmental impacts. The functional units of the products were defined as the one year treatments of average patients. The results of the case studies indicate that the portion of the active substance in the pharmaceutical end product is an important predictor for the breakdown of energy requirements and thus environmental impacts over the life cycle. Despite its limitations, the energy balances provide first‐hand indications of where eco‐efficiency measures should be taken. In this sense, the limited LCAs served as a useful environmental management tool. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and ERP Environment

Suggested Citation

  • Anne Marie de Jonge, 2003. "Limited LCAs of pharmaceutical products: merits and limitations of an environmental management tool," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 10(2), pages 78-90, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:corsem:v:10:y:2003:i:2:p:78-90
    DOI: 10.1002/csr.36
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.36
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/csr.36?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eva Heiskanen, 2000. "Managers' interpretations of LCA: enlightenment and responsibility or confusion and denial?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(4), pages 239-254, July.
    2. Riina‐Riitta Helminen, 2000. "Developing tangible measures for eco‐efficiency: the case of the Finnish and Swedish pulp and paper industry," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(3), pages 196-210, May.
    3. Knud Sinding, 2000. "Environmental management beyond the boundaries of the firm: definitions and constraints," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(2), pages 79-91, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cha, Kyounghoon & Lim, Songtak & Hur, Tak, 2008. "Eco-efficiency approach for global warming in the context of Kyoto Mechanism," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 274-280, September.
    2. Marileena Koskela & Jarmo Vehmas, 2012. "Defining Eco‐efficiency: A Case Study on the Finnish Forest Industry," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(8), pages 546-566, December.
    3. Esben Rahbek Pedersen & Peter Neergaard, 2006. "Caveat emptor – let the buyer beware! environmental labelling and the limitations of ‘green’ consumerism," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(1), pages 15-29, January.
    4. Aurélien Bruel & Jakub Kronenberg & Nadège Troussier & Bertrand Guillaume, 2019. "Linking Industrial Ecology and Ecological Economics: A Theoretical and Empirical Foundation for the Circular Economy," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 23(1), pages 12-21, February.
    5. Korhonen, Jouni & Snakin, Juha-Pekka, 2005. "Analysing the evolution of industrial ecosystems: concepts and application," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 169-186, January.
    6. Romy Morana & Stefan Seuring, 2011. "A Three Level Framework for Closed-Loop Supply Chain Management—Linking Society, Chain and Actor Level," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 3(4), pages 1-14, April.
    7. Wang, Ying & Chen, Xiangyuan, 2020. "Natural resource endowment and ecological efficiency in China: Revisiting resource curse in the context of ecological efficiency," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    8. Jiawen Chen & Linlin Liu, 2020. "Eco-Efficiency and Private Firms’ Relationships with Heterogeneous Public Stakeholders in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-18, September.
    9. Juan Carlos Matallín-Sáez & Amparo Soler-Domínguez & Emili Tortosa-Ausina, 2016. "Ethical strategy focus and mutual fund management: performance and persistence," Working Papers 2016/01, Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain).
    10. Jouni Korhonen & Thomas P. Seager, 2008. "Beyond eco‐efficiency: a resilience perspective," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(7), pages 411-419, November.
    11. Helene Seidel-Sterzik & Sarah McLaren & Elena Garnevska, 2018. "Effective Life Cycle Management in SMEs: Use of a Sector-Based Approach to Overcome Barriers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-22, January.
    12. Vivek Ghosal, 2015. "Business Strategy and Firm Reorganization: Role of Changing Environmental Standards, Sustainable Business Initiatives and Global Market Conditions," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(2), pages 123-144, February.
    13. Luca Fraccascia & Ilaria Giannoccaro & Vito Albino, 2017. "Efficacy of Landfill Tax and Subsidy Policies for the Emergence of Industrial Symbiosis Networks: An Agent-Based Simulation Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-18, March.
    14. Walter J. V. Vermeulen & P. J. Ras, 2006. "The challenge of greening global product chains: meeting both ends," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 14(4), pages 245-256.
    15. Mark P. Sharfman & Teresa M. Shaft & Robert P. Anex, 2009. "The road to cooperative supply‐chain environmental management: trust and uncertainty among pro‐active firms," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(1), pages 1-13, January.
    16. Birgit Brunklaus & Tove Malmqvist & Henrikke Baumann, 2009. "Managing stakeholders or the environment? The challenge of relating indicators in practice," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(1), pages 27-37, January.
    17. Štefan BOJNEC & Drago PAPLER, 2011. "Efficient energy use and renewable sources of energy in Slovenia: a survey of public perception," Agricultural Economics, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 57(10), pages 484-492.
    18. Amer Ait Sidhoum & Carolin Canessa & Johannes Sauer, 2023. "Effects of agri‐environment schemes on farm‐level eco‐efficiency measures: Empirical evidence from EU countries," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(2), pages 551-569, June.
    19. Andreas Fritsch & Johanna von Hammerstein & Clemens Schreiber & Stefanie Betz & Andreas Oberweis, 2022. "Pathways to Greener Pastures: Research Opportunities to Integrate Life Cycle Assessment and Sustainable Business Process Management Based on a Systematic Tertiary Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-20, September.
    20. Anette von Ahsen, 2014. "The Integration of Quality, Environmental and Health and Safety Management by Car Manufacturers – a Long‐Term Empirical Study," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(6), pages 395-416, September.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:corsem:v:10:y:2003:i:2:p:78-90. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1002/(ISSN)1535-3966 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.