Anita Boros, Gyula Koi (eds): Sustainability and Law
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2. Methodological approach to the concept of sustainability and law (László Vértesy)
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2.2. Systems thinking
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2.2.2. Interdisciplinary methods

2.2.2. Interdisciplinary methods

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Interdisciplinary approaches involve the matter of Life Cycle Thinking (abbr. LCT) and considering how the environment, economy, and society collectively assess the impact of products, services or processes from a whole life cycle perspective. In particular, this cradle-to-grave view assists in apprehending the totality of the possible impacts and will be more conducive to sustainable decision making. There are three principal features of LCT that encompass Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (abbr. LCSA).1

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(1) Life Cycle Assessment (abbr. LCA), which is the assessment of the environmental impacts of products or projects over their whole life cycle, enabling regulation of what is reasonable in regard to resource use and pollution. An LCA examines the environmental impact of a product life cycle, and in the context of life cycle analysis highlights resource use, energy use, emissions to air, water and soil, and potential environmental harm from the beginning to the end of the life cycle, including waste management. For example, an LCA can be conducted to apply environmental impacts to different types of packaging. These environmental impacts can inform legislation that can drive the adoption of sustainable packaging options. LCA can also be used to show the environmental footprint of bioplastics used in comparison to conventional plastics, and the results can help inform decision-makers on the potential positives and drawbacks of proposing bioplastics as a more sustainable alternative.

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(2) Life Cycle Costing (LCC) assesses the economic costs associated with a product’s life cycle. This includes the costs of raw materials, manufacturing, transportation, use, maintenance and waste management. LCC helps identify cost savings opportunities and assess the financial feasibility of different options.2

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(3) Social Life Cycle Assessment (abbr. S-LCA) analyses the social and societal effects of a product’s life cycle. It encompasses the analysis of working circumstances, workers’ rights, community effects, social risks, and impacts throughout the entire supply chain. These three pieces are then amalgamated in the LCSA for a comprehensive understanding of sustainability.3 The LCSA allows for:

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  • balancing the three pillars: it simultaneously takes into account environmental, social and economic factors, highlighting possible trade-offs between these aspects;
  • better informed decision-making: by providing a comprehensive view of impacts, LCSA helps businesses and decision-makers make more informed decisions that promote sustainability across the entire life cycle; and
  • improved product design: understanding the sustainability implications of different stages can lead to the design of more eco-friendly and socially responsible products.
 

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Cost-Benefit Analysis (abbr. CBA) is a way to consider the economic costs and benefits of proposed legal solutions for sustainability and help decision-makers consider various options. For example, a CBA can be conducted to assess the costs and benefits of a carbon tax being introduced. This analysis can look at the potential revenue from the tax and the impact on businesses and consumers. CBA can also be used to assess the economic viability of investing in renewable energy, thereby evaluating the longer-term economic benefits associated with transitioning to a low-carbon economy.

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Conducting a literature review, and analysing academic journals, books, and other publications that are related to sustainability and law is necessary to create a foundation of knowledge and identify a research gap. It is important to know the key concepts, theories, and frameworks regarding sustainability and law, know the more current trends, development and contribution to the field and research gap, know what situations and challenges have occurred in the field (past and present), have an understanding of new perspectives, concepts, and ideas to the relevant topic. Google Scholar and the Web of Science (abbr. WoS) database can be helpful in locating bibliographic information for academic articles related to sustainability and law. WoS also has the ability to assess citation relationships between authors and topics, thereby identifying the most impactful authors and topics in the field of research. The following resources can be highlighted here:

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Based on these, a comprehensive bibliometric analysis can be prepared, which is used to measure the number of scientific publications, the number of citations and the impact factor of journals. It provides a kind of assessment of the results of scientific research, comparing institutions and researchers in the fields of sustainability and law, and trend analysis provides insight into the popularity of research areas and patterns of scientific communication. One of its tools can be the use of Bibliometrix, VOSviewer or CitNetExplorer, CiteSpace software. If we want to calculate bibliometric indicators, then Bibliometrix;4 if we want to visualize bibliometric networks, then VOSviewer or CitNetExplorer;5 for dynamic bibliometric networks and their animation, CitNetExplorer is recommended.

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It is important to note that literature reviews, WoS and Bibliometrix are only tools and are not sufficient on their own to conduct research on sustainability and law. Bibliometric indicators do not necessarily represent research quality, nor should they be used exclusively to evaluate individual researchers or institutions. These indicators should be used in conjunction with other methods of research, like interviews, focus groups or case studies.
 
1

Larsen, V. G. et al. (2022). What are the challenges in assessing circular economy for the built environment? A literature review on integrating LCA, LCC and S-LCA in life cycle sustainability assessment, LCSA. Journal of Building Engineering, 50(6) 104203. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobe.2022.104203;

Balasbaneh, A. T., Marsono, A.K.B. (2020). Applying multi-criteria decision-making on alternatives for earth-retaining walls: LCA, LCC, and S-LCA. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 25(11). 2140-2153. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-020-01825-6;

Toniolo, S. et al. (2020). Life cycle thinking tools: Life cycle assessment, life cycle costing and social life cycle assessment. In: Jingzheng, R., Toniolo, S. (eds.). Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment for Decision-Making. Methodologies and Case Studies. (Amsterdam:Elsevier). 39-56. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818355-7.00003-8

2 Boros, A., Torma, A. (2022). Az építési-bontási hulladék újrahasznosításának lehetséges fejlesztési irányai. [Possible development directions for the recycling of construction and demolition waste], In: Boros, A., Torma, A. (eds.). Innovatív újrahasznosítás a zöldgazdaság területén. [Innovative recycling in the field of green construction economy]. (Győr: Universitas-Győr Nonprofit Kft.) 419.
3 Shrivastava, S., Unnikrishnan, S. (2021). Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment: Methodology and Framework, In Muthu, S. S. (ed.). Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA). (London: Springer). 43-55.
4 Arruda, H. et al. (2022). VOSviewer and Bibliometrix. Journal of the Medical Library Association: JMLA, 110(3)392-395. 392. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5195%2Fjmla.2022.1434
5 van Eck, N. J., Waltman, L. (2017). Citation-based clustering of publications using CitNetExplorer and VOSviewer. Scientometrics, 111(2). 1053-1070. DOI: http://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-017-2300-7
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