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In recent years, following the amendment to the European renewable energy directive (RED), there is an increasing interest to exploit Crude Tall Oil (CTO) for energetic purposes. This study conducted an integrated assessment to quantify the environmental, economic and social impact of these two competing material and energetic routes that consume CTO as a feedstock. The integrated assessment follows a cradle-to-grave approach to compare the impact on climate change from the production of bio-chemicals to that generated from the production of renewable diesel from CTO. In addition, the economic and social impact assessment estimates the total economic added value as well as the total number of direct, indirect and induced jobs generated by the two respective routes utilising CTO. The environmental assessment showed that the application of CTO for bio-chemicals has 23% lower greenhouse gas emissions than its application for renewable diesel. The economic assessment showed that the European pine chemicals industry generated at least 4 times higher added value than that generated from renewable diesel. Finally, when analysing the social impact, the utilisation of 650,000 of CTO to produce bio-chemicals generated around 9100 jobs. On the other hand, the renewable diesel production route was estimated to generate only 400 jobs. Therefore, the integrated assessment concludes that, diverting and utilising CTO to produce biofuels does not present a sustainable case when compared to its established use in the production of bio-chemicals. Image 1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, advanced treatment units are widely suggested for industrial wastewater reuse as a non-conventional water resource in the developing countries positioned in arid/semi-arid areas. However, the sustainability of these units still remains blur due to the lack of a proper framework and availability of the collected data or experiences. The present study aimed to propose a framework for assessing the sustainability of advanced hybrid treatment systems through three major steps: (1) describing feasible alternatives and defining evaluation procedure (modified analytical hierarchy process); (2) elaborating the decision making process including 32 proposed integrated indices (8 sub-criteria and 4 criteria) and defining five possible scenarios and finally (3) prioritizing the alternatives, finding the best answer and making a sensitive analysis. The framework was proposed by recommending 8 alternatives for industrial parks in Iran as the case study. The results indicated that the weights of the economic and technological criteria could play a significant role when these systems were experienced as a new practice in difficult or poor situations. However, by improving the situation from “Transition” to “Ideal”, other aspects such as environmental and social criteria were regarded as major concerns. In addition, alternative 5 and 6 as two hybrid system were determined as high rank for five relevant defined scenarios. Alternative 6 was regarded as the best answer with the highest average score by regarding all of the scenarios. Finally, based on sensitivity, the best answer relies on the variation in the criteria weights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policy-makers face the challenge of assessing and implementing sustainability measures, while also dealing with parallel and sometimes conflicting policy agendas, long-term policy impacts, and contested interpretations of sustainability. To support evidence-based decision-making in this context, this paper presents the results from an integrated assessment of sustainability goal interactions. Links between the bio-based economy, the 2030 Agenda, and the so-called strong sustainability paradigm were explored in a regional-scale case. The analysis focused primarily on developments in the forestry and energy sectors. Direct trade-offs and synergies as well as broader systemic impacts were identified. The results show how goals from the bio-based economy, 2030 Agenda and strong sustainability paradigm are mutually interacting. Positive interactions were found within two clusters of goals, offering coherent and synergetic transition pathways within these. The first cluster encompasses developments toward intensified forestry, renewable energy, and closed-loop production systems. The second pathway supports diversified forestry and protection of critical natural capital. However, while internally coherent, trade-offs were identified between these goal clusters, demonstrating the difficulty in simultaneously making progress on goals belonging to different sustainability agendas. The results also stress the need for disaggregation and long-term assessments to identify trade-offs and synergies. Finally, the analysis highlights the theoretical potential but practical challenges of implementing the bio-based economy and 2030 Agenda in a way that adheres to strong sustainability. The analytical framework used in the present study may be adapted and applied to other decision-making contexts. It is particularly useful in settings characterized by uncertainty and unstructured problem spaces. • Integrated analysis of the bio-based economy, 2030 Agenda and strong sustainability. • Findings show how the goals of these sustainability agendas are mutually interacting. • Both direct and indirect trade-offs and synergies are identified. • An analytical framework to support policy coherence and prioritization is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]