An approach to assessing sustainability risk in product development

The global issues of climate change, resource consumption and waste are translating into real business risks and opportunities that are forcing Australian manufacturers to design and develop their products more sustainably. For a manufacturing company, 'sustainability risk' includes those risks resulting from the emerging environmental and social justice issues (such as the adoption of mandatory greenhouse emissions reduction targets to curb Australia's impact on climate change) that directly affect the quality, cost and development time of a product. Identifying and assessing these risks at the product design stage is crucial for the development of products that both minimise sustainability risk exposure and are environmentally sustainable. This paper outlines a Sustainability Risk Assessment framework that integrates Life Cycle Analysis and Activity-Based Life Cycle Costing with risk assessment to identify, assess and model the impact of sustainability risks specific to a product's life cycle impact.