Bibliometric Analysis and Benchmarking of Life Cycle Assessment of Higher Education Institutions

Denner Deda (), Helena Gervásio and Margarida J. Quina
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Denner Deda: Department of Civil Engineering, ISISE, University of Coimbra, 3030-790 Coimbra, Portugal
Helena Gervásio: Department of Civil Engineering, ISISE, University of Coimbra, 3030-790 Coimbra, Portugal
Margarida J. Quina: Department of Chemical Engineering, CIEPQPF, University of Coimbra, 3030-790 Coimbra, Portugal

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 5, 1-18

Abstract: Higher Education Institutions (HEI), such as Universities and Institutes worldwide, are making efforts and setting goals to assess and minimise their environmental impacts, and to become more sustainable. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has been considered a powerful approach to deal with environmental impacts of products and services. Thus, in this paper, a bibliometric analysis was carried out to benchmark the sustainability of HEI in terms of key areas, impacts, and barriers. Results indicate that, although some HEI are concerned with sustainability, LCA has not been systematically adopted in their assessments, and the main focus is on the calculation of carbon emissions. The lack of available internal information and managing commitment are the main barriers to adopting LCA in HEI. In the few cases where LCA was considered, it was observed that differences in scopes, functional units, intensities, and data reliability hamper comparisons, and lead to biased conclusions. In the end of the paper, the results of some Portuguese HEI are provided and discussed, showing the need for a better understanding of environmental assessment results.

Keywords: life cycle assessment; higher education institutions; carbon footprint; environmental assessment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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