Journal of Cleaner Production 18 (2010) 1134e1141

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Journal of Cleaner Production

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro

Evaluating the environmental performance of a university

Olivier Baboulet, Manfred Lenzen*
ISA, School of Physics, A28, The University of Sydney, Sydney NSW 2006, Australia

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 25 September 2009
Received in revised form
5 March 2010
Accepted 13 April 2010
Available online 21 April 2010

An increasing number of organisations are moving towards assessing and reporting their environmental
performance in a supply-chain context. Not only are such footprint-type assessments seen as more
rigorous than sustainability reports created in-house, they also offer more abatement options than
assessments limited to an organisations premises. Hybrid life-cycle assessment methods combining
input-output analysis and process analysis are ideally suited to enumerate organisational footprints,
because they were developed to enable overall complete results whilst being application-specic. We
apply one of these hybrid methods, the Path Exchange Method to the task of planning for a sustainable
campus at the University of Sydney in Australia. We show how this method can be used by an environmental or procurement ofcer for exploring environmental performance and abatement options
across supply chains. We also show how parts of an organisation, for example University faculties, can be
assessed and compared against each other. Whilst tools like ones used in this work enable quantitative
decision support for procurement and operations policies, it takes staff awareness, engagement and
training to successfully put such tools into practice.
2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
University environmental impact
performance and abatement options
Structural path analysis
Path exchange method

1. Introduction
Assessments of environmental issues in organisation often focus
on issues that occur within the organisations premises, that is onsite emissions and resource uses. This is understandable since staff
usually have detailed and familiar information about what goes on
within their own spheres of responsibility. Recently, concepts,
methods and tools have emerged that allow organisations to
analyse the environmental impacts associated with their supply
chains. Such analyses are popularly termed footprints. Their
common characteristic is that they take into account environmental interventions that occur throughout the life-cycle of all
operating inputs.
Enumerating the environmental life-cycle inventories of operating inputs can be a daunting task for an organisation, and in
general corporate staff are not familiar with the range of tools
available to them (Suh and Huppes, 2005). As a result, organisational environmental supply-chain analyses are still rather
uncommon. Further, if considered at all, environmental assessments are usually carried out in separation from nancial
accounting and procurement departments that control most dayto-day operations of a typical organisation, and often used only for
reporting and branding purposes.

* Corresponding author. Tel.: 61 2 9352 5985.

E-mail address: m.lenzen@physics.usyd.edu.au (M. Lenzen).
0959-6526/$ e see front matter 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2010.04.006

A recent Special Issue on carbon footprints (Wiedmann, 2009)

attempts to bridge this gap between theory and practice by
explaining approaches to supply-chain environmental accounting
in a way that can be understood by nancial and procurement
ofcers. Organisations and their purchasing are to a large extent
determined by nancial objectives, and thus the Special Issue
focuses on methods that make use of nancial information. One
such prominent method is input-output analysis (IOA).
IOA is able to compute the complete cradle-to-gate environmental load of a given activity based on a nancial expenditure
account of an organisation. However a shortcoming of input-output
databases is that they usually only contain information aggregated
at the macroeconomic level (industries, sectors and regions). On
the other hand, process analysis (PA) offers a high level of detail (for
example single products and processes) but suffers from truncation
errors caused by nite system boundaries (Bullard et al., 1978;
Moskowitz and Rowe, 1985; Lenzen, 2000).
Truncated system boundaries in process analyses can lead to
a serious underestimation of the total environmental impact (Lave
et al., 1995; Suh et al., 2004). Further, the lack of consistency in
drawing boundaries between one system and another means that
process analyses may not be comparable. This can in the worst case
lead to erroneous decision rankings and misleading conclusions
(Lenzen and Treloar, 2003).
Hybrid life-cycle methods combining both IOA and PA were
developed to extend system boundaries whilst maintaining process
specicity (Bullard et al., 1978; Suh, 2004; Strmman et al., 2009).

O. Baboulet, M. Lenzen / Journal of Cleaner Production 18 (2010) 1134e1141

In these hybrid studies, process analysis is used to cover the most

important contributions to the environmental inventory. These are
often environmental interventions either occurring on site, or
associated with immediate suppliers of the organisation. Further
upstream contributions are assessed using input-output analysis,
thus completing the cradle-to-gate life-cycle. In this work we use
a new hybrid approach called Path eXChange method (PXC), which
was rst proposed by Treloar (1997), subsequently explored by
Crawford (2008), and nally conceptualised by Lenzen and
Crawford (2009). The PXC method relies on a conventional (environmental) input-output study including a Structural Path Analysis
(SPA).
The aims and novelties of this paper are twofold: First we
demonstrate the practical usage and performance of PXC in a realworld case study, which has not been done before. Second, we
examine the environmental implications of the output of a University (education services). Whilst there are a small number of environmental assessments of University operations1, there exists to
date no study that is comprehensive both in its coverage of upstream
impacts through input-output analysis, and in its detail of faculties.
The paper will unfold as follows: In the following Section 2 we
will present the University case study, and in Section 3 we will draw
insights and conclusions learned from University management
practice. In agreement with the Editor, we have omitted the
methodology because it is covered elsewhere (environmental IOA:
Leontief and Ford, 1970; Forssell and Polenske, 1998; SPA: Crama
et al., 1984; Defourny and Thorbecke, 1984; PXC: Lenzen and
Crawford, 2009).
2. Case study
The University of Sydney (USyd) is the oldest and second-largest
university in Australia. It comprises thirteen faculties spanning
across nine campuses and is ranked amongst the top 100 universities in the world by various sources. Recently, USyd has intensied
its strategic planning for environmental sustainability2, including
an evaluation of all faculties in terms of the cradle-to-gate life-cycle
environmental impacts caused by their operations in terms of ve
indicators: total material requirement, water use, land use, energy
consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions (Baboulet, 2009). As
an example, we report on the material requirement results of our IO
analysis in Section 2.2, after discussing the data sources in Section
2.1. Subsequently and in order to prepare for the PXC procedures,
we needed to run SPAs (Section 2.3). A PXC software tool (Section
2.4) was then used for exploring options for greening procurement
and supply chains.3 For the sake of brevity, SPA and PXC are
demonstrated only for the Faculty of Science (FoS).
2.1. Data sources
The alignment of physical and monetary data was one of the
main tasks of this work. This is because rst, integrated environmental-economic accounts are not published by the Australian
Bureau of Statistics (ABS), and second because USyds money
transactions are not coded according to ABS classications.

1
Viebahn and Matthies, 2000; Flint, 2001; Venetoulis, 2001; Wood and Lenzen,
2003.
2
http://www.facilities.usyd.edu.au/sustainable_campus/index.shtml.
3
Our case study is essentially an analysis of a service (provision of education).
We chose the University of Sydney because we had access to detailed condential
nancial data. IOA, SPA and PXC are equally applicable to products. In fact, some of
the SPA paths that we apply PXC to (Section 2.4) deal with products, using inputoutput tables as a data source. More detailed analyses require producer-specic
information. This point is based on a reviewer comment.

1135

The Australian input-output database used in this work distinguishes 344 industry sectors (Gallego and Lenzen, 2009). It was
complemented with physical satellite accounts in terms of total
material requirement (data listed in Wood et al., 2009), greenhouse
gas emissions (National Greenhouse Gas Inventory, AGO 2008),
water use (ABS, 2006), land use (ABS, 2001), and energy
consumption (ABARE, 2008). Due to limited data availability we
were unable to collect these data for one and the same base year.
The most recent water accounts were for 2004e05 and the most
recent land use inventory for 2001. However we envisage that land
use patterns do not change drastically, at least over less than
a decade.
Data for USyds 2008 on-site consumption of water, natural gas
and electricity were extracted from USyds Utility Information
System. Building surface areas by faculty or administrative area
were extracted from the 2008 USyd Archbus database. USyds 2008
nancial data were extracted from its General Ledger, which
identies 720 responsibility centres (80 faculty-level entities split
into 9 accounts each) and 1033 class codes (423 revenues and 610
expenditures; Lenzen et al., in press).
Five main steps were required to align the 720  1033 743,760
entries of the 2008 USyd General Ledger with the 344 Australian
input-output sector classication. First, the entire General Ledger
was split into expenditures and revenues. Second, concordance
matrices were set up, allocating each of the expenses and revenues
items to the appropriate sector(s) in the Australian input-output
classication. Third, internal transfers were established by
distributing revenues received internally across paying accounts.
Fourth, a USyd input-output table was constructed by using the
concordance matrices to reclassify the revenue and expenditure
accounts into the input-output classication. Fifth, the USyd and
Australian input-output tables were combined in a 4-quadrant
enterprise input-output model (for further details see Lenzen et al.,
in press).
2.2. Input-output analysis
As a starting point, we carried out a conventional (Leontief-type
demand-pull) input-output analysis of the environmental impacts
of USyds faculties. For the sake of brevity we report on one indicator only (total material requirement, TMR). Absolute TMR gures
are proportional to a facultys size, so that a better measure for
comparing faculties are TMR intensities. In our analysis, these
intensities are represented by the TMR Leontief multipliers for each
faculty.
Faculties commonly associated with more experimental and
therefore material-intensive research and teaching such as science,
veterinary science and agriculture record indeed the highest
material intensities (Fig. 1). In contrast, economics, law, arts and
education do not require machinery or livestock, and hence are
characterised by lower material intensities. The main operating
inputs contributing to the material requirement are electricity
(because of the coal needed to produce it), and paper and stationery
(because of the wood needed to produce it). In addition, medicine,
science and engineering also record signicant material ow via
their signicant use of plastic, glass and chemical products as well
as material-intensive machineries and equipment.
2.3. Structural path analysis
As a rst step leading up to applying PXC, we carried out an SPA,
listing the ten top-ranking structural paths for both Energy
consumption and GHG emissions (Table 1).
The second step involved querying the SPA lists, and a) searching
for instances where USyd is already sourcing from supply chains

1136

O. Baboulet, M. Lenzen / Journal of Cleaner Production 18 (2010) 1134e1141

Fig. 1. TMR (in units of kt) and TMR intensity (in units of g/$ of nal output) for USyds faculties.

that are different from economy-wide average supply chains (represented by the input-output data), but mainly b) identifying
opportunities for reducing both energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions associated with purchases.
Some energy and greenhouse gas impacts could be difcult to
address by USyd. For instance, the path Air and space
transport > USyd FoS, representing staff travel to conferences etc, can
better be addressed by reducing the actual purchase of airfares rather
than engaging with airlines on the emissions performance of their
aircraft. Changes in purchases only affect the activity vector y, and are
not dealt with by PXC. Similarly, USyd would have little leverage to
change the impact of Electricity supply > Electronic equipment >
USyd FoS, especially a) when equipment is specic to research
purposes, b) when vendors are few, and c) when there is no information about differences in embodied energy or emissions of

equipment brands, such as for desktop computers (Williams, 2004,

and personal communication with Eric Williams 21 September 2009).
However, there are cases where USyd could simply switch
between suppliers. In Section 2.4.1 we demonstrate the effects of
changing transaction coefcients for the examples Softwoods >
Pulp, paper and paperboard > Printing and stationery > USyd FoS
and Beef cattle > Fresh meat > Hotels, clubs, restaurants and
cafes > USyd FoS.
Under certain circumstances, there exist opportunities for
a procurement department to directly engage with suppliers. We
show in Section 2.4.2 for the example of Glass products > USyd
FoS, how changing the energy intensity of glass manufacturing
affects structural paths and cross-inuences other environmental
indicators included in the database underpinning the PXC tool. We
also discuss how USyd could engage with glass manufacturers in

Table 1
Ranked SPA for USyds Faculty of Science, in terms of Energy consumption and GHG emissions. The > symbol designates a supply-chain transaction between two sectors.
For example Electricity supply > USyd FoS is read as Electricity supply for Sydney Universitys Faculty of Science.
Faculty of Science Energy consumption

GHG emissions

Rank

Path description

Path value Path Percentage Path description

(GJ)
order in total
impact

Electricity supply >

USyd FoS
Glass products >
USyd FoS
Gases > USyd FoS
USyd FoS

60,525

28.2%

Electricity supply > USyd FoS

9805

4.6%

8462
8456

2
1

3.9%
3.9%

7799

3.6%

7084

3.3%

5329

2.5%

5046

3446

3442

2
3
4
5
6
7

10

Air and space transport >

USyd FoS
Basic chemicals >
USyd FoS
Electricity supply >
Electricity supply >
USyd FoS
Electricity supply >
Electronic equipment >
USyd FoS
Iron and steel semi-manufactures >
Industrial machinery and equipment >
USyd FoS
Electricity supply > Glass products >
USyd FoS

Path Percentage
Path
order in total
value
impact
(t CO2-e)
5341

26.6%

Air and space transport > USyd FoS

504

2.5%

Glass products > USyd FoS

Electricity supply > Electricity supply >
USyd FoS
USyd FoS

499
470

2
3

2.5%
2.3%

464

2.3%

Beef cattle > Fresh meat > Hotels, clubs,

restaurants and cafes > USyd FoS
Electricity supply > Electronic equipment >
USyd FoS

462

2.3%

445

2.2%

2.4%

Softwoods > Pulp, paper and paperboard >

Printing and stationery > USyd FoS

408

2.0%

1.6%

Natural gas > Glass products > USyd FoS

334

1.7%

1.6%

Sanitary and garbage disposal > USyd FoS

313

1.6%

O. Baboulet, M. Lenzen / Journal of Cleaner Production 18 (2010) 1134e1141

1137

Table 2
Effects of a coefcient change made for the transaction Softwoods > Pulp, paper and paperboard at the fourth-order path Softwoods > Pulp, paper and paperboard > Printing
and stationery > USyd FoS, as seen through a PXC software tool. Shaded entries represent user input.
Indicator

Path changed

Node changed

Old value

New value

Old path

New path

% of path chgd

GHG emissions

Softwoods >
Pulp, paper and
paperboard >
Printing and stationery >
USyd FoS

Node 3 Softwoods >

Pulp, paper and
paperboard

8.9 /$

0 /$

408 t CO2-e

0 t CO2-e

100.0%

order to negotiate environmental performance criteria for its

signicant purchases of laboratory glassware.
Finally, the top-ranking greenhouse gas path representing
USyds electricity bill could easily be inuenced by subscribing to
low-carbon power generators. In fact, in 2007 students put significant pressure on USyds senior management by requesting sign-up
for 100% green power. This measure would have increased USyds
electricity bill signicantly, which provided motivation to explore
alternative scenarios for a more sustainable campus. Amongst
these was the option of subscribing only part of the electricity bill to
green power, which we demonstrate in Section 2.4.3. Considered
were also options for reducing both energy consumption and
greenhouse gas emissions through reduced on-site usage, such as
designs for low-energy buildings. However, such changes in
purchases are not dealt with by PXC.

2.4. Path exchange

The examples given in this Section cover all functionalities of the
PXC method, but they represent only a small fraction of possible
exchanges. PXC possibilities are theoretically innite: If there were
for example N 100 sectors in the input-output database underpinning PXC, then there are 100n structural paths of nth order. For
each of those, intensities and transaction coefcients can be
exchanged. In addition, previous changes can always be superseded
by new ones.
2.4.1. Transaction coefcient change
USyd controls its purchasing and can therefore stipulate
procurement policies based on environmental criteria. One obvious
example is to mandate the purchase of recycled paper for all
campuses, which would essentially eliminate the greenhouse gas
impacts of paths such as Softwoods > Pulp, paper and
paperboard > Printing and stationery > USyd FoS. In order to
assess the value of abated emissions, a practitioner has to bring up
all information pertaining to this path under the head indicator
GHG emissions, and elect to change the transaction coefcient
between nodes 3 and 4. In the case of Australia, the results show
8.9 /$ for the economy-wide average transaction coefcient. The
practitioner then enters a new transaction coefcient of 0 /$ in
order to simulate recycled paper. The software then shows the
greenhouse gas abatement of 408 t CO2-e (Table 2).

Subsequently assessing a path of higher order that contains this

changed path, for example Lifting and loading machinery >
Softwoods > Pulp, paper and paperboard > Printing and
stationery > USyd FoS, the practitioner will see that this path has
been affected by the previous change, in that the transaction coefcient between node 3 and 4 is zero, and as such the entire path is
zero as well. Thus, the elimination of the link between Softwoods
and Pulp, paper and paperboard has effectively eliminated the
entire upstream sub-tree branching off the root path Pulp, paper and
paperboard > Printing and stationery > USyd FoS, as required.
Including this sub-tree, the total abatement is 409 t CO2-e, which
shows the dominance of the softwoods forestry sector contribution
in this total. However note that the coefcient exchange was made
only for paths containing Softwoods > Pulp, paper and
paperboard > Printing and stationery > USyd FoS. There is no global
disturbance of the background economy, in that for example a path
Softwoods > Pulp, paper and paperboard > Printing and
stationery > Insurance > USyd FoS still assumes that the insurance
agency from which USyd purchases policies uses non-recycled
paper. Eriksson et al., 1996 found that it cannot generally be
concluded that road transport increases with a higher degree of
recycling of newspapers. This is conrmed in a study for Australia
by Pickin et al. (2002), and hence we do not increase road transport.
Another example for a potential procurement policy is for USyd
to mandate beef-free meals purchased by staff directly when
attending meetings, conferences, workshops etc, thus addressing
paths such as Beef cattle > Fresh meat > Hotels, clubs, restaurants
and cafes > USyd FoS. If all beef in such purchased meals (33.2 /$)
were replaced by sheep meat (previously 5.8 /$, changed to 39.0 /
$ by adding the avoided beef), USyd FoS would achieve a greenhouse gas abatement of (462 30.4) t  206 t z 286 t CO2-e just
from these two fourth-order paths (Table 3). Including all sub-tree
effects, the total abatement would be 288 t CO2-e. Once again, there
is no global disturbance of paths that do not contain the Fresh
meat > Hotels, clubs, restaurants and cafes > USyd FoS root path.
2.4.2. Intensity change
USyd FoS is a signicant purchaser of laboratory glassware,
which translates into signicant leverage potential for reducing
suppliers energy and emissions proles. One possibility is for USyd
through its procurement department to actively engage in
constructive dialogue with the aim of encouraging changes in
manufacturing processes.

Table 3
Effects of a coefcient change made for the transaction Beef cattle > Fresh meat at the fourth-order path Beef cattle > Fresh meat > Hotels, clubs, restaurants and cafes > USyd
FoS, as seen through a PXC software tool. Shaded entries represent user input.
Indicator

Path changed

Node changed

Old value

New value

Old path

New path

% of path chgd

GHG emissions

Beef cattle > Fresh

meat > Hotels, clubs,
restaurants and cafes >
USyd FoS
Sheep > Fresh meat >
Hotels, clubs, restaurants and
cafes > USyd FoS

Node 3 Beef cattle >

Fresh meat

33.2 /$

0 /$

462 t CO2-e

0 t CO2-e

100.0%

Node 3 Sheep >

Fresh meat

5.8 /$

39.0 /$

30.4 t CO2-e

206 t CO2-e

100.0%

GHG emissions

1138

O. Baboulet, M. Lenzen / Journal of Cleaner Production 18 (2010) 1134e1141

Table 4
Effects of an intensity change made for the indicator CO2 from industrial processes at the second-order path Glass products > USyd FoS, as seen through a PXC software tool.
Shaded entries represent user input.
Indicator

Path changed

Node changed

Old value

New value

Old path

New path

% of path chgd

GHG emissions

Glass products >

USyd FoS

CO2 for industrial

processes e Intensity
of Electricity supply

18.1 g CO2/$

9.1 g CO2/$

20.2 t CO2-e

10.1 t CO2-e

100.0%

For example, at present, Australian container glass manufacturers use about 45% recycled glass (cullet) in their batches,
however USyd could collaborate with its suppliers in increasing this
percentage, by introducing glass waste separation across its
campuses, and thus closing the material loop. Such a measure may
not necessarily reduce the glass plants energy use, but it would
avoid CO2 emissions associated with the use of limestone and soda
ash. In order to simulate an increase of cullet from 45 to 70%, thus
almost halving raw material input, a practitioner using a PXC
software tool has to bring up all information relating to the path
Glass products > USyd FoS under the head indicator GHG emissions, and elect to change the intensity of the indicator CO2 from
industrial processes. In the case of Australia, the software shows
18.1 g CO2/$ for the economy-wide average energy intensity, and
20.2 t for the path value. The practitioner then enters a new
intensity of 9.1 g CO2/$, and the software shows the effect of this
exchange on greenhouse gas emissions (Table 4).
Note that the emissions sub-indicator industrial processes is
member of a hierarchy tier that is not connected to the head
indicator Energy consumption and as such the energy head indicator is not adjusted, and neither should it be (compare Lenzen and
Crawford, 2009).
Moreover, employing advanced technology for batch preparation and melting (automation, optimising melter tank size), as well
as forming (better mould design, computerised inspection) can
reduce overall energy use by 20% and more (Ruth and DellAnno,
1997). In order to simulate these measures, the practitioner has
to bring up the path Glass products > USyd FoS under the head
indicator Energy consumption, and elect to change the intensity of
the head indicator. In the case of Australia, the software shows
8.8 MJ/$ for the economy-wide average energy intensity, and
9805 GJ for the path value. The practitioner then enters a new
intensity of 7.0 MJ/$, and the software shows the effect of this
exchange on energy consumption (Table 5).
Australian glass manufacturers re their furnaces exclusively
with natural gas instead of oil, thus limiting options for fuel
switching. However, reducing the percentage of furnace energy
supplied by electric boosters, compensated by increased gas ring
can lead to overall greenhouse gas reductions if the booster electricity is supplied by fossil-fuelled power plants. In order to assess
the effects of this fuel switch, the practitioner has to bring up the
path Glass products > USyd FoS under the head indicator GHG
emissions, and elect to change the intensity of the indicator
Natural gas use for boilers. Assuming that electric booster energy
constitutes 30% of the energy fed into the melt (Ruth and DellAnno,
1997), halving this percentage would require increasing gas ring
by 25%, from 2.3 MJ/$ to 2.8 MJ/$. This change correctly adjusts
energy and GHG emissions head indicators because the intensity
change was made for a sub-indicator common to both. The software then shows an initial increase in GHG emissions of 31 t CO2-e,
and in primary energy use of 608 GJ (1st and 2nd row in Table 6).
In order to assess the net abatement effects, the practitioner also
has to bring up the path Electricity > Glass products > USyd FoS
under the head indicator GHG emissions, and elect to change the
transaction coefcient between nodes 2 and 3. In the case of
Australia, the software shows 2.9 /$ for the economy-wide average

transaction coefcient. The practitioner then enters a new transaction coefcient of 1.5 /$ in order to simulate the reduced electricity usage. On an energy basis, natural gas is about three times
cheaper than electricity.4 Therefore, of the 1.4 /$ saved from
reducing electricity, only 0.5 /$ needs to be added to the Natural
gas > Glass products transaction coefcient (economy-wide
average 2.8 /$) of the path Natural gas > Glass products > USyd
FoS (3rd and 4th row in Table 6).
Adding the effects of the three path exchanges documented in
Table 6 yields reductions of 81 t CO2-e, and 596 GJ. Including the
sub-trees branching off the Electricity and Natural gas root paths,
the total reductions achieved through the intensity and two coefcient changes are 91 t CO2-e and 737 GJ, which demonstrates the
effectiveness of swapping natural gas ring for electricity boosting.
2.4.3. Changes applied to a fraction of a path
The eighth column in Tables 2e6 shows that in these examples,
100% of the respective paths were affected by a change. The PXC
method is designed to also allow for modifying the characteristics
of only a fraction of a path/sub-tree relating to only a particular
purchase. For example, rather than switching from beef to 100%
sheep meat, a practitioner could have simulated switching to 25%
sheep meat, 25% pork, and 50% poultry. Rather than re-visiting this
example, we examine the top-ranking path in the SPA list (Table 1).
As part of its drive for a sustainable campus, USyd has explored
the effects of obtaining its electricity from low-carbon sources. We
report on a scenario where 25% of USyds electricity is sourced from
providers of renewable electricity, mostly hydropower. To estimate
the GHG abatement due to this measure, a number of changes are
necessary:
1. Intensity changes for the indicators X for boilers and X for
coke ovens at the second-order path Electricity supply > USyd
FoS from its economy-wide average values (combined 100 MJ/
$) to zero. X represents fossil fuels, such as black coal, brown
coal, fuel oil and natural gas.5
2. Coefcient changes for the transaction X > Electricity supply
in paths X > Electricity supply > USyd FoS, from their
economy-wide average values (combined 19 /$) to zero.
Further changes could be implemented in order to reect the
differences in material composition and maintenance requirements
between a hydropower plant and a fossil-red power plant. In the
following we concentrate on X being black coal, for the sake of
demonstrating fractional PXC.
In order to implement an intensity change, a practitioner using
a PXC software tool has to bring up all information relating to the
path Electricity supply > USyd FoS under the head indicator GHG

4
Wholesale and bulk natural gas tariffs charged to industrial/commercial
customers in Eastern Australia range from around 3.5e4.0 $/GJ (Roarty, 2008),
whilst electricity is traded at around 30e50 $/MWh or around 10 $/GJel (ESAA,
2009).
5
For the sake of simplicity we ignore potential small fossil fuel uses such as by
company cars used for routine plant inspection etc.

O. Baboulet, M. Lenzen / Journal of Cleaner Production 18 (2010) 1134e1141

1139

Table 5
Effects of an intensity change made for the indicator Energy consumption at the second-order path Glass products > USyd FoS, as seen through a PXC software tool. Shaded
entries represent user input.
Indicator

Path changed

Node changed

Old value

New value

Old path

New path

% of path chgd

Energy consumption

Glass products >

USyd FoS

Energy consumption e
Intensity of Electricity supply

8.8 MJ/$

7.0 MJ/$

9805 GJ

7845 GJ

100.0%

emissions, and elect to change the intensity of the indicator Black

coal use for boilers. In the case of Australia, the software shows
51 MJ/$ for the economy-wide average energy intensity, and 2617 t
for the path value. The practitioner then enters a new intensity of
0 MJ/$ and stipulates that this new intensity be applied to 25% of
the path. The software then shows the effect of this exchange on
greenhouse gas emissions (Table 7). Combining changed and
unchanged parts of the path yields 25%  0 t CO2-e 75%  2617 t
CO2-e 1963 t CO2-e.
It is also necessary to implement a corresponding transaction
coefcient change, because less black coal is supplied to the electricity sector supplying the University. To this end, the practitioner
has to bring up the path Black coal > Electricity supply > USyd FoS
under the head indicator GHG emissions, and elect to change the
transaction coefcient between nodes 2 and 3. In the case of
Australia, the software shows 12.6 /$ for the economy-wide
average transaction coefcient. The practitioner then enters a new
transaction coefcient of 0 /$ and stipulates that this new coefcient be applied to 25% of the path. The software then shows the
effect of this exchange on greenhouse gas emissions (Table 8).
Combining changed and unchanged parts of the path yields
25%  0 t CO2-e 75%  66.5 t CO2-e 50 t CO2-e.
Whilst the intensity change affects emissions from the power
plant, the coefcient change affects the entire supply-chain subtree branching off from the root path Black coal > Electricity
supply > USyd FoS. The combination of just these two changes
represents a greenhouse gas abatement by USyds FoS of 670 t CO2e, of which the effect at the power plant represents 98%. Including
the sub-tree branching off the black coal node (node 2), the total
abatement is 679 t CO2-e (655 t CO2-e because of the intensity
change, and 25 t CO2-e because of the coefcient change).

3. Discussion and conclusions

We have applied input-output analysis (IOA), structural path
analysis (SPA), and especially the path exchange (PXC) method to
an investigation of the University of Sydneys supply chains. To that
end, we have demonstrated how IOA and SPA systematically cover
and prioritise supply-chain environmental impacts. We also have
demonstrated how PXC handles the replacement of intensities and
transaction coefcients from economy-wide average input-output-

based data to application-specic process-based data, and how PXC

can be applied either to a whole path or a fraction of it.
The main advantage of PXC is that a practitioner is able to replace
any economy-wide average input-output path returned by a Structural Path Analysis algorithm (now part of many hybrid LCA tools)
with any information whatsoever, and not only with what
commercial process databases offer. Further, practitioners are guided
towards important aspects of their applications, and need not spend
resources on following up minor contributions to their applications
supply chains. In other words, PXC provides detail and exibility at
low labour and data cost. Our case study covers a wide range of
situations in which a procurement ofcer can explore product
substitution, supplier dialogue, or mandatory staff purchasing policies, and weight against each other the environmental abatement
opportunities that these supply-chain measures present.
Hybrid methods such as PXC in principle enable organisations to
plan towards sustainable operations. However, there is no a priori
guarantee that such methods, however instructive and powerful,
will be taken up within organisations such as the University of
Sydney. There are a number of barriers that need to be overcome in
order to successfully implement supply-chain thinking at the
workplace, and the University of Sydney is currently trialling
a number of internal processes. There is, to start with, the need for
raising general environmental awareness amongst staff that may be
sufciently pre-occupied with personal and family matters, and for
whom the environment is a distant concern. Then there is the
challenge of consulting and motivating already busy or even over
committed staff to consider new and potentially complex issues that
may even result in procedures that, if implemented, increase work
load. After overcoming these hurdles staff need to be educated
about, and trained in new analytical capabilities. This stage may be
attractive to staff if their perception is that they can use such newly
acquired skills in the wider labour market. Finally, there is the need
to cultivate environmental responsibility, and to argue that such
responsibility does not stop at the organisations front gate, but
extends to suppliers activities that ultimately happen because of
organisations purchasing their operating inputs (Lenzen et al.,
2007).
One of the most important obstacles for environmentally-friendly
procurement is the supremacy of nancial priorities: If a sustainable
product is more expensive than its conventional alternative there is
often little justication e other than perhaps green branding e to

Table 6
Effects of an intensity change made for the indicators GHG emissions and Energy consumption at the second-order path Glass products > USyd FoS, as seen through a PXC
software tool. Shaded entries represent user input.
Indicator

Path changed

Node changed

Old value

New value

Old path

New path

% of path chgd

GHG emissions

Glass products > USyd FoS

2.3 MJ/$

2.8 MJ/$

130 t CO2-e

161 t CO2-e

100.0%

Energy consumption

Glass products > USyd FoS

2.3 MJ/$

2.8 MJ/$

2530 GJ

3138 GJ

100.0%

GHG emissions

Electricity > Glass products >

USyd FoS
Electricity > Glass products >
USyd FoS
Natural gas > Glass products >
USyd FoS
Natural gas > Glass products >
USyd FoS

Natural gas use for boilers e

Intensity of Glass products
Natural gas use for boilers e
Intensity of Glass products
Node 2 Electricity > Glass products

2.9 /$

1.5 /$

304 t CO2-e

158 t CO2-e

100.0%

Node 2 Electricity > Glass products

2.9 /$

1.5 /$

3442 GJ

1786 GJ

100.0%

Node 2 Natural gas > Glass products

2.8 /$

3.3 /$

195 t CO2-e

229 t CO2-e

100.0%

Node 2 Natural gas > Glass products

2.8 /$

3.3 /$

2599 GJ

3051 GJ

100.0%

Energy consumption
GHG emissions
Energy consumption

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O. Baboulet, M. Lenzen / Journal of Cleaner Production 18 (2010) 1134e1141

Table 7
Effects of an intensity change made for the indicator Black coal for boilers for a fraction of the second-order path Electricity supply > USyd FoS, as seen through a PXC
software tool. Shaded entries represent user input.
Indicator

Path changed

Node changed

GHG emissions

Electricity supply >

USyd FoS
Electricity supply >
USyd FoS

Black coal use (boiler)

Intensity of Electricity
Black coal use (boiler)
Intensity of Electricity

GHG emissions

e
supply
e
supply

Old value

New value

Old path

New path

% of path chgd

51 MJ/$

0 MJ/$

2617 t CO2-e

0 t CO2-e

25.0%

51 MJ/$

2617 t CO2-e

75.0%

Table 8
Effects of a coefcient change made for the transaction Black coal > Electricity for a fraction of the third-order path Black coal > Electricity supply > USyd FoS, as seen through
a PXC software tool. Shaded entries represent user input.
Indicator

Path changed

Node changed

Old value

New value

Old path

New path

% of path chgd

GHG emissions

Black coal >

Electricity supply >
USyd FoS
Black coal >
Electricity supply >
USyd FoS

Node 2 Black coal >

Electricity supply

12.6 /$

0 /$

66.5 t CO2-e

0 t CO2-e

25.0%

Node 2 Black coal >

Electricity supply

12.6 /$

GHG emissions

spend more than necessary. This is especially so for organisations that

nd themselves in a harsh competitive environment, and/or that do
not face any binding compliance rules, audits or nes. However,
exploring PXC may well turn out some winewin situations, that is
where supply-chain initiatives benet the environment as well as
drive down cost, compared to existing procedures, or compared to
measures aimed at on-premise procedures. Even in these cases,
implementation of such initiatives will not be successful if staff do not
understand, associate with, and engage with environmental
responsibility and supply-chain thinking.
Initiatives such as the International Green Purchasing Network
(www.igpn.org) and the Supply Chain Project of the Carbon
Disclosure Project (CDP, 2009) demonstrate that environmental
management across the supply chain is becoming an upward trend.
Supply-chain and life-cycle assessment tools such as the ones discussed in this article can underpin such initiatives by offering
robust and reliable means of quantication, and thus ultimately
help to foster green purchasing and sustainable organisations.
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to Dr Christopher Dey for assistance
with University of Sydney databases and for sharing information on
its environmental initiatives.
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