Measurement and evaluation of regional environmental impacts for strategic corporate management

The evaluation and priorisation of environmental impacts using a (ideally) neutral evaluation element is the precondition for an efficient reduction of these (mostly negative) impacts. Using the method of ecological scarcity, country-specific ecofactors and hence emphases for the evaluation of environmental impacts may be generated. This will essentially be helpful in presenting the site assessment in a comprehensible and transparent manner and in identifying "environmental hotspots". These hotspots may be used for future target-oriented work in reducing environmental impacts.

What proved positive for the assessment of sites also has its negative side, since a comparison between sites in different countries is not possible. Reasons are essentially different natural and geographical conditions, different sizes of countries, as well as different environmental policies and objectives in the individual countries.

For international companies like Volkswagen, with a strong centralistic functional order, it is important to collectively work on a centrally defined objective or environmental relief strategy. However, this presupposes, that mutual objectives can be pursued and steered centrally. In this case, that means, that on one hand environmental impacts should be collected individually and country-specific, and on the other hand they should be made centrally evaluable, traceable and comprehendable.

This is the starting point for this dissertation. The results shall enable the setting of individual obectives for individual sites considering specific impacts. The positive effect of individualisation induce a rise in systemic complexity within the strategic corridor as well as the pursuit of goals and evaluation. Hence, the essential necessary changes need to be outlined and ideas for implementation need to be developed.

Leadership

• Prof. Dr. Edeltraud Günther
• Dr. Steffen Wellge

Researchers

• Elisabeth Nunweiler
• Dr. Anne-Karen Hüske

Term

• 01/05/2017 - 30/04/2020

Financing

• Volkwagen AG