Ecological footprint analysis as a project assessment tool

With the UK Government now committed to promoting eco-efficiency through the Sustainable Consumption and Production programme, the role of eco-efficiency metrics and associated sustainability metrics is becoming ever more important. Business has a key role to play in actually delivering sustainability, and business-friendly metrics are vital in informing decision-making as well as monitoring progress. This paper describes how ecological foot-printing can measure the environmental impacts of projects and services and, more challengingly, relate those impacts to global environmental sustainability. The research described in this paper shows how ecological footprinting has been used at the project planning stage, to appraise possible construction options in the context of sustainable production and consumption.