Life cycle based and triple bottom line assessment of sustainability impacts in product-service systems

Purpose Research suggests that Product-Service Systems and Sustainability are connected topics: by designing new business models based on the integration of products and services, new opportunities of decreasing sustainability burdens arise. Given this frame, a methodology for the triple bottom line assessment of impacts of a Product-Service System in its whole life cycle has been developed, with the purpose to enhance the integrated sustainability assessment of Product-Service Systems, and to overcome the limitations of current sustainability models in literature. Design/methodology/approach The methodology suggests an extension of the four procedural steps of ISO 14040 Life Cycle Assessment into an eight-step procedure which considers all three sustainability dimensions-economic, environmental and social-and a service perspective, through the use of the Service Unit concept, substituting the functional unit of Life Cycle Assessment. Moreover, a set of indicators for the three dimensions is proposed based on literature suggestions and developed with the Service Unit concept accordingly. Originality/value The methodology envisions a decision support for companies during New Product/Service Development, especially keeping into account four potential uses through the illustration of an industrial case study. The methodology can be adopted to evaluate a Product-Service System solution from both the sides of developer and user. The main value of the proposal is subsequent to the adoption of the Service Unit concept, in order to enable the integration of the three sustainability dimensions guided by completeness, consistency and avoidance of double counting of effects. Such a combination is also improving the existing integrations of economic-environmental dimensions, while providing a rationale for further development for what concerns the social dimension