Integrating sustainability assessments using PROMETHEE: Results from H2020 WATERAGRI
2023 (English)Independent thesis Advanced level (degree of Master (Two Years)), 20 credits / 30 HE credits
Student thesis
Abstract [en]
Agriculture uses a large part of available land and freshwater resources across the earth. Intensified agriculture has led to increased resource use. Today’s agricultural research focuses on improving sustainability and lowering environmental impact. This thesis seeks to analyse the environmental and economic implications of using a water retainer product tested at a farm in Poland. To do this, three sustainability assessments, namely Life cycle analysis, Water footprint analysis and Cost-benefit analysis, are integrated with the multiple criteria decision analysis method Preference ranking organisation method for enrichment evaluation (PROMETHEE). The integration provided a more holistic perspective than the individual sustainability assessment results and made it possible to identify trade-offs between the environmental and economic dimensions. The results identify lower emissions and water use from the use of the water retainer but with higher costs and lower profits. The PROMETHEE results indicate that the method is adequate to perform integrated sustainability assessments, and especially the final ranking provided in the method is beneficial for uncomplicated interpretation of the results. The results also identify and discuss the risk for rank reversal when alternatives are added or removed in the PROMETHEE calculations.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2023. , p. 46
Series
Examensarbete vid Institutionen för geovetenskaper, ISSN 1650-6553 ; 2023/15
Keywords [en]
Integrated sustainability assessment, Multiple criteria decision analysis, PROMETHEE, Sustainable Development
National Category
Other Earth Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-503981OAI: oai:DiVA.org:uu-503981DiVA, id: diva2:1768347
External cooperation
WATERAGRI Project
Subject / course
Sustainable development
Educational program
Master Programme in Sustainable Development
Presentation
2023-05-24, Villavägen 16, Uppsala, 09:00 (English)
Supervisors
Examiners
Projects
WATERAGRI Project2023-06-162023-06-152025-02-07Bibliographically approved