Industrial ecology in the strategic sustainable development model: strategic applications of industrial ecology

In a recent article of this journal, Robert et al. [Journal of Cleaner Production 10 (2002) 197] define five hierarchical and interdependent levels for a systems approach for strategic sustainable development (SSD) to move toward the desired outcome, the state of sustainability. This paper evaluates the concept of industrial ecology (IE) by considering its application and use in terms of the strategic sustainable development model. The author argues that the applications of the concept of IE can contribute to all five levels in the hierarchical model. However, the paper shows that if IE is used outside the systems model, four risks and difficulties are generated that can lead to suboptimal solutions, problem displacement and problem shifting. Recommendations derived from ecological economics and environmental management are made for ways to proceed with the integration of IE into the broader SSD concepts and approaches.