ToSIA – Tool for Sustainability Impact Assessment (EFI)

Technical information Practicalities TA feedback

The TNA holder has indicated that this infrastructure would remain accessible also after the Trees4Future end-of-project, however the applicant would have to bear costs.

Potential users are invited to enquire directly with the site manager for agreement on accessibility and related costs.

Type of facility: Model, complete with assessment tool, database and user interface for data entry, and additional evaluation tools

Keywords: modelling, SIA, sustainability impact assessment, what-if scenarios, carbon, indicators, value-added process chains, material flow, decision support systems, DSS, sustainable forest management

Who would find this useful? (green) science (biorefinery to agriculture to land use....), industry, policy, consulting

"This visit gave me access and insight on a very complex tool that I could not have without such training."

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About the facility: ToSIA is the Tool for Sustainability Impact Assessment, which allows comparative ex-ante assessments of changes in economic, environmental and social sustainability of entire forest wood chains (FWC). It transparently and objectively shows effects which external drivers such as policies, market developments, technologies, etc have. The tool offers an innovative combination of material flow analysis through value chains with a broad process level indicator assessment of all sustainability dimensions. The level of detail or focus of study is freely selectable, as is the choice of indicators. There is also a framework of how additional indicators (such as cultural and qualitative indicators or other) can be defined.

Recently, ToSIA was also used for cross-sectoral assessments. An analysis of FWCs and reindeer husbandry chains on the same geographical forest resource was completed, showing how activities in one sector (e.g. in forest management and operations) influence the performance of the other one (e.g. reindeer husbandry). Further cross-sectoral assessments like agricultural and forest-based biomass supply chains, land use competition with wind power farms and mining, or interactions between forestry, nature conservation and tourism are possible targets for future applications.

The comparison of different scenarios can be facilitated with a range of linked-in results evaluation tools like MCA (Multi-Criteria-Analysis), CBA (Cost-Benefit-Analysis) and PA (Policy Analysis).

What does the TA programme offer? A 3-5 day visit is available, together with training courses and hotline support. Users will gain:

a method and a tool for Sustainability Impact Assessment
a flexible and structured approach for tackling problems and ”what-if-questions”
an objective and transparent platform for communication, decision support and decision defence
an insight into indicator definition, formulation and calculation, not restricted to a predefined set but open to include economic, environmental, social, cultural, other aspects