IT Standards & Tools

Mission & Goals

The IT Standards and Tools Working Group is a central group within The Sustainability Consortium that focuses on facilitating the creation of robust and accurate IT tools for use by all sizes of companies. Working in a complex environment, the group is working to provide businesses with the tools necessary to measure, manage, and reduce environmental and social impacts.

Scope

The IT Standards & Tools Working Group formed in the fall of 2010, and is primarily composed of IT companies and LCA practitioners. The group has been able to successfully operate in a pre-competitive space, working together to ensure that there will be
a range of IT solutions to fit all sustainability needs.

Research

The group provides research, infrastructure and tools necessary to help increase user access and global consistency for LCA across the business world. The unique composition of the group allows for research projects that cut across industries, disciplines and software solutions to ensure that Life Cycle Analysis continues to grow in use
and applicability.

Projects

IP Policy and Software Provider Certification Process

Development of an IP policy to support the sharing of information outlined in Sustainability Measurement and Reporting Standards and a certification process for software providers.

Information and Data Hub

Refinement and adoption of an Information Hub concept furthered by the technical design and development of such a Sustainability Information Hub

‘IT Ready’ SMRS

Development of a structure that will house the meta-data and data in the SMRS to be implemented in software solutions to support piloting of SMRS prototypes

Participants

  • BASF
  • Cargill
  • Church & Dwight
  • Clorox
  • Dairy Management, Inc.
  • General Mills, Inc.
  • Henkel
  • Hewlett Packard
  • Kimberly-Clark
  • Novozymes
  • Safeway, Inc.
  • SAP
  • Tetra Pak
  • Unilever
  • Walmart
  • Waste Management

Working Group Contact

Mary VanLeer

Working Group Manager

University of Arkansas

Send an Email

Quick Facts
  • Thomas Watson, who was the chairman of IBM in 1943 predicted that there would probably only be a world market for five computers.
  • 86.6% of Internet users spend more than 6 hours per week online.
  • One-third of the world population has never made a phone call.
  • Among teens in the United States, 76.4% use the internet at least once a month. This figure is expected to increase to 87.1% by 2011. (eMarketer)