Responsible product chains – the case of organic food and textiles

Paper in proceeding, 2012

Sustainable development is interpreted in many ways by business and industry as over 30 definitions of corporate social responsibility shows, all including social, economic and environmental aspects. At the same time business units and products supply chains become multinational and environmental concerns are rising in industry, such as energy, climate change or waste reduction. The present research here involves environmental aspects and business aspects in from of product chains and the overall research question is: How do organising product chains effect the environment? The next question is: How responsible are product chains, especially of green products, such as organic food or textiles? The question is answered within a concept and method based on an interdisciplinary approach, combining LCA and environmental management/organisational theory. This paper presents the results from two ongoing studies, one on organic food chains and one textiles risk information chains.