Understanding the Sustainability report

The Sustainability report (in Excel format) includes a detailed analysis of mass values and indicators for each item in the BoM, a product-level summary view, and a breakdown that highlights the key contributors to the environmental indicators for each of the Materials, Processes, and Transport phases of the product lifecycle.

The report includes the following analysis sheets.

About this report

A cover sheet that shows the date the report was run, the Granta MI user who created the report, and the version of the MI Restricted Substances and Sustainability Reports software that was used to create the report.

BoM Details

A full analysis of mass values and sustainability indicators for each item in the BoM.

For the Parts, Materials, Processes, and Transport stages specified in the BoM, this sheet shows the same information as the analyzed BoM in BoM Analyzer.
Note: The BoM Details sheet of the Sustainability report may also list Specifications and Substances as items in the BoM, if they were present in the original source of the BoM that you viewed in BoM Analyzer (such as an XML BoM file, or a BoM viewed from MI Materials Gateway). However, these items are not relevant for Sustainability analysis, and do not affect the mass or indicator calculations. (Note that they are not displayed at all in BoM Analyzer when working in Sustainability mode.)

For information about the mass and sustainability indicators shown on this sheet, see Indicators in the Sustainability report and BoM analysis.

For more information about the mass calculations for each BoM item, see Mass calculations in Sustainability analysis.

Summary

A product-level summary that shows the absolute and percentage contributions of the Material Production (Materials), Product Manufacturing (Processes), and Transport phases of the product lifecycle to the total Embodied Energy and Climate Change indicator values for the product.

Materials

A breakdown of the Embodied Energy and Climate Change indicator values for the Material Production (Materials) phase of the product lifecycle, based on the materials assigned to parts in the BoM.

Note: The environmental impacts of Standard Parts (which have Embodied Energy and Climate Change indicator values pre-calculated and stored in the database) are included in the Material Production phase of the analysis. For more information about Standard Parts, see Assigning Parts.

Indicator values for the Material Production phase are calculated using the 'Mass Before Processing' for each part and material in the BoM. For more details, see Mass calculations in Sustainability analysis.

The Summary Stats table on the Materials sheet identifies each material or Standard Part whose total contribution (aggregated across the BoM) to the product's overall Embodied Energy and/or Climate Change for the Material Production phase is greater than 2%.

For each material or Standard Part that is listed as contributing more than 2%:
  • The total mass of the material before processing (aggregated across the BoM) is shown as 'Mass Before Secondary Processing', and the total mass after processing is shown as 'Mass of Material'.
  • The Embodied Energy and Climate Change impacts (based on the 'Mass Before Secondary Processing') are shown as absolute values and as a % contribution to the total for the Materials phase.
  • The individual parts in the BoM that contribute to the 'Mass Before Secondary Processing' are listed, in order of size of contribution.

Processes

A breakdown of the Embodied Energy and Climate Change indicator values for the Product Manufacturing (Processes) phase of the product lifecycle, based on the primary and secondary processes assigned to materials, and the Joining & Finishing processes assigned to parts in the BoM. (For more information about these process categories, see Assigning processes for Sustainability.)

The Summary Stats table on the Processes sheet breaks down the absolute and percentage contributions of each stage of processing (Primary, Secondary, or Joining & Finishing) to the overall Embodied Energy and Climate Change indicator values for the Product Manufacturing phase.

Then, for each stage of processing, the report identifies the process assignments in the BoM that make the largest contribution to the environmental impacts. Note that wherever possible, the indicator values calculated for Primary and Secondary processes take into account the material that the process is being applied to. For more details, see Indicator calculations for processes applied to materials.
Primary

The report identifies all unique combinations of a Material and Primary Process whose contribution (aggregated across the BoM) to the total Embodied Energy and/or Climate Change for Primary Processes is greater than 5%.

For each Material/Primary Process combination that is listed as contributing more than 5%, the report shows the Embodied Energy and Climate Change impacts (based on the total 'Mass Before Processing' for all instances of that material/process combination across the BoM), as absolute values and as a % contribution to the total for Primary Processes.

Secondary

The report identifies all unique combinations of a Material and a Secondary Process whose contribution (aggregated across the BoM) to the total Embodied Energy and/or Climate Change for Primary Processes is greater than 5%.

For each Material/Secondary Process combination that is listed as contributing more than 5%, the report shows the Embodied Energy and Climate Change impacts (based on the total amount of material processed, for all instances of that material/process combination across the BoM), as absolute values and as a % contribution to the total for Secondary Processes.

Joining & Finishing

The report identifies all Joining & Finishing Processes whose contribution (aggregated across the BoM) to the total Embodied Energy and/or Climate Change for Joining & Finishing Processes is greater than 5%.

For each Joining & Finishing Process that is listed as contributing more than 5%, the report shows the Embodied Energy and Climate Change impacts (based on the total 'Amount specified' for that process across the BoM), as absolute values and as a % contribution to the total for Joining & Finishing Processes.

Transport

A breakdown of the Embodied Energy and Climate Change indicator values for the Transport phase of the product lifecycle, based on the Transport stages specified in the BoM.

The Summary Stats table on the Transport sheet breaks down these impacts by associated Part, showing both the absolute values and the % contribution to the total.

The calculations take into account the mode of transport used for each Part (shown as 'Transport Types'), the mass of the component, and the distance it travels. If multiple Transport stages are assigned to a Part, the indicator values reflect a rolled-up total of all associated transport types including those assigned to any linked processes.
Note: The impacts of any child components will not be included in this rolled-up value, as each component has its own separate entry in the table.

The report lists all Parts that contribute 5% or more to the total Embodied Energy or Climate Change impacts. If a Part’s contribution to both indicators is below 5%, its Transport stages are aggregated into 'Other' Parts.

The report then identifies the environmental impact contribution of transportation during Manufacturing and Distribution. The indicator values for all Transport stages associated with each are aggregated to show the absolute values and the % contribution to the total impacts for each Transport Category.

Glossary

A glossary of the column names that appear in the BoM Details sheet, including mass calculation terminology and indicator names. See Indicators in the Sustainability report and BoM analysis.

Information about this analysis

Errors, warnings, and information messages about the report. These may include:

  • Data required or expected by the analysis that has not been specified in the BoM.
  • Mass or indicator values that cannot be calculated because required data is unavailable.
  • BoM item types (such as Specifications or Substances) that have been found in the initial BoM, but are not relevant to Sustainability analysis. These BoM items do not affect the mass calculations, and do not have Sustainability indicators calculated.