HKUST Sustainability Annual Report 2021-2022

HKUST Sustainability 43 Environment Social and Governance Report 2021-22 Life Cycle Thinking (LCT) is a Systems Thinking-based approach that incorporates the holistic evaluation of environmental (e-LCA), economic (LCC), and social (s-LCA) impacts along the life cycle of a product or system. With increasing interest in impact quantification to support product development, supply-chain management, and corporate reporting, the LCT concept has become one of the more powerful and widely used tools to support the development of a sustainable economy. Despite growing demand, there are very few professionals in the Greater Bay Area who have the expertise or experience to teach and practice life cycle-based concepts and tools. As environmental concerns have become more prominent in different sectors, it is anticipated that Life Cycle Thinking would become one of the essential skillsets for graduates to facilitate holistic, long-term, sustainable decision-making in their careers. At HKUST, with the development of the Life Cycle Lab, we will be able to provide better support to more academic units to embed LCT into their curricula in a more systematic manner. Thinking Across Supply Chains Thinking Across Time and Into The Future Thinking about Unintended Consequences RECYCLING DEMOLITION TBC MAINTENANCE CONSTRUCTION TRANSPORTATION MANUFACTURER EXTRACTION Stages of LifeCycle 20%-40% 60%-80% LIFE-CYCLE COST Operating and Support Systems Acquisition 30+ YEARS Systems Thinking Life Cycle Thinking - Ways of Thinking HKUST aims to become an educational leader in sustainability education with a global outreach. We commit to inculcating a high level of sustainability literacy in our community to accomplish the university’s primary educational purpose. This year, HKUST set up a Life Cycle Lab, used results of a Sustainability Literacy survey and curriculum scan to enhance our sustainability education teaching approaches and investigated a range of ways to enable sustainability learning outside the classroom. Life Cycle Thinking in Sustainable Economy Education

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