Steel industry environmental objectives: stakeholder preference assessment using conjoint analysis

Abstract

The Swedish steel industry has combined traditional methods such as life cycle analysis with less traditional methods such as preference analysis in order to move towards a closed steel eco cycle. The paper describes the use of conjoint analysis to study preferences of six different stakeholder groups regarding four environmental objectives (reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, reduced use of non-renewable resources, reduced use of non-renewable energy and weight reduction in products) and to identify gaps in preferences between the stakeholder groups. Our results suggested that there was a difference in preference between the stakeholder groups: respondents that were closer to the steel industry favoured all four environmental objectives, while members of public and political decision makers preferred a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. One of the conclusions of our study is that there is a need of improved information to clients and public on the environmental benefits of product weight reduction.

Keywords:

• Conjoint analysis
• Environmental objective
• PLS
• Steel
• Stated preference
• Weight reduction

This work was funded by the Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research (MISTRA) and the Swedish Steel Producers’ Association (Jernkontoret) through the research programme Towards a Closed Steel Eco-Cycle.