Jim Fava is the recently retired Executive Director at Anthesis Group, which supports businesses and governments in understanding and navigating the risks and opportunities they face. Throughout his career, Jim has provided invaluable guidance, tools, and expertise on strategies and actions that enable organizations to operate in a more environmentally responsible and sustainable manner. Renowned as the "father of modernday life cycle assessment," he has devoted his career to advancing and promoting the practice and application of life cycle information worldwide. His efforts have contributed significantly to supporting global decisionmaking processes. Notably, he led the United States delegation responsible for shaping the first generation of ISO LCA standards. Moreover, Jim cofounded influential organizations such as the UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative, Five Winds International, and the Forum for Sustainability through Life Cycle Innovation (FSLCI).


 


Today, Jim and I discuss what his career taught him about supporting businesses and governments, turning risks into opportunities, and strategies and actions to operate more sustainably. Jim shares his journey from frat house to csuite and talks about how he saw the human impact on the environment firsthand and started focusing on sustainability. He outlines life cycle assessment and how it helps us understand the environmental impact of a product over its entire life. He cites disposable diapers as a case study to understand life cycle assessment. Jim also recounts his experience in developing the Technical Framework for Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and the Code of Practice that eventually became the foundation of the International Organization for Standardization's (ISO) Environmental Management Standards. 


 


“You have to put what we want to have happen in the language of the decisionmakers, and that's our revenue, brand, cost, and risk management.” Jim Fava


 


This week on Innovation Talks:


 


●     Jim’s best sustainable business strategies


●     The Life Cycle Assessment journey to sustainability


●     What cloth diapers can teach us about sustainability


●     How Jim played a leading role in the development the Life Cycle Assessment Methodology


●     How Life Cycle thinking affects product design


●     The ten golden rules for achieving sustainability


●     How to drive change


●     The urgency of sustainability in business management


●     The role of the product manager


 


Resources Mentioned:


 


●     Early Life Cycle Assessment Books Laid the Foundation for ModernDay LCA (https://globe.setac.org/earlylifecy...)


●     The Origins of LCA: Perspective from The Father of ModernDay Life Cycle Assessment (https://www.anthesisgroup.com/theori...)


 


Connect with Jim Fava:


 


●     Jim Fava Website (https://globe.setac.org/)


●     Jim Fava on LinkedIn (  / jimfava04b88b5  )


 


This Podcast is brought to you by Sopheon


 


Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Innovation Talks. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.


 


Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...) | TuneIn (https://tunein.com/podcasts/Technolog...) | GooglePlay (https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=...) | Stitcher (https://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=614195) | Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/1dX5b8t...) | iHeart (https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263in...)


 


Be sure to connect with us on Facebook (  / sopheoncorp  ) , Twitter (  / sopheon  ) , and LinkedIn (  / sopheon  ) , and share your favorite episodes on social media to help us reach more listeners, like you.


 


For additional information around new product development or corporate innovation, sign up for Sopheon’s newsletter where we share news and industry best practices monthly! The fastest way to do this is to go to sopheon.com (https://www.sopheon.com/) and click here (https://info.sopheon.com/subscribe) .