Course syllabus
Aim and purpose of the course
Environmental systems analysis (ESA) comprises the collection, analysis, integration and evaluation of information on how technical systems cause, contribute to, or mitigate environmental impacts. It is used to support decision making in many different areas like the industrial, public and voluntary sectors. The focus can be on technical solutions as well as on policies, plans and legislation related to the design and use of all kinds of technical systems. Examples of ESA tools are environmental risk assessment (ERA), life cycle assessment (LCA), material flow analysis (MFA), environmental impact assessment (EIA) and multi-criteria analysis (MCA).
The course aims at (1) introducing the theoretical framework of the ESA tools and methods, (2) providing the knowledge required to choose a relevant tool or method, and formulate the goal and scope for a specific application, and (3) applying an ESA tool (or ESA tools) to a given problem. The course also introduces and defines a set of concepts needed for a good understanding of environmental systems analysis.
One important part of the course is the critical appraisal of results by discussing why different investigators may get different results with the same tool when applied to the same technical system. This points out the importance of the choices made when applying the tool. To be able to analyse this, it is important to understand the applications of the ESA tools and methods, what actors can use, and benefit from, the results produced by different tools, and in what context they yield meaningful information.
After completing the course, you should be able to (learning objectives):
- Define terms used in environmental systems analysis and briefly describe them as if you would write a glossary entry,
- Give a clear and transparent explanation of the concepts and working procedures used in the different tools,
- Employ the tools in different types of engineering problems. This will be done through several exercises,
- Analyse and interpret engineering decision problems from an environmental perspective using ESA tools,
- Apply ESA tools for a specific problem while taking into account who will use the analysis results. This will be done in a course project (see the Project syllabus for more details),
- Critically review assessment results, that is, evaluate how important methodological choices such as system boundaries, coverage of data etc., influence results,
- Compare and contrast the tools in order to select one (or more) for addressing a certain environmental problem in relation to the system under study.
Course content and organization
The course content consists of four elements: 1) theory; 2) reports from practice; 3) small exercises; and 4) a larger course project. The theoretical part comprises lectures (on campus, or pre-recorded) on the ESA tools and methods, and the course literature. Guest lecturers from outside Chalmers will report in lectures (on campus, or online) on how environmental systems analysis is applied in practice, for instance, in industry. A series of small exercises and a project will give basic experience of and provide training in how to perform an ESA study, respectively. This includes problem definition, application of the ESA tools to analyse a technical system, and the interpretation of the analysis results.
Lectures
The lectures are designed to supply a framework that makes it possible to fully understand what environmental systems analysis is. They are also intended 1) to introduce a number of tools and methods; 2) to provide a basic understanding of them; and 3) to lay the theoretical foundation for the tools and methods that are further explored by doing the exercises and the course project.
The more general lectures as well as those on tools and methods are given by Matty Janssen (who also is the course responsible and examiner) from the division of Environmental Systems Analysis. Rickard Arvidsson, from the same division, will also give a lecture. Guest lecturers from outside Chalmers will talk about some of the tools, or report from practice, e.g. in industry. You will find the schedule for all the lectures, exercises and project hand-ins at the end of this syllabus.
Some of the theoretical lectures are pre-recorded. These will be put online on Canvas in advance of a 1-hour long Q&A session related to this lecture online only (using Zoom) during which you have the opportunity to ask questions about the material discussed in the pre-recorded lecture. It is indicated in bold in the schedule which lectures are pre-recorded.
Exercises
Short exercises (scheduled during the first three weeks of the course) aim at giving you an increased insight and understanding of three different tools and methods: material/substance flow analysis (MFA/SFA), life cycle assessment (LCA) and environmental risk assessment (ERA). These exercises are designed as step-by-step guides for applying the tools to the given problem, but they also include questions that require interpretation of the calculated results. By handing in your solutions, which needs to be done in groups of e.g. 2-3 students, you can gather points that count towards the exam result. There are time slots scheduled for doing these exercises (see the schedule at the end of this syllabus). The exercises will be uploaded to Canvas in advance in order to give you the opportunity to already take a look at it. During the scheduled time slots, you can work on solving these exercises and you can ask questions that you have. Matty Janssen will be present in the scheduled room.
Furthermore, a role play exercise is scheduled (on December 2nd) in which a multi-criteria decision problem with multiple different stakeholders involved is analysed. This is done in groups and you will not get extra points by participating in this exercise.
Project
For more practice with the environmental systems analysis tools and methods, and for an increased understanding of the context in which they are applied, real-life decision making problems will be studied and analysed through group work in the compulsory course project. The project topics are recycling of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), renewable materials and the use of silver as an anti-bacterial agent. The problems will need to be analysed by using two ESA tools. Your analysis and discussion of the subject must be presented in a short written report and in an oral presentation. For the projects, you will get feedback and supervision from Sanna Wickerts, Gulnara Shavalieva, Diego Valdivia or Teja Gangavarapu (all of them are at the division of Environmental Systems Analysis). The project feedback and supervision can be done online or on-campus. The project groups need to agree on this with their project supervisor according to group members’ and supervisor’s preference.
The project is conducted in groups of 4 students. You will have to form groups yourselves, but the course staff will ensure that everybody is part of a group. Once you have formed a group, please send an e-mail with the list of students in your group to Matty Janssen (e-mail: mathias.janssen@chalmers.se). You will be assigned a topic and project supervisor. You can indicate which topic you would prefer most to work on. There is however no guarantee you will actually get this topic – the topics are evenly spread among the groups, and they are assigned on a “first come, first serve” basis. Please contact Matty when you are unable to form a group with others. We urge you to start forming groups already during the first week of the course.
During the project, there will be deliverables of, first, the problem definition and method description on the 20th of November, and second, of a draft report on the 4th of December. Feedback on the first hand-in will be given on the 25th of November, online or on-campus. Feedback on the second hand-in (the draft report) will be given as soon as possible after the hand-in, and at the latest on the 9th of December (please note that there is no time slot for this in the course schedule). The final report must be handed in before 5pm, on the 15th of December.
You must record and submit a 10-minute long presentation of your project which will be assessed together with your project report. The deadline for submitting the presentation video file is on the 17th of December. Each group also needs to evaluate the written report of another group, and submit a short report (1–2 pages). Instructions on how to do this and a list of which group needs to read and evaluate which other group’s report will be given in advance of the deadline for submitting the final project report. Deadline for this evaluation report is also on the 17th of December. All deliverables must be handed in through the course homepage on Canvas. More instructions on the project are provided in the project syllabus.
Course literature
The course literature consists of excerpts from books and reports, and a number of scientific papers. The compendium will be made fully available on Canvas. This literature is intended to support and complement the lectures. It is important to start reading early on in the course according to the suggested dates as given in the table of contents below, due to the time needed for this. More reading material, which will not be part of the exam study material, will be made available online on the course homepage on Canvas for those interested.
The methods and tools addressed until then, including the course literature, will also be discussed during literature seminars around the half-way point of the course (middle of week 3) and towards the end of the course (start of course week 6). During the first seminar life cycle assessment (LCA), material/substance flow analysis (MFA/SFA), environmental risk assessment (ERA), and the articles related to them will be discussed. During the second seminar, environmental impact assessment (EIA), design for environment, sustainable development indicators (SDI), cost-benefit analysis (CBA), valuation, multi-criteria analysis (MCA), ecosystem services and the ESA toolbox, and the articles related to them will be discussed. This second seminar also gives the opportunity to ask questions about previous exams given in the course. These old exams will be made available on the course home page on Canvas.
Table: Reading material in the course compendium.
| Subject | Literature | Read by |
| Material flow analysis (MFA) | Stefan Bringezu and Yuichi Moriguchi (2002), “Material flow analysis” from A Handbook of Industrial Ecology. Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc., UK. (Excerpt, ch. 8, pp. 79-91). | 7 Nov |
| Substance flow analysis (SFA) | Ester van der Voet (2002), “Substance flow analysis methodology” from A Handbook of Industrial Ecology. Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc., UK. (Excerpt, ch. 9, pp. 92-102). | 7 Nov |
| Life cycle assessment (LCA) | Henrikke Baumann and Anne-Marie Tillman (2004), “LCA in a nutshell” from The Hitch Hikers guide to LCA. Studentlitteratur, Lund. (Excerpt, ch 1, pp. 19-41). | 11 Nov |
| Environmental risk assessment (ERA) | C. J. van Leeuwen (2007), “General Introduction” from Risk Assessment of Chemicals - An Introduction. Springer, Dordrecht. (Excerpt, ch. 1, pp. 1-36). | 12 Nov |
| Design for Environment (DfE) | Henrikke Baumann and Anne-Marie Tillman (2004), “LCA and product development” from The Hitch Hikers guide to LCA. Studentlitteratur, Lund. (Excerpt, ch 9, pp 235-253). | 18 Nov |
| Environmental impact assessment (EIA) | Karin Andersson (2007), Environmental Impact Assessment, Specially written course material. | 21 Nov |
| Sustainable development indicators | Donella Meadows (1998), Indicators and information systems for sustainable development. Hartland Four Corners VT, The Sustainability Institute. (Excerpt, pp 1-21). | 21 Nov |
| Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) | Nick Hanley, Jason F. Shogren and Ben White (2001), “Cost-Benefit Analysis and the Environment” from Introduction to Environmental Economics. Oxford University Press, Oxford. (Excerpt, ch 4, pp 68-93). | 28 Nov |
| Valuation | Sofia Ahlroth, Måns Nilsson, Göran Finnveden, Olof Hjelm, Elisabeth Hochschorner (2011). Weighting and valuation in selected environmental systems analysis tools – suggestions for further developments. Journal of Cleaner Production, 19, (2-3), 145-156. | 28 Nov |
| Multi-criteria analysis (MCA) | Ralph L. Keeney (1982). Decision Analysis: An overview. Operations Research, 30, 803-838. | 2 Dec |
| Bio-based economy | Christian Patermann and Alfredo Aguilar (2018), The origins of the bioeconomy in the European Union, New Biotechnology, 40, 20-24 | 5 Dec |
| Ecosystem Services | Stephen R. Carpenter, Harold A. Mooney, John Agard, et al (2009). Science for managing ecosystem services: Beyond the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. PNAS, 106(5), 1305-1312. | 5 Dec |
| ESA toolbox | Göran Finnveden, Åsa Moberg (2005). Environmental systems analysis tools - an overview. Journal of Cleaner Production 13(12), 1165-1173. | 9 Dec |
Course assessment
The course is assessed by the written exam and the compulsory project work. Furthermore, handing in short written reports of the exercises can result in bonus credits, added to the total of the written exam.
The written exam takes place on the 16th of January 2026, from 8:30 to 12:30. More detailed information about the exam will be given during the course. A calculator is needed at the exam.
The project accounts for 20% of the total course grade and is graded passed with scores between 3 and 5. More detailed information on the project assessment can be found in the project syllabus.
The exercises are accounted for via short reports written in small groups of 2-3 students. The reports can result in, maximum, 1 credit for the MFA exercise, and 1,5 credits for both the LCA and RA exercises (so in total a maximum of 4 credits), and have to be handed in on Canvas 3 working days after the scheduled time slot for doing the exercise. The exercise credits are added to the total on the written exam. Each exercise is graded on the basis of the written report. This means that you are required to hand in a written report in order to receive credits.
The maximum amount of credits on the written exam is 40 (with maximum credits for the exercises this can become 44 credits). This accounts for 80% of the total course grade; the project grade accounts for 20% of the final grade. The course is passed when the sum of the exam credits and the exercise bonus credits is 24 or larger, and the project is passed with a grade between 3 and 5.
For total credits (exam + exercises) = 24 or larger, the final grade is given by
Result = 2.5*((0.8*(exam credits + exercise credits) + (0.2*8*project grade))
If “Result” is:
< 60, fail,
60 - <73, grade 3,
73 - <87, grade 4,
≥ 87, grade 5.
Prerequisites
Taking the course requires basic knowledge of environmental problems, corresponding to the course “Environmental and resource analysis for a sustainable built environment” (ENM165) (7.5 credits) at Civil and Environmental Engineering, or similar. We also assume basic capabilities in searching literature and other information independently. Of course, knowledge of English at the level necessary to follow lectures, to read non-fiction literature, to participate in discussions and to write comprehensible reports is needed.
Teachers
Guest lecturers
Student representatives
Course schedule (Preliminary)
| Course week 1 |
|||||
| Time | Teacher | Activity | Location | ||
| 4/11 | 8.00-8.45 | MJ, TG, GS, DV, SW | L | Course introduction | EA |
| 9.00-9.45 | MJ | L | Presentation of project topics | ||
| 5/11 | 9.00-9.45 | MJ | L | Environmental Systems Analysis (pre-recorded) | Online |
| 7/11 | 8.00-9.45 | MJ | L | Material/Substance Flow Analysis (MFA/SFA) | EA |
| 10.00-11.45 | MJ | E | Material/Substance Flow Analysis exercise | ||
| Course week 2 |
|||||
| Time | Teacher | Activity | Location | ||
| 11/11 | 8.00-9.45 | MJ | L | Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) | EA |
| 10.00-11.45 | MJ | E | LCA exercise | ||
| 12/11 | 8.00-9.45 | RA | L | Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA) | EA |
| 14/11 | 9.00-9.45 | MJ | L | Environmental Assessment examples (pre-recorded) | Online |
| 10.00-11.45 | MJ | E | ERA exercise | EA | |
| Course week 3 | |||||
| Time | Teacher | Activity | Location | ||
| 18/11 | 8.00-9.45 | Supervision on demand TG, GS, DV, SW |
P | Project work | EA |
| 10.00-11.45 | JH | L | Design for Environment / Circularity | ||
| 19/11 | 8.00-9.45 | MJ | L | Literature seminar | EA |
| 20/11 | 17.00 | Submission of project problem definition and method | |||
| 21/11 | 8.00-9.45 | LH | L | Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) | EA |
| 10.00-11.45 | MJ | L | Sustainable Development Indicators | ||
| Course week 4 | |||||
| Time | Teacher | Activity | Location | ||
| 25/11 |
8.00-10.45 | TG, GS, DV, SW | P | Feedback from project supervisor on problem definition and method, and project work. (Please note that this is a mandatory activity and group members are responsible for scheduling a meeting with their supervisors. It can be scheduled outside the suggested times by agreement with the supervisor) | EA |
| 26/11 | 8.00-9.45 | EG | L | Sustainability at Södra | Online |
| 28/11 | 8.00-9.45 | MJ | L | Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) | EA |
| 10.00-11.45 | TR | L | Valuation | ||
| 13.15-15.00 | BB | L | Case-study SFA: heavy metals and organic pollutants | HA3 | |
| Course week 5 | |||||
| Time | Teacher | Activity | Location | ||
| 2/12 | 8.00-9.45 | MJ | L | Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) | EA |
| 10:00-11.45 | MJ | L | Role-play MCDA | ||
| 3/12 | 8.00-9:45 | Supervision on demand TG, GS, DV, SW |
P | Project work | EA |
| 4/12 | 17.00 | Submission of draft project report | |||
5/12 |
9.00-9.45 | MJ | L | Bio-based economy (pre-recorded) | Online |
| 10.00-11.45 | MJ | L | Ecosystem services | EA | |
| Course week 6 | |||||
| Time | Teacher | Activity | Location | ||
| 9/12 | 8.00-9.45 | MJ | L | ESA Toolbox | EA |
| 10.00-11.45 | MJ | S | Literature seminar | ||
| 12/12 | 8.00-11.45 | Supervision on demand TG, GS, DV, SW |
P | Project work | EA |
| Course week 7 | |||||
| Time | Teacher | Activity | |||
| 15/12 | 17.00 | Submission of final project report | |||
| 17/12 | 17.00 | Submission of project presentations and evaluation report of another group’s project report | |||
| 16/01/2026 | 8.30-12.30 | Exam | |||
L = Lecture; E = Exercise; P = Project work; S = Seminar
And here is a link to the schedule on TimeEdit.