This PhD study established a complete carbon account for Aalborg University (AAU) and investigated how this account contributed to internal organizational sense-making and decision-making related to climate action at the university. The study as such examines the intersection between Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and organizational sense-making, as well as the subsequent contributions to organizational decision-making.

The research consists of two primary components. Firstly, it involves the development of what the thesis terms “Climate Impact-accounts” for AAU, covering the greenhouse gas emissions from 2018 to 2024, based on a Consequential Life Cycle Assessment approach. Secondly, the study investigates and analysis how these accounts inform, shape, and influence internal organizational sense-making and subsequent decision-making processes at AAU, which constitutes the main academic contributions of this research.

The study demonstrates that the contribution of LCAs to decision-making extends beyond the purely rational, analytical aspects and highlights the extent to which LCAs also inform decision-making through the less rational, interpretive, and socially constructed elements that constitute organizational sense-making. These more socially constructed and interpretive elements to which LCAs contribute are often overlooked, despite constituting a crucial dimension of how LCAs shape organizational understanding and, consequently, action.

Please email Timen Mattheüs Boeve, tmboeve@plan.aau.dk, to get a copy of the thesis.