Sustainable Engineering Process

Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA)

What Is It?

This is particularly applicable to cases where a single-criterion approach (such as cost-benefit analysis) falls short, especially where significant environmental and social impacts cannot be assigned monetary values. MCA allows the inclusion of a full range of social, environmental, technical, economic, and financial criteria.

Their relative advantage is that they include not only economic criteria but also other qualitative criteria such as the environmental impacts. The latter is a very important factor in an evaluation process because it is directly connected to the sustainable character of a project.

A MCA would enable clients to identify the single most preferred (sustainable) option; rank potential options; short list of options for further appraisal, or characterize acceptable or unacceptable possibilities.

The outcome of the analysis is a matrix of relative scores of alternatives.

How To

MCA is a structured approach used to determine overall preferences among alternative options, where the options accomplish several objectives. In MCA, desirable objectives are specified and corresponding attributes or indicators are identified. The actual measurement of indicators need not be in monetary terms, but can be based on the quantitative analysis (through scoring, ranking and weighting) of a wide range of qualitative impact categories and criteria. Different environmental and social indicators may be developed side by side with economic costs and benefits. Explicit recognition is given to the fact that a variety of both monetary and nonmonetary objectives may influence policy decisions. MCA provides techniques for comparing and ranking different outcomes, even though a variety of indicators are used.