Foundation industries play a vital role in the economy through material supply and value addition, yet face significant environmental sustainability challenges. This research presents a novel benchmarking framework that creates strategic synergy between Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Best Available Technologies (BATs) for assessing environmental sustainability in these industries. Through comprehensive literature analysis of existing frameworks, KPIs, BATs, and evaluation methods, a systematic scoring mechanism has been developed for process-based performance and technology assessment. The framework supports both internal and external benchmarking through a multiscale analysis spanning sector-wide and plant-specific operations, emphasising current performance metrics and the status of technology implementation. To confirm the framework’s effectiveness, two case studies were conducted, both at the plant and country levels, using literature-derived data. Results demonstrate the framework’s capability to deliver detailed analysis of the relationship between operational performance and technology implementation while providing clear pathways for sustainable improvement. This approach offers foundation industries a robust tool for environmental performance assessment and strategic technological advancement.
Sherif et al. (Thu,) studied this question.