Social sustainability in trade and development policy

Abstract

PurposeSocial sustainability may be assessed using a variety of methods and indicators, such as the social footprint, social impact assessment, or wellbeing indices. The UNEP guidelines on social life cycle assessment (sLCA) present key elements to consider for product-level, life cycle-based social sustainability assessment. This includes guidance for the goal and scope definition, inventory, impact assessment, and interpretation phases of S-LCA. Methods for and studies of the broader scale, life cycle social dimensions of production and consumption are largely unavailable to date. The current study assesses social risks associated with trade-based consumption in EU Member States using a life cycle-based compared to a non-life cycle-based approach in order to assess the value-added of life cycle thinking and assessment in this context.MethodsSocial risk refers to the potential for one or more parties to be exposed to negative social conditions that, in turn, undermine social sustainability. In order to shed light on these risks, a macro-scale analysis of the social risk profile of trade-based consumption in the EU Member States has been conducted by combining intra- and extra-territorial import statistics with country- and sector-specific social risk indicator data derived from the Social Hotspots Database. These data cover 17 social risk indicators in five thematic areas, many of which are linked with the sustainable development goals set by the recent United Nations Agenda 2030. The apparent social risk profiles of EU imports have then been assessed based on consideration of country-of-origin social risk data (non-life cycle-based approach) as compared to a life cycle-based social risk assessment which also took into account the distribution of social risk along product supply chains. The intention was to better understand how and to what extent current trade-based consumption within the EU-27 may be associated with socially unsustainable conditions domestically and abroad, and the extent to which life cycle-based consideration of social risk is necessary.Results and conclusionsThe analysis confirms the importance of a life cycle-based assessment of social risks in support of policies for socially sustainable production and consumption. Moreover, the methods presented herein offer a potentially powerful decision-support methodology for policy makers wishing to better understand the magnitude and distribution of social risks associated with EU production and consumption patterns, the mitigation of which will contribute to socially sustainable development.