Social Life Cycle Assessment Framework Research Articles

Social Life-Cycle Assessment in the Construction Industry: A Review of Characteristics, Limitations, and Challenges of S-LCA through Case Studies

The paper aims to examine how researchers have operationalized social impact assessment in construction projects over the last ten years. A systematic review was used to investigate case studies in the Social Life-Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) to analyze the application of the methodology. In total, 19 articles published between 2012 and 2023 were classified according to their scope, functional unit measure, S-LCA indicators used, and the main challenges. Our findings revealed limitations in both qualitative and quantitative aspects of measuring social indicators, primarily stemming from difficulties associated with scoring and assessment methodologies. Additionally, we observed deficiencies in social data within the S-LCA framework. This suggests that potential social impacts may be inadequately addressed and evaluated due to various challenges that have been highlighted in the existing literature.

Social lifecycle assessment of adaptive reuse 

Adaptive reuse of existing buildings and shared spaces has been highlighted as a key circular economy concept in the built environment, with the former also having been found to increase social sustainability through the preservation of cultural heritage. However, circular economy research has focused on the economic and environmental dimensions, with the social dimension receiving less attention. The aim of this study is, therefore, to establish the social impact of an adaptive reuse case with shared spaces. A supplementary aim is to test and adapt the general social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) framework to fit the built environment context. A qualitative single case study method is used. The study finds significant positive social impacts from the adaptive reuse case, mainly in the form of economic and cultural impact on the local community. The S-LCA framework was a useful tool in assessing the social impact of the case. Additional indicators of particular relevance to the built environment are identified relating to the end-users and local community, as well as indicators relating to society, value chain actors, and workers. PRACTICE RELEVANCE A set of sector-specific indicators is created to capture the social impact.he findings are useful for researchers and industry professionals intending to evaluate and increase the social sustainability of a construction or demolition project. The improved S-LCA framework and set of indicators allows for an improved understanding of built environment implications. Planners, designers, and clients can employ the revised framework to evaluate projects pre- and post-construction or demolition.

Social life-cycle assessment (S-LCA) of residential rooftop solar panels using challenge-derived framework

BackgroundSocial life-cycle assessment (S-LCA) provides a framework to evaluate the social impacts of decisions made during the design phases of a product. Rooftop solar panels are considered an environmentally friendly renewable energy technology due to their ability to generate electricity without producing greenhouse gases while generating electricity. This study presents the application of a challenge-derived S-LCA framework to assess the social impacts of rooftop solar panels in the southeast region of the United States (U.S.) during the use and end-of-life phases.MethodsThe challenge-derived S-LCA framework was developed based on a set of challenges to performing social assessments. The challenges were identified through a systematic mapping process and verified using expert feedback. Additional feedback is gathered through users from mechanical engineering capstone design students. The case study application shown in this paper aims to identify the potential social impacts at a pre-implementation stage of the rooftop solar panel in residential applications. The framework follows the ISO 14040 LCA structure, and the analysis was performed based on impact indicators (Type-I framework) and performance reference points (PRP).ResultsThe framework implements existing social impact assessment methodologies, and guides each of the assessment stages based on the type of analysis performed. The results highlight the workers as the stakeholder group with the highest social impacts. The results also highlight the need for regulation to make rooftop solar panels accessible to low-income community members.ConclusionsAn S-LCA framework to assess the social impacts of product systems and technologies is implemented to evaluate the potential social impacts of residential rooftop solar panels. The framework presented applies to product systems and technologies at a pre- or post-implementation state, and it aims to guide novice and expert users alike. Nonetheless, further research is still needed to improve the methodology presented, and additional case studies should be performed to test the applicability of the framework across a broad set of fields.

An SLCA method based framework of large-scale transportation infrastructure in China

Large-scale infrastructure has complex social impacts because it involves large investments, long life cycle, and extensive stakeholders. However, studies on social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) of large-scale infrastructure are still lacking. Based on the extant S-LCA literature and characteristics of large-scale infrastructure, this study proposes an S-LCA framework for large-scale transportation infrastructure and evaluates the following five social impact categories: economy, welfare, participation, safety, and justice. The framework determines categories of stakeholders, such as workers, users, the public, value chain participants, and local communities. Additionally, the study puts forward the subcategories, inventory indicators, and characterization models of each stakeholder; it constructs a weighting system for stakeholders and subcategories and then aggregates and compares different impact categories. The proposed framework was applied to evaluate the life cycle social impacts of the Fengtai High-speed Railway Station reconstruction project in Beijing. Results confirmed the feasibility and practicability of the framework. The proposed S-LCA framework is theoretically valuable for quantifying the complex and long-term social impacts of large-scale infrastructure and has practical value for improving the social performance and decision-making effectiveness of infrastructure project investment.

Step-by-step social life cycle assessment framework: a participatory approach for the identification and prioritization of impact subcategories applied to mobility scenarios

PurposeInvestigating potential social and socio-economic impacts should play a key role for the development of sustainable mobility alternatives. Social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) is becoming increasingly important to ensure holistic sustainability assessments. The present work aims at identifying and evaluating social and socio-economic impact subcategories in S-LCA. A novel participatory approach implying all concerned stakeholders is proposed to select relevant impact subcategories and thus contribute to a thorough interpretation of S-LCA results. It is applied to assess electric and conventional vehicles.MethodologyThis paper describes a comprehensive step-by-step S-LCA framework. The innovation of this work consists in defining a structured S-LCA framework integrating a systematic approach based on two stages: (1) a sectorial risk analysis for the identification of impact subcategories and (2) a participatory approach for their prioritization. The proposed participatory approach considers all concerned stakeholders to enable the selection of the most relevant impact subcategories. A set of social inventory indicators is attributed to subcategories that were perceived as the most relevant. These are used to perform the social evaluation and carry out a full analysis in the result interpretation allowing thus to integrate a multi-actor perspective to the materiality assessment.ResultsThe defined S-LCA framework is implemented to compare two mobility scenarios, corresponding to electric and conventional vehicle technologies. A new set of mobility-related impact subcategories is proposed for users’ stakeholder. Following the new designed participatory approach, subcategories for all stakeholders are prioritized according to different actors’ perceptions. For example, “safe and healthy living conditions,” “local employment,” and “delocalization and migration” were perceived for local communities as the most relevant subcategories by the different consulted stakeholders (industrial, academic, and public actors and users). These results also showed that social significance varies depending on the consulted actors and on the geographical area of the study. Using PSILCA database, we have investigated the subcategories that were perceived as the most relevant. Results for the evaluation and interpretation phases are presented for both transportation technologies.ConclusionsThis approach aims at increasing local relevance of S-LCA results and their representativeness. Results for the considered mobility scenarios have demonstrated the need to extend the scope of the materiality assessment, generally used for determining subcategories’ social significance from a single stakeholder perspective, by involving other stakeholders into the prioritization stage. Moreover, the proposed comprehensive S-LCA framework integrating the participatory approach is general enough to be applied to other product systems and sectors.

Evaluation of a challenge-derived social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) framework

ABSTRACT Sustainability assessments provide methodologies to assess the environmental, economic, and social impacts of products along their life cycle. The purpose of this research is to develop a social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) framework derived from a set of challenges identified in the S-LCA field. The S-LCA framework presented in this study is developed by i) performing a systematic mapping of the S-LCA field; ii) gathering of LCA and SIA expert feedback; iii) evaluation through a novice user study; iv) and a case study application. The systematic mapping procedure is explained in detail (Bonilla-Alicea and Fu 2019), while the expert feedback and novice user study are the focus of this article. The case study application of the framework is the subject of a separate publication. The expert feedback is used to verify the relevance of the challenges through electronic survey data. Based on the expert feedback, the number of challenges is reduced from twelve to ten, as two of the challenges are considered part of the study design rather than challenges to performing social assessments. The novice user study implemented a simplified version of the S-LCA framework, and users were able to identify potential social impacts of their capstone design.

Using Social Life Cycle Assessment to analyze the contribution of products to the Sustainable Development Goals: a case study in the textile sector

PurposeEvaluation and monitoring systems are perceived as an effective tool to understand and improve the contribution of business activities to the accomplishment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, there is currently a lack of guidance and support on assessing the influence that the life cycle of products and services has on the SDGs. This article presents a case study where Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) is applied to understand the social performance of a textile product and its potential contribution to the SDGs.MethodsIn this study, the link between the S-LCA methodology and the SDG framework was made at the indicator level, through a new classification of S-LCA indicators. This classification was aimed at indicating the positive or negative contribution of products or services into the SDGs. The method was tested with the case study of a man’s shirt whose supply chain takes place across five countries, from the cotton farming in China to the retailing in The Netherlands. The social performance of the shirt’s life cycle was analyzed through a social hotspot assessment (using PSILCA database) and a site-specific assessment following the UNEP/SETAC S-LCA guidelines. Primary data was collected for 6 different suppliers regarding 51 social indicators and four stakeholder categories (workers, local communities, value chain actors, and society).Results and discussionThe social hotspot assessment indicated high social risks on indicators related to the following SDGs: health and well-being, affordable and clean energy, decent work, and responsible production and consumption. These risks were mainly located in Bangladesh (shirt manufacturing) and Malaysia (fabric manufacturing). The site-specific assessment indicated different results than the social risk assessment, showing worse social performance in the spinning stage (located in China). Negative scores were obtained for every supplier in at least four indicators, including working hours, safe and healthy living conditions, and access to immaterial resources.ConclusionsThe results indicated negative social performance of the supply chain in most of the SDGs and identified points of improvement for the final retailer. The linkage of the S-LCA framework with the SDGs presented methodological challenges, mainly related to the different scope of the SDG indicators and the S-LCA indicators.

A Social Life Cycle Assessment Framework for Additive Manufacturing Products

Additive Manufacturing (AM) is viewed as a disruptive technology with the potential to replace many manufacturing processes. With its rapid proliferation in recent years, it is crucial to understand how to measure this technology’s social impacts. There are many studies available in the existing literature regarding the economic and environmental impacts of AM technology. However, research regarding the social impacts of this technology is still scarce. To this end, this research has developed a framework based on Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA) methodology to measure AM products’ social impacts throughout their life cycle stages. The proposed framework includes an underlying mathematical model that was developed to allow for the aggregation of indicator scores. Additionally, cut-off scores were determined to differentiate between positive and negative social impacts. This framework can be applied to case studies, which provides a final score that quantifies the social impacts of an AM product throughout all its life cycle stages. It also provides scores for each stakeholder category and life cycle stage, which facilitates the identification of hotspots that require attention from organizations.

Modeling life-cycle social assessment in sustainable pavement management at project level

PURPOSE: Currently, modeling of social impacts in sustainable pavement management (SPM) is still in the infant stage, which generally causes significant social impacts and triggers several social hotspot issues. Therefore, this paper aims to evaluate the social impacts on pavement over its main life-cycle stages. METHODS: To achieve this goal, the UNEP/SETAC guidelines were employed to develop the social life-cycle assessment (S-LCA) framework for pavement. Stakeholders, subcategories, and part of social indicators were identified from previous studies, and the other part of social indicators were particularly developed based on pavement characteristics. In particular, direct and indirect social indicators were both used, which evaluate social impacts directly and indirectly, respectively. Moreover, site-specific data were extensively collected and verified using cross-checking by multiple data collection approaches and sources, while generic data were adopted as reference values. Subsequently, the existing approaches of assigning scores were applied for direct and indirect social indicators, and the weights were determined using the analytic hierarchy process method. A final score was aggregated to evaluate the social impacts of pavement. In addition, a case study of traditional hot-mix asphalt (HMA) in China was applied and the social hotspots were identified for the local pavement sector. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: This study involved four pavement life-cycle stages of raw materials and production, construction, use, and maintenance, along with 4 stakeholders, 12 subcategories, and 16 social indicators. In particular, the use stage was addressed due to its significant social impacts during the long service life for pavement. Moreover, the subcategories and social indicators associated with worker category were most integrated, and the consumer was incorporated. In the case study of HMA pavement, the use stage contributed the greatest positive social impacts, while local community was identified as an important stakeholder, followed by worker. In addition, the subcategories of health and safety received the top three scores. However, gender discrimination was a significant social problem in the local pavement sector as indicated by the lowest score of equal opportunities subcategory. CONCLUSION: The proposed S-LCA framework is effective in evaluating the social impacts of pavement related to affected stakeholders during its main life-cycle stages. This study lays the foundation for the development of S-LCA framework for pavement, and the identified and proposed social indicators not only are used to evaluate the comprehensive social impacts of pavement, but also are suitable for other construction projects.

A Regional Socio-Economic Life Cycle Assessment of a Bioeconomy Value Chain

A bioeconomy tackles sustainable development at both the global and regional levels, as it relies on the optimized use of renewable bio-based resources for the provisioning of food, materials, and energy to meet societal demands. The effects of the bioeconomy can be best observed at a regional level, as it supports regional development and affects the social dimension of sustainability. In order to assess the social impacts of wood-based production chains with regional differentiation, the social life cycle assessment framework “RESPONSA” was established in 2018. We present an initial study, in which this method is applied to an exemplary production chain in a case study of laminated veneer lumber produced in central Germany. The results show a relatively better social performance compared to the reference economic sector, reflecting a relatively low rate of female employees as a major social hotspot. Several social opportunities are identified, in terms of health and safety, equal opportunities, and adequate remuneration, for the organization taking part in the value chain. Finally, considering the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a global normative framework, a number of additional indicators for RESPONSA, as well as further developments and recommendations regarding its application in other regions and the upcoming social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) guidelines, are identified.

Social life cycle assessment framework for evaluation of potential job creation with an application in the French carbon fiber aeronautical recycling sector

PURPOSE: Due to the increased consumption of carbon fibers, it is expected that an important amount of carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP)-based products will enter in the coming years, at the end of their life cycle. Considering the challenges ahead in the establishment of a new recycling sector, it is appropriate to investigate the sustainable creation of a CFRP end-of-life management sector. The following work is part of a national funded project called SEARRCH, whose goal was to provide sustainability assessment indicators and methodology to stakeholders, for the implementation of a carbon fiber recycling sector. This article will focus on detailing the methodology aiming at characterizing the social dimension through the evaluation of potential job creation. METHODS: This publication describes the development of a method for the evaluation of potential job creation built on an adaptation of the Hunkeler societal life cycle assessment (societal LCA). This methodology based on life cycle inventory (LCI) has been adapted using input-output tables from the French national institute of statistics and economic studies (INSEE) or the Social Hotspot Database (SHDB) and a material flow analysis (MFA). A practical application in the CFRP recycling sector is then described. This research was conducted as part of a national project funded by the French Government France; therefore, this study respects data corresponding to the French national borders and assumes the use of a pyrolysis recycling process in calculating the amount of CFRP production and waste available at the end-of-life stage from the aeronautical sector. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The amount of direct and indirect employment was obtained for different periods of time. Using technical coefficients extracted from the SHDB, it was determined that for the CFRP coming from the aeronautical sector, 85 direct and indirect induced jobs would be created for the period between 2046 and 2050. Using technical coefficients calculated from the input-output tables provided by the INSEE, the estimated number of jobs was 108 for the same period. CONCLUSIONS: This publication demonstrated that the quantity of CFRP at the end-of-life stage could represent a potential benefit for direct and indirect job creation if the implementation of the end-of-life CFRP sector is anchored in a sustainable way, by establishing a new recycling sector for this material. Moreover, this method can provide calculations for other periods of time, sectors, and geographic scales, separately or in combination.

Introduction to evaluating energy justice across the life cycle: A social life cycle assessment approach

As our energy systems are transitioning towards low-carbon energy sources and their environmental and economic sustainability are assessed, their potential social impacts must also be determined. These social impacts may be disproportionate to a population, leading to energy justice concerns. The social life cycle assessment framework can be used to comprehensively address energy justice concerns by different stakeholder groups and at all life cycle stages associated with a low-carbon energy system. Indicators for a social life cycle assessment framework that addresses energy justice are introduced and discussed. These indicators are organized by four categories of stakeholders for electrical energy systems: workers, electricity consumers, local communities, and society as a whole. The social life cycle assessment framework allows for variations in justice and equity to be determined not only at the generation stage, but through multiple points in the life cycle of the same energy system, from raw material extraction, through manufacturing, transportation, distribution, electricity generation, and waste management. This framework can address potential energy justice issues along the life cycle of new energy systems and assist in their design and planning for optimizing their social sustainability without overlooking vulnerable populations.

Modeling Social Life Cycle Assessment framework for an electronic screen product – A case study of an integrated desktop computer

Abstract Large scientific literature addresses the environmental impacts of computers, while society is less considered. Although a couple of studies have analyzed laptops based on Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA), a quantitative weighting step is missing. Against this background, this paper aims at integrating a weighting approach from literature and proposes a comprehensive model to assess social impacts along a product's life cycle. The model uses an inventory majorly tailored on generic data, focusing on simplified list of components obtained from dismantling the product. Quantitative and semi-quantitative indicators are normalized based on a three-level scale and a weighting factor is applied to enable aggregation of results at stakeholder level and compare different life cycle stages. The model was tested in a cradle to grave case study on an integrated desktop as a first-time application. Results indicate potentially negative social impacts on workers, local community and society. In contrast, low impacts resulted for the value chain actors and consumers. Raw material extraction and productions of basic materials were documented as the most impactful phases. The model and the associated weighting step facilitates companies with a practical method to conduct social impact assessment and assess the social performances of their product's life cycle.

Support Phosphorus Recycling Policy with Social Life Cycle Assessment: A Case of Japan

Producing phosphorus (P) fertilizers with recycled P is desirable for efficient use of P resource. However, the current cost of P recycling facilities in Japan strongly discourages the government from adopting this practice. To expand consideration for a P recycling policy, the concept of social externality was introduced. Social issues, such as the violation of human rights in P mining in the Western Sahara, have been identified in recent studies; nevertheless, a systematic approach towards accountability was lacking. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to support a P recycling policy with a social life cycle assessment (SLCA) by contrasting the social impacts associated with mineral and recycled P fertilizers using the case study of Japan. We developed a framework based on the UNEP-SETAC SLCA Guidelines with a supplementary set of P-specific social indicators. The results showed that the marginal social impact associated with recycled P was much less relative to mineral P; however, even if we factored in the maximum recycling capacity, a mandate of P recycling policy in Japan would not mitigate the impacts significantly relative to the current situation because only 15% of P rocks could be substituted. In short, we showed that a semi-quantitative SLCA framework would be useful to communicate the wide spectrum of social impacts to policymakers.

A social LCA framework to assess the corporate social profile of companies: Insights from a case study

Inevitably, companies’ operations and strategies cause a great number of social impacts which influence various stakeholder groups. These social impacts can either directly or indirectly mould the corporate social profile as well as affect a company’s social ‘license to operate’. In this context, the present paper proposes a new methodological framework which facilitates managers in assessing the social impacts which accrue from a company’s daily activities and assists them in building a strong corporate social profile. It combines the life cycle thinking approach and benchmarking techniques in order to develop a widely applicable social life cycle assessment framework. A case study was designed to evaluate the social profile of a sample of companies so as to demonstrate the structure and effectiveness of the proposed framework.

Social life cycle assessment of average Irish dairy farm

The majority of sustainability studies of dairy farms focused on environmental performance and profitability; however, social aspect has been hardly assessed. This study aims to investigate the social impacts of dairy farm via a case study using a social life cycle assessment framework. The assessment was carried out applying the social LCA Guideline by UNEP-SETAC. Nineteen suitable social indicators were selected from four stakeholder categories of the guideline. Characterization and normalization were further developed based on data availability. National farm survey data was used as foreground data for farm activities, supplemented with background data from public database and life cycle working environment (LCWE) data by Gabi database. All indicators were divided into three groups: functional unit-related quantitative indicators, non-functional unit-related quantitative indicators and semi-quantitative indicators. Irish dairy farming has positive social impacts on value chain actors and society, predominantly positive impacts for local community and generally positive values for workers. The main negative impacts are health and safety issue, equal opportunity for workers, and safe and healthy living conditions for the local community. Possible actions to improve the social performance include introducing more efficient and robotic milk production systems; applying better handling methods and using real time decision support to operational management for emissions reduction. This study is the first attempt of social LCA in Ireland. It demonstrated a possible method to carry out SLCA for Irish dairy sector. The results identified the positive and negative social hotspot of dairy farm with recommendation for future improvement.

Modeling Social Life Cycle Assessment framework for the Italian wine sector

Further consolidation of Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA) are necessary. In recent years the publication of case studies on SLCA increased in order to avoid the risk of developing an unfeasible methodology. The lack of a standard entailed the development of several approaches in applying SLCA.The object of the present research is to set a SLCA analysis that faithfully reproduces the Guidelines settings, integrating them with the improvements and additions proposed by scholars in previous works. The application sector chosen is the Italian wine sector mainly characterized by SMEs and family-owned businesses.It was modelled a conceptual framework defining the stakeholders' categories, the related impact categories and indicators. It emerged the necessity to further develop impact subcategories to assess the contribution of the production to the local area reputation and the socio-economic impact on consumers in terms of product quality.The present study wants to supply a theoretical basis for practical applications in wine sector in Italy that could be generalized as a starting point for SLCA application in other agri-food sector.

Strengths or bias in social LCA?

Social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) emerged in the last years as a methodological approach aimed at evaluating social and socioeconomic aspects of products and their potential positive and negative impacts along their life cycle. According to the Guidelines for social life cycle assessment of products (Benoit and Mazijn 2009), developed within the UNEPS/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative, social impacts are those that may affect stakeholders along the life cycle of a product and may be linked to company behaviour, socioeconomic processes and impacts on social capital. This definition includes two strengths of S-LCA that together distinguish it from other social assessment methods: (1) the focus on the product and (2) the broad definition of social impacts, which encompasses both the company behaviour and the socioeconomic perspective. From a company perspective, one of the main added values of S-LCA is the possibility to spend the results of the evaluation on the market. This could be achieved, for example by means of a social label, in a way similar to what is done for the carbon footprint. Based on the powerful potential of S-LCA, the authors would like to point out that the two strengths of the methodology might also represent a source of bias and risks, if not dealt with properly and responsibly. We would like to briefly work this concept out, giving hints for further reflection. Starting from the focus on the product, the functional unit (FU) comes into the discussion. This concept is at the core of LCA, but it shows critical aspects when applied in the context of social evaluations. Let us consider the case of a company producing product x and one supplier of theirs, producing a component of x as well as other products/components. The supplier might make use of child labour for manufacturing several products but not the component of x, for example because different production lines are involved (this issue has already been discussed by Jorgensen et al. 2009). If we apply the S-LCA to the assessment of product x by focusing on the product system itself, this deplorable behaviour could not be caught, because the supplier would carry responsibility only for that part of production included in the product system x. This would be a step back with respect to the corporate social responsibility, which pushes companies to mature a high sense of responsibility for and within the company as a whole. However, the S-LCA framework is strongly based on a company perspective, i.e. a perspective that links the socioeconomic impacts to the behaviour of a company. The importance of connecting the social impacts mainly to the conduct of a company and not to the function delivered by a given product is emphasised in the literature by several authors (see e.g. Dreyer et al. 2006). This is further confirmed by the many boycott campaigns initiated by consumer groups or other stakeholders when the social performance of a company was deemed to be inadequate or poor under different aspects. We may cite, for instance, the Nike boycott launched in the 1990s against the inhuman A. Zamagni (*) : P. Buttol LCA & Ecodesign Laboratory, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), via Martiri di Monte Sole 4, 40129 Bologna, Italy e-mail: alessandra.zamagni@enea.it