Social Life Cycle Assessment Methodology Research Articles

Advancing urban water autonomy: A Social Life Cycle Assessment of rainwater harvesting systems in Mexico City

This study conducts a Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) of Rainwater Harvesting Systems (RWHS) in Mexico City to evaluate their social performance. Given the city's pressing water scarcity, RWHS have become critical for promoting water autonomy and sustainable urban development. The research integrates quantitative data from surveys and interviews with RWHS users and organizational employees, along with qualitative analysis using the Product Social Impact Assessment (PSIA) approach. This methodology allows for a thorough examination of socio-environmental dynamics influenced by RWHS adoption. Our findings show high acceptance of RWHS among users and highlight progressive labor practices, underscoring RWHS's potential to transform urban water management. This study, the first to evaluate this ecotechnology through an S-LCA, identifies the need for a multidimensional approach to understand socio-economic and environmental intersections with water systems. It also underscores NGOs' role in facilitating technology transfer and adoption in urban communities. Recommendations include extending the S-LCA methodology to cover the entire RWHS lifecycle and incorporating broader social science theories to deepen understanding of water sustainability interventions. The results offer new insights into RWHS assessment, emphasizing the complexities of deploying decentralized water technologies in a mega-city and laying groundwork for policy recommendations that support sustainable, equitable water access.

Integrating Absolute Sustainability and Social Sustainability in the Digital Product Passport to Promote Industry 5.0

The establishment of the digital product passport is regarded to be a prominent tool to promote environmental and social sustainability, thus enabling the transition towards Industry 5.0. In this way, it represents a holistic tool for the decision-making process of several actors of a product’s value chain. However, its development is still ongoing and the absolute perspective of environmental sustainability and the social sustainability have been overlooked. The present work aims to fill these gaps and complement the literature currently available on the digital product passport with a threefold purpose. Firstly, by referring to social life cycle assessment methodologies, useful social indicators to include in the digital product passport are discussed and proposed. Secondly, the need for an absolute perspective of environmental sustainability that respects the natural limits of our planet is presented; based on the LCA methodology and the Planetary Boundaries framework, environmental attributes and environmental impact indicators with the corresponding threshold are proposed to be included in the passport and enable the so-called absolute environmental sustainability assessment of products. Finally, a framework based on a cyber-physical system for filling in the digital product passport throughout a product lifecycle is conceived. This work represents an example of how the hallmark technologies of Industry 4.0 can be used towards Industry 5.0.

Identification of methodologies used for Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA): a literature review

The management of urban solid waste is becoming a challenge not only for associations of collectors, but also for society. The main activity of cooperatives is to collect and transform solid waste into materials that can be reintegrated into the process of other companies or organizations. The objective of this research was to identify methodologies used for Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA), as well as to identify where and how they were applied. The methodology used was the literature review. The SLCA surveys were used in several research areas, and no research was found related to recyclable material collectors. As suggestions for future work, we propose the development of an SLCA methodology that can be validated and applied in Cooperatives of Collectors of Recyclable Materials.

Tourism Sector: The Supply Chain Social Footprint of an Italian Accommodation Facility

In Italy, as in the rest of the world, the COVID-19 pandemic had an important impact on tourism. In particular, in the Abruzzo region, there was a decrease of circa 60% in tourist arrivals from 2019 to 2021. A driving force for the recovery of the tourism sector may be investment in sustainability activities, especially those connected to social aspects, which appear to be less considered. Social sustainability can be investigated through the Social Life Cycle Assessment methodology, thus allowing the assessment of the social risks that are connected to the life cycle of a delivered service. This study aims at providing a social footprint of the supply chain of one overnight stay at an accommodation facility using the Social Hotspot Database. The main results show that electricity consumption has the greatest impact within the life cycle, and it is the “Health and Safety” category that is the most influenced, followed by “Labour Rights and Decent Work”, “Governance” and “Human Rights”. Finally, at a subcategory level, “Occupational Toxics and Hazards” is the most influenced one, followed by “Occupational Injuries and Deaths”, “High Conflict”, “Corruption” and “Legal System”. These findings allow us to understand the overall main social risks related to the sector in Italy, since the assessment of the foreground system was conducted at a country and a sector level.

Progress of social assessment in the framework of bioeconomy under a life cycle perspective

The bioeconomy is positioned as a sustainable pathway to address the climate crisis and decrease the consumption of fossil resources. Life cycle methodologies are recognised as useful tools for assessing sustainability issues of production and consumption patterns. Nevertheless, the Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) methodology is less explored despite its potential, although it is true that social sustainability assessment in promoting bioeconomy strategies requires more attention. This study describes the state of the art of the S-LCA methodology under the bioeconomy framework, critically analysing the main procedural and practical issues of its implementation, and the eventual specificities, as well as providing some of the challenges for future studies. This review highlights methodological weaknesses that require further research, related to the definition of system boundaries and cut-off criteria, the method of impact assessment, and the selection of societal issues and stakeholders, as well as uncertainty, among others. In addition, particularities of the bioeconomy in the life perspective were noted, such as multifunctionality and allocation issues of bio-based products, as well as the strong interest in biofuel production systems. Therefore, more efforts are desirable to address the diversity of challenges towards the progress of the S-LCA method in line with other life cycle approaches (environmental and economic). However, the updated S-LCA Guidelines represent a useful and valuable starting point on the way towards a comprehensive (i.e., diverse social concerns) and standardised social assessment under a life cycle perspective.

Assessing WELBY Social Life Cycle Assessment Approach through Cobalt Mining Case Study

The interconnected nature of social, environmental, and economic sustainability aspects must be considered in decision-making to achieve strong sustainability. Social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) has been developed to better include social sustainability aspects into life cycle thinking. However, many of the current S-LCA impact assessment approaches have been developed only on a theoretical level, and thus more case studies are needed. We assess the challenges and opportunities of the S-LCA approach through a case study on cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Data for the case study were collected from scientific literature, reports, newspaper articles, and interview material. The applicability and possible strengths and weaknesses of the WELBY approach for the case were interpreted. The results showed that applying the WELBY approach in practice is possible, even though there is a lack of existing case studies. However, there are several challenges that must be addressed before the approach can be more widely used. The main challenge with the WELBY approach is the overestimation of impacts when adding multiple impact categories, as is recommended in the S-LCA guidelines. More case-specific severity weights should be developed to address this challenge. Moreover, the interpretation of the results from the perspective of informal work should be executed carefully. Even though the WELBY approach is promising, more methodological development is still needed to build a more ethical and reliable S-LCA methodology.

Parana pine landscape and social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) supporting sustainable local development

There is a need to increase new perspectives studies and to include culture value, cultural heritage and traditional communities in balance with their environment. While Cultural Heritage has been studied for centuries, the Cultural Landscape originated new concepts. Protecting cultural landscapes contributes to maintain and increase natural values, ​​and to aggregate several tangible and intangible values. In recent years, methods of life cycle assessment, LCA and (social) S-LCA, have evolved into the analysis of products and services impacts along the value chain, allying approachs of social performance, in order to achieve sustainable development. A case study was conducted at Colônia Murici (State Paraná, Brazil), a rural agricultural community, with Polish ethnic prevalence, inserted in the historical context of european immigration at the late 19th century. It addressess the challenge of preserving their Araucaria (Paraná Pine) wooden architecture and their Cultural Landscape. The aim of this study is to present a literature review survey of S-LCA focused on Cultural Heritage, and examine interviews with specialists and community members. The study of S-LCA methodology demonstrated that the specialists and community members participation is essential, specially in stakeholders definition and in the recognition of impact subcategories. Understanding social and cultural structure, besides the commmunities engagement, is the first step for heritage management. Respecting biomes and the Araucaria Forest emerged as the most relevant subcategory. The pine image represented by Paranista Movement artists at the beginning of the 20th century became an element of regional identity and the Araucaria remains its symbolic value in the especialists evaluation. The cultural dimension is a decisive component, beside the Cultural Heritage, as necessary indicators in the establishment of goals, in monitoring sustainable local development and in supporting decision-makers.

Social life cycle assessment of feedstocks for biodiesel production in Brazil

Brazil pioneered the application of economic stimulus policies allying social equity measures with the production of biodiesel. Despite the original expectations, there are concerns about possible negative social impacts generated by the conditions prevailing in the production of the feedstocks. In this study, the social life cycle assessment methodology was used to assess the impacts of these conditions. The study covers qualitative and quantitative analysis. Firstly, a systematic review of studies published between 2015 and 2020 allowed the identification and classification of the social impacts in the categories and subcategories proposed by the United Nations Environment Programme and Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. A methodology to attribute grades to the social impacts was then proposed based on the subcategory assessment method. A computational routine was developed in R language to assess, evaluate and compare data from different sources, including data from government agencies. The results revealed the positive influence of cooperatives on the well-being of workers. Also, workers in wealthier regions often endure longer work hours to earn a living, while workers in more impoverished regions are more likely to receive salaries below the minimum wage. Correlations between sex, race, workload and salary were also identified. It was concluded that, despite the current policies in place, social inequalities remain in the populations involved in biodiesel production. The results also suggest the need to account for the social life cycle when evaluating the overall sustainability of a national biofuels policy.

Sustainable multi-trip periodic redesign-routing model for municipal solid waste collection network: the case study of Tehran.

Daily transportation of wastes due to its environmental, financial, and social aspects has been considered a challenging issue in developing countries' municipal solid waste management systems. The location of transfer stations as intermediate nodes in municipal solid waste management network affects optimal collection frequency. A sustainable multi-period and multi-trip vehicle routing problem integrated with relocation models was developed to redesign the intermediate transfer stations and find optimal vehicle routes and the best collection frequency for each municipal solid waste generation point. Regarding the social aspects of a sustainable solid waste management system, an extended social life cycle assessment methodology for redesign and routing operations was developed based on the UNEP guidelines. The social life cycle assessment methodology evaluated the probable social effects of the system throughout the entire life cycle using an iterative policy. In this study, selected impact subcategories and inventory indicators for the routing and redesign system were utilized to quantify the system social score. Besides, the developed model was solved for different problem instances. The results indicated that system social score was affected by collection frequencies decisions, redesign policy, and the number of demand nodes. Furthermore, the model was applied to a real-world case study resulting in a total cost reduction of 66% that occurred by a 86% reduction in weekly traveled distance and a 12% decrease in routing social score.

Social Impact Analysis of Products under a Holistic Approach: A Case Study in the Meat Product Supply Chain

Social impact assessment of products can be approached through different methodologies that need to be adapted to the particularities and features of the studied subject. Thus, the Social Life Cycle Assessment methodology can be used to assess different innovative practices of product manufacturing, under a circular economy approach, by identifying potential positive as well as negative impacts along products’ life cycle. This paper presents the results of the Social Life Cycle Impact Assessment of a reference product from the Spanish meat industry using existing and new innovative methods of social impact analysis. Worker discrimination, health and safety for workers, consumers and local community were identified as the social aspects with relevant significance into the business or for the influence on customer’s perception of the products studied. Therefore, results can represent a reference scenario for the future assessment of innovative solutions in the Spanish meet sector. Despite the scarce use of Social Life Cycle Impact Assessment, this case study is a good example of how this innovative kind of assessment can be helpful for companies to identify their weak and strong social performance areas and design strategies to improve in Social Responsibility Management.

Social hotspots life cycle assessment: A case study on social risks of an antimicrobial keyboard cover

This article explores the application of social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) to products or technologies in their earliest developing phase. Indeed, it would be beneficial to have an overview of the social risks generated by novel products and understand what their potential supply chain would be like. To this end, this study presents a S-LCA study for identifying hotspots linked to a novel product: an antimicrobial keyboard cover integrating gold nanoparticles. Firstly, countries which could supply Europe with the input materials required in the system were identified, then by following the S-LCA methodology working hours and working functional hours were estimated. Ultimately, social risks were calculated by combining working functional hours with social risk levels and weights, concerning the relative importance of each category and sub-category.The analysis helped to determine which countries could supply the materials needed and hence become part of the potential supply chain of antimicrobial keyboard covers integrating gold nanoparticles. Furthermore, it led to the identification of main social hotspots linked to each material used. In general, results show that the stakeholders most at risk of adverse social impacts across different sectors and countries are workers. Indeed, they may be affected on both their rights and work conditions, health and safety. The process of gold mining highlights the difference in terms of social risks between more developed countries, such as Australia and Sweden, and developing countries, such as South Africa. The production of chemicals presents a homogeneity in terms of risk hours associated to the considered European countries.

Social life cycle performance of additive manufacturing in the healthcare industry: the orthosis and prosthesis cases

ABSTRACT One of the most promising areas for additive manufacturing (AM) adoption is in the healthcare industry, through its ability to produce customized medical devices with personalized fit, feel and functionality. The shift from conventional manufacturing systems to AM implies several changes throughout the medical product’s life cycle phases, from workforce qualification to the relationship with customers. This study investigates the social impact of adopting AM in the medical devices industry. To this end, two case studies related to medical devices were developed: a prosthesis and an orthosis, by applying a social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) methodology. The methodology measures and compares performance and impact of developing, producing, and using the two devices produced by AM, and by conventional processes. The results show how the different stakeholders along the product life cycle stages are affected by the change in the manufacturing technology. Evidence of positive social impacts were found in the ‘Customers’, ‘Local community’ and ‘Society’ stakeholders. A negative social impact was found for the stakeholder ‘Value chain actors’. Furthermore, this study illustrates the suitability of the S-LCA methodology to pinpoint the benefits and negative impacts of AM in each case under study.

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 data-driven approach for supply chain network design under uncertainty with consideration of social concerns

Although supply chain network design under uncertainty has been studied by many researchers, most stochastic programming approaches in this area assume uncertain parameters follow certain distribution functions. However, in practice, the true distributions may be ambiguous and some historical data are available. This study proposes a data-driven two-stage stochastic programming model to obtain robust decisions among all possible distributions in a defined ambiguity set based on the moments of available data. In accordance with the proposed stochastic program, a solution algorithm based on Benders’ decomposition is developed. Further, the social concerns corresponding to the supply chain network are derived and quantified by the social life cycle assessment methodology. The proposed model is applied for designing a recovery network in which various technologies use generated municipal solid wastes for the power generation. Computational results on a real-life case study demonstrate the applicability of the proposed data-driven two-stage stochastic model as well as the impact of considering social concerns on the design decisions.

Can S-LCA methodology support responsible sourcing of raw materials in EU policy context?

Access, affordability and sustainability of raw material supply chains are crucial to the sustainable development of the European Union (EU) for both society and economy. The study investigates whether and how the social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) methodology can support responsible sourcing of raw materials in Europe. The potential of social indicators already available in an S-LCA database is tested for the development of new metrics to monitor social risks in raw material industries at EU policy level. The Product Social Impact Life Cycle Assessment (PSILCA) database was identified as a data and indicators source to assess social risks in raw material industries in EU-28 and extra-EU countries. Six raw material country sectors in the scope of the European policy on raw materials were identified and aggregated among those available in PSILCA. The selection of indicators for the assessment was based on the RACER (Relevance, Acceptance, Credibility, Ease, Robustness) analysis, leading to the proposal of 9 social impact categories. An S-LCA of the selected raw material industries was, thus, performed for the EU-28 region, followed by a contribution analysis to detect direct and indirect impacts and investigate related supply chains. Finally, the social performance of raw material sectors in EU-28 was compared with that of six extra-EU countries. Considering the overall social risks in raw material industries, “Corruption”, “Fair salary”, “Health and safety” and “Freedom of association and collective bargaining” emerged as the most significant categories both in EU and extra-EU. EU-28 shows an above-average performance where the only exception is represented by the mining and quarrying sector. An investigation of the most contributing processes to social impact categories for EU-28 led to the identification of important risks originating in the supply chain and in extra-EU areas. Therefore, the S-LCA methodology confirmed the potential of a life cycle perspective to detect burdens shifting and trade-offs. However, only a limited view on the sectoral social performance could be obtained from the research due to a lack of social data. The S-LCA methodology and indicators appear appropriate to perform an initial social sustainability screening, thus enabling the identification of hotspots in raw material supply chains and the prioritization of areas of action in EU policies. Further methodological developments in the S-LCA field are necessary to make the approach proposed in the paper fully adequate to support EU policies on raw materials.

Social life cycle assessment methodology for evaluating production process design: Biorefinery case study

Abstract Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) is a methodological approach to evaluating the positive and negative social impacts of a product or a service throughout its life cycle. The scope of conducting an S-LCA is to promote social conditions and the overall socio-economic performance of a product for all its stakeholders; leading to a holistic approach, where different stakeholders, with diverse interests are involved. At production process design, the stakeholders’ knowledge and engagement in the system are very limited, and data is not available to assess social aspects. Therefore, S-LCA applied to the early stage of production process design is a highly complicated task, but at the same time, it is a top priority to ensure proper social conditions when the process is implemented. There is a lack of systematic and quantitative methodologies that guide practitioners in the S-LCA appliance. This work aims to propose a new methodology to S-LCA for production process design assessment. As an example of application, the suggested approach was applied to a production process design of a biorefinery project located in the Netherlands. This case study reflects the actual worldwide concern regarding the social distress, environmental impacts of dependence on fossil-based fuels, development and the promotion of bio-based processes across supply chains. Biorefineries appear as a cornerstone in the field promoting the replacement of fossil-based resources by biomass raw materials, which are then transformed into a different bio-based product, namely chemicals, fuels and power. As a result, the methodology provided a preliminary overview of the potential social hotspots found along the biorefinery life-cycle, which should be considered when implementing the project.

A social impact quantification framework for the resource extraction industry

The objective of this study was to develop a social impact quantification framework for the resource extraction industry. The framework was developed to incorporate two approaches—scale-based and quantitative approaches. It aimed to be used for assessing upstream social impacts for products incorporating mined materials to produce a full social life cycle assessment (S-LCA). The framework consists of measurable indicators and impact assessment methods. The quantitative approach simulates S-LCA by applying a two-step impact assessment: (1) calculation of impact scores at the social topic level, and (2) normalization and aggregation to the social theme and stakeholder level. The framework was demonstrated via a case study to compare one material issue—health and safety—from the material extraction phase of two major photovoltaic (PV) technologies in the USA: poly-Si and CdTe PV under stakeholder workers. A temporal analysis on a key mineral was performed. The results showed large variations in the social impact scores for selected topics on key raw materials associated with the two PVs. While the case study is limited in deriving practical implications due to preset assumptions, the framework itself can be extended and integrated with a whole product S-LCA to enhance the understanding of and promote social sustainability of the resource extraction industry. A framework to measure both positive and negative social impacts was developed to follow the S-LCA methodology. The framework was illustrated by comparing two dominant PV technologies in the USA for the social theme of health and safety. Our case study demonstrated inspiring patterns for assessing upstream social impacts from the resource extraction industry, especially when incorporating a temporal analysis.

Sustainable planning in mining supply chains with renewable energy integration: A real-life case study

This paper focuses on sustainable planning of a mining supply chain network from mining sites to demand centers. In the network, wind and solar generators can be installed in mining sites to attain low carbon mining operations. The uncertainty related to the renewable energy resources is taken into account, and to find an effective and reliable planning strategy, we present a novel cost-efficient multi-stage stochastic program in which strategic and tactical planning decisions are integrated. In the stochastic model, beside the economic goal, the greenhouse gas emissions from transportation through the network are mitigated and the social impact of the supply chain is considered using a social life cycle assessment methodology. A real case study in Iran related to the production of zinc concentrates from mines is implemented to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed optimization model in evaluating the economic objective, the sustainability issues, and the infrastructure needs for the renewable energy integration. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis on main parameters of the problem is performed to drive some managerial insights that help decision makers in sustainable planning of mining supply chains.

Financial Modelling Strategies for Social Life Cycle Assessment: A Project Appraisal of Biodiesel Production and Sustainability in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) is a rapidly evolving social impact assessment tool that allows users to identify the social impacts of products along with their life cycles. In recent years, S-LCA methodologies have been increasingly applied to energy systems and resources with notable success yet with limited reliability and even less flexibility or geographic specificity. In response, this study develops a novel assessment tool, named the GreenZee model, to reflect the social impacts of products and their sustainability using local currency units. The model is developed through evaluating both qualitative and quantitative inputs that capture the perceived monetary value of social impacts. To demonstrate the operationalization of the model, we explore a hypothetical case study of the biodiesel industry in Newfoundland and Labrador (NL), Canada. Results indicate that biodiesel production in NL would have positive socio-cultural impacts, high cultural values, and would create employment opportunities for locals. Overall, the GreenZee model provides users with a relatively simple approach to translate a variety of qualitative and quantitative social impact inputs (as importance levels) into meaningful and understandable financial outputs (as strength levels). We argue that building and testing models such as the GreenZee are crucial to supporting more flexible approaches to life cycle assessments that need to address increasingly complex social categories, cultural values, and geographic specificity.

Assessment of social dimension of a jar of honey: A methodological outline

Honey is a natural sweetener that requires minimal industrial technologies and is the subject of thriving markets along with its derived products. It has been estimated that about 35% of food consumption depends directly on the pollination of fruit and vegetable crops. A Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) case-study is applied in the agro-food sector to assess the social and socio-economic aspects of the life cycle of honey through the Subcategory Assessment Method (SAM). The objectives of this paper are three-fold: i) evaluate the capability of S-LCA to capture the complexity of a multifunctional product, which delivers fundamental ecosystem services with consequences at environmental, economic and social levels; ii) identify how to define and represent, with robust indicators, the positive social aspects generated by honey life cycle; iii) identify the steps to improve the S-LCA methodology, especially for its application to complex product systems, such as the agri-food ones. This paper presents a methodological framework to support decision makers in order to evaluate the social sustainability of the Italian honey sector. The presence of positive social aspects in the life cycle of a jar of honey was highlighted as well as a strong connection between the honey product and local community. Furthermore, a weak relation between suppliers along the entire supply chain emerged. The findings lead to the conclusion that further developments are required in order to improve the assessment of the multifunctional product and to reinforce the awareness of the social sustainability by starting from strong collaborations within the supply chain.