GUIDELINES FOR SOCIAL LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT OF PRODUCTS

ANDREWS, EVAN STUART; BARTHEL, LEIF-PATRICK; BECK TABEA; BENOÎT, CATHERINE; CIROTH, ANDREAS; CUCUZZELLA, CARMELA; GENSCH, CARL-OTTO; HÉBERT, JULIE,; LESAGE, PASCAL; MANHART, ANDREAS; MAZEAU, PIERRE

UNEP

Lugar: Paris; Año: 2018 p. 102

978-92-807-3021-0

The Guidelines for Social Life Cycle Assessment of Products provides a map, a skeleton and a flash light forstakeholders engaging in the assessment of social and socio-economic impacts of products life cycle.First, the S-LCA Guidelines provides a map, which describes the context, the key concepts, the broaderfield in which tools and techniques are getting developed and their scope of application. The map is importantbecause it relates to history, initiatives and ideas that are both molding the S-LCA technique and essentialto its broad application.Shared concerns about the state and sustainability of environmental, economic and social dimensions oftoday?s and tomorrow?s world are expressed through the concept of Sustainable Development. The journeytowards sustainability finds sustainable production and consumption at its very heart. It also relates to thesocial responsibility of organizations and the objective to improve social and environmental performancesalong with sustained economic profitability -all in the perspective to contribute notably to greater humanwell-being.Because it is holistic, systemic and rigorous, Life Cycle Assessment is the preferred tool when it comes toaccess information about potential and real impacts of products life cycle. Life cycles of products involvematerial, energy and economic flows. They are also made of stories about production and consumptionimpacts on the workers, the local communities, the consumers, the society and all value chain actors.Second, the S-LCA Guidelines provides a skeleton. It presents key elements to consider and provideguidance for the goal and scope, inventory, impact assessment and interpretation phases of a social lifecycle assessment. The S-LCA Guidelines provide the necessary basis for the development of databasesand the design of softwares that will ease the practice of S-LCA. The skeleton is important because it is afoundation on which a larger group of stakeholders can engage.The framework detailed in the S-LCA Guidelines is in line with the ISO 14040 and 14044 standards for LifeCycle Assessment. Adaptations for the consideration of social and socio-economic issues are described inthe framework. It proposes a two-fold classification of social impacts: by stakeholder categories and impactcategories. A set of subcategories, which are social and socio-economic issues of concerns, to be used inS-LCA are presented.Third, the S-LCA Guidelines provide a flash light that highlights areas where further research is needed.Other publications shall follow these Guidelines, presenting details of the methodology and furtherdevelopments notably in regard to Impact assessment. A flash light is important to enable researchers andpractitioners to identify rapidly where additional efforts should be invested. It also helps to prevent the useof the technique for applications that would not be appropriate considering its current state of developmentsuch as comparative assertion communicated to the public. Further resources will be made available to thepublic on the UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative web site.Social Life Cycle Assessment is a technique available to account for stories and inform systematically onimpacts that otherwise would be lost in the vast and fast moving sea of our modern world. May it helpstakeholders to effectively and efficiently engage to improve social and socio-economic conditions ofproduction and consumption.