Social Life Cycle Assessment of a product State of the art and further development

3rd International Conference

Series on LCA

23-25 October Jakarta, Indonesia

Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Marzia TraversoInstitut of Sustainability in Civil Engineering (INaB)

at RWTH Aachen Universitymarzia.traverso@inab.rwth-aachen.de

Agenda 2030 – Sustainable Development Goals

Life Cycle Assessment used in Automotive sector – ecodesign

Neugebauer/Traverso 4

• Consider all three dimensions of sustainability

Environment – Society – Economy

• Life Cycle Thinking for assessing products´ life cycles

LCSA* = LCA + LCC + S-LCA

Life Cycle Sustainability

Assessment

(LCSA*)

Life Cycle Assessment

(LCA)

ISO 14040/44

Life Cycle Costing

(LCC)

Hunkeler & Swarr

Social Life Cycle

Assessment

(S-LCA)

UNEP/SETAC Guidelines

*(Klöpffer 2008, Finkbeiner 2010, UNEP 2012)

Life cycle sustainability assessment

Why the social dimension should be considered?

A miner collecting shards of iron ore outside of Bellary in southern India. CreditLynseyAddario for The New York Times

Why the social impact assessment of a product?

Page 6

Identification of more sustainable materials and components in the earliest strategic phase of a product development process.

Reduction potential of

CO2e and economic

costs

Renewable materials

Potential increase of Social Risk

How should we assess the social impact of a product along its life cycle?

• Guidelines were published in 2009 by UNEP/SETAC LCI

and currently under review to make it more practical

and user- friendly

• Assessment of social and socio-economic positive and

negative impacts along products´ life cycles => a

complementary approach of

• Methdological Sheets to complete the guidelines were

published in 2013.

[UNEP/SETAC 2009]

7

State of the art

SLCA, LCC, and LCA

8

Packaging and

distribution

Packaging and

distribution

Design and

production

Design and

production

Extraction of raw

materials

Extraction of raw

materials

Natural resourcesNatural resources

ReuseReuse

Recycling of

materials and

components

Recycling of

materials and

components

Use and

maintenance

Use and

maintenance

DisposalDisposal

Incinerating

and landfilling

Incinerating

and landfilling

Recovery

S-LCA: Social effectsLCC: Microeconomic costs and benefits (E-)LCA: Environmental impacts

along the whole life cycle of a product

State of the Art on Social Impact Assessment of a Product

Social lifeCycle

Assessment

Roundtable of Product SocialMetrics – new version 2018

WBCSD

Database of Risk

Assessment

Special Issue on Social LCA

Consortium of the Project for the revision of S-LCA guidelines

Sponsored by the Life Cycle

Initiative

Social LC Alliance including

steering committee:

o Harvard/New Earth

o CIRAIG

o Institute of Sustainability for

Civil Engineering (INaB), RWTH

Aachen University

o World Resources Forum

o Swedish Technical Institute

Chair of Sustainable Engineering

(SEE), Technische Universität Berlin

Project Phase I – Revision of the S-LCA Guidelines

Revision of the Social LCA Guidelines

Workshop Pescara, Italy, September 12-13-14

Project Phase II– Pilots for the Implementation of the revised S-LCA Guidelines

Calendar Overview – Phase II

Sept 2019 Nov 2020 August 2021

Call for road-

testersSept 2019

Online trainingJan 2020

Preli-minaryreports

Nov 2020

Selection of road-testers

Dec 2019

Steering Committee

& roadtester´s

work

Stage 1 Stage 2

Monthly follow up-meetings Start March 2020

S-LCA & SOLCA case studies &development of a report

Stage 3

Jan 2020

4 months 14 months 6 months

24 months period

Peer review process

Feb 2021

Formatting, UN Env review,

PublicationJune/July 2021

Final reports

Feb 2021

Internal review of reportsStart Nov 2020

Febr2021

Road-testing

Dissemination phaseAugust 2021

How to assess Social Impacts of a product life cycle?

ELCA & S-LCA - Similarities

15

ELCA and S-LCA have a lot in common. Both methodologies…

• …are based on the ISO framework (though some specificities exist for each of these phases in S-LCA);

• …work as iterative procedures;

• …provide useful information for decision-making;

• …do not have the purpose to provide information on whether or not a product should be produced;

• …conduct hotspots assessments;

• …have a huge need for data (and conduct data quality assessment);

• …request peer review when communication to the public or comparative assertions are planned;

Environmental LCA and Social LCA are complementary approaches!

Principle approach of S-LCA Guidelines – Aim

16

Aim: Assessment of social impacts of a product as complete as possible, over the whole life cycle

“The ultimate objective for conducting an S-LCA is to promote

improvement of social conditions and of the overall socio-economic

performance of a product throughout its life cycle for all of its

stakeholders”

Define stakeholders, impact categories, subcategories, inventory indicators for distinct impacts (e.g. human rights, working conditions)

nships – Policy relevance

17Prof. Dr.-Ing. Marzia Traverso

Distinguish several stakeholders

Principle approach of S-LCA Guidelines – Stakeholder

Supplier relationships – Policy relevance

18Prof. Dr.-Ing. Marzia Traverso

Distinguish relevant impact category / subcategory / indicator chains per stakeholder

Principle approach of S-LCA Guidelines – Impacts & Indicators

Supplier relationships – Policy relevance

19Prof. Dr.-Ing. Marzia Traverso

stakeholder – subcategory relations

Principle approach of S-LCA Guidelines – Impacts & Indicators

“Workers”1. Freedom of Association and Collective

Bargaining2. Child Labour3. Fair Salary4. Working Hours5. Forced Labour6. Equal opportunities/Discrimination7. Health and Safety8. Social Benefits/Social Security

“Consumer”9. Health & Safety10. Feedback Mechanism11. Consumer Privacy12. Transparency13. End of life responsibility

“Local community”14. Access to material resources15. Access to immaterial resources16. Delocalization and Migration17. Cultural Heritage18. Safe & healthy living conditions19. Respect of indigenous rights20. Community engagement21. Local employment22. Secure living conditions

“Society”23. Public commitments to sustainability issues24. Contribution to economic development25. Prevention & mitigation of armed conflicts26. Technology development27. Corruption

Value chain actors (not including consumers)28. Fair competition29. Promoting social responsibility30. Supplier relationships31. Respect of intellectual property rights

Social Life Cycle Assessment – Further developmetStep 1: State-of-the-art and identification of relevant topics

Address Children's needs!Establishment of children as a key stakeholder group to address their needs and implications with Sustainable Development

Address Small Farmers!Redefine the Area of Protection to suit their livelihood – health, living income, interest groups, land etc.

Ensure fair living wages along the supply chainRemuneration of workers along cotton´s supply chain must fulfil daily needs!

Step 1: State-of-the-art

Step 2: Gathering of Primary Data

– Questionnaire includes workers and local communities

– Inclusion of positive as well as negative indicators

S-LCA need of primary data

Social Life Cycle Impact Assessment

Step 3: Social Impact Assessment

– Following the Guidelines for SLCA of Products and the Handbook of Product Social Impact Assessment

– Description of Social Consequences (positive & negative) by means of social cause-effect chains

Fair wage

Human health

(Social) equity

Social well-being

Social justice

Economic welfare

Nutrition & housing

Insurances & medicine

Education

Recreation, leisure,

cultural activity

From S-LCA to LCSA

Step 4: Sustainability Assessment

‒ Consideration of economic chances and challenges for cotton farmers

‒ Monetization of sustainability impacts and integration into one sustainability metric

‒ Development of an integrated sustainability index and/or interpretation tool

Step 3: Social Impact Assessment

– Following the Guidelines for SLCA of Products and the Handbook of Product Social Impact Assessment

– Description of Social Consequences (positive & negative) by means of social cause-effect chains

Fair wage

Human health

(Social) equity

Social well-being

Social justice

Economic welfare

Nutrition & housing

Insurances & medicine

Education

Recreation, leisure,

cultural activity

Communicating Products' Social Impacts - a White Paper of the Consumer Information Programme

• The white paper analyses:• Why it is important to communicate products’ social impacts• State of the art of current methodologies, best practices and

initiatives on the methods and tools to measure product life cycle social impacts (Social Life Cycle Assessment)

• Ideas and best practices on how to communicate products’ social impacts through consumer information tools

• Recommendations for effective communication of products’ social impacts, including the different roles that government, NGOs and companies can play to advance this issue, as well as ideas for collaborative efforts and harmonization of certification schemes, and the need for additional methods, tools and guidance

• Link: http://www.oneplanetnetwork.org/resource/communicating-products-social-impacts-white-paper-consumer-information-programme

SPECIAL ISSUE

http://www.mdpi.com/journal/resources/special_issues/social_LCA

Thanks for your kind attention

marzia.traverso@inab.rwth-aachen.de