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Quantifying sustainability is a difficult but necessary task to improve our environmental, economic, and social surroundings. This paper describes an investigation into the use of the Social Hotspot Database (SHDB) to determine the true value of fair-trade certification. The analysis has been carried out on two coffee systems produced in Colombia and consumed in Spain: i) a low-cost generic (GC) and ii) a high-quality organic fair trade certified (FTC). Risk levels in the SHDB for the cultivation sector in Colombia were adjusted to reflect compliance with fair-trade criteria. Surprisingly, the results showed that the social risks per functional unit (FU) (1 kg) of the FTC were significantly higher than FTC. This incongruence is caused by the fact that the lower risk values associated with the fair-trade designation are largely offset by its significantly higher economic cost. This is so even though these costs are dedicated to mitigating the risks that are then penalized by the same expenditure (e.g., low salaries, poverty). A solution to this artifact may be to conceive the fair-trade coffee as a multifunctional system and apply an economic allocation approach to evaluate separately its functions as beverage and as a contributor to social wellbeing.

The main objective of this study is to apply the Product Social Impact Assessment (PSIA) handbook to a case study. The method used to quantify the social impacts is to identify the stakeholders and the social topic, indicators, and then to apply the impact analysis method. Social studies identify the retailing stage as the phase with the greatest social risk in the life cycle followed by the product transformation phase. However, the infeasibility of focusing this study on the multiple companies involved in the commercialization, led the processing stage company to be chosen as the central part of the study. The preliminary evaluation of the social topics of the stakeholders, presents an average of +0.88 points on the level scale (-2 to +2), which positions the company beyond the generally acceptable situation, in continuous improvement.

The main objective of this investigation is to analyse the validity of multiregional input-output methodology to evaluate the environmental performance of peach production using a life cycle approach. The analysis is based on a detailed sectorial economic foreground inventory applicable to the region of Murcia (Southern Spain), following the principles of ISO 14040 and incorporating the methodological decisions of Environdec Product Category Rule for fruits and nuts. Total climate change emissions for 1 kg of peaches were calculated at 1.2 kg CO2 eq, 39.2 % of which correspond to economic activity in the sectors directly affected by the expenses and a further 60.8 % to indirect emissions from induced effects. Most of the total carbon footprint (63 %) is generated by the core stage, primarily crop production and refrigerated storage, both activities being characterized by their high economic intensity and environmental factors.