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Purpose: While social aspects are considered as part of Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA), the concept of Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) is relatively new in the construction sector, and more research is needed to comprehend its full potential and inform practice to deliver socially sustainable interventions. The paper aims to provide an account of current work in the field of S-LCA in the construction sector and presents an overview of the methodologies and frameworks that are currently used, with a focus on the critical analysis of impact categories applied to the construction sector. Methods: The paper adopts a systematic review of the literature with the objective to (a) provide a holistic and cross-disciplinary overview of the S-LCA methodologies and frameworks in the construction sector, (b) explore existing gaps, and (c) frame directions for future research. Results and discussion: Several gaps have been identified in relation to the S-LCA research landscape applied to the construction sector, which have, in turn, informed the formulation of recommendations for future research. Conclusions: The paper emphasises the importance and the need to intensify efforts to develop and reach consensus on the categories and criteria to deliver an S-LCA framework for Social Life Cycle Assessment of built environments. The framework, underpinned by a methodology, should involve an adaptable weighting system that considers the nature of the building as well as the type and profile of occupants. It should also factor in dynamic data to inform real-time adaptations to continuously deliver socially sustainable built environment interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The energy sector is essential in the transition to a more sustainable future, and renewable energies will play a key role in achieving this. It is also a sector in which the circular economy presents an opportunity for the utilisation of other resources and residual energy flows. This study examines the environmental and social performance of innovative energy technologies (which contribute to the circularity of resources) implemented in a demonstrator site in Luleå (Sweden). The demo-site collected excess heat from a data centre to cogenerate energy, combining the waste heat with fuel cells that use biogas derived from waste, meeting part of its electrical demand and supplying thermal energy to an existing district heating network. Following a cradle-to-gate approach, an environmental and a social life cycle assessment were developed to compare two scenarios: a baseline scenario reflecting current energy supply methods and the WEDISTRICT scenario, which considers the application of different renewable and circular technologies. The findings indicate that transitioning to renewable energy sources significantly reduces environmental impacts in seven of the eight assessed impact categories. Specifically, the study showed a 48% reduction in climate change impact per kWh generated. Additionally, the WEDISTRICT scenario, accounting for avoided burdens, prevented 0.21 kg CO2 eq per kWh auto-consumed. From the social perspective, the WEDISTRICT scenario demonstrated improvement in employment conditions within the worker and local community categories, product satisfaction within the society category, and fair competition within the value chain category. Projects like WEDISTRICT demonstrate the circularity options of the energy sector, the utilisation of resources and residual energy flows, and that these lead to environmental and social improvements throughout the entire life cycle, not just during the operation phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review explores the social impacts of electricity production by applying the framework of Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA). The authors adhered to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines to select studies that were published post-2010 and used S-LCA in the context of various electricity sources, including bioelectricity, solar, wind, and hydropower. The search yielded 13 eligible studies that employed both generic and site-specific assessment strategies, primarily relying on the Social Hotspot Database and Product Social Impact Life Cycle Assessment database for generic evaluations. The findings emphasize the Workers stakeholder as the most frequently examined, with significant attention also given to the Local Community, Society, Value Chain Actors, and Consumer stakeholders when social databases are employed. The studies primarily assessed socioeconomic impact subcategories related to labor practices, health and safety, and economic contributions, as well as a tailored set of self-developed social impacts and indicators specific to the energy sources and geographical contexts examined. This review demonstrates the crucial role of S-LCA in revealing the socio-economic impacts of electricity generation and the need to consider the impacts on Local Community and Society stakeholders through site-specific assessments. Such insights are crucial for guiding policy reforms and industry practices towards more socially responsible energy production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A complementary analysis of social evaluations in informal recycling is performed. • SLCA methodology requires adaptations for informal settings. • Our discussion encompasses adjustments made in each phase of SLCA. The transition towards Circular Economy (CE) is a promising approach to sustainable development that may cause significant social impacts. Despite the benefits of CE initiatives, key players such as informal recyclers face serious social issues such as poverty, lack of social security, and discrimination. Although evaluating social impacts remains a considerable challenge, Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA) is recognized as a suitable methodology with a life cycle perspective. While most SLCA experiences are conducted in the formal sector, it is important to consider the informal sector, which plays a crucial role in developing countries. This article presents an analysis of SLCA studies in informal recycling settings in order to identify the challenges and adjustments required for informal settings. The analysis is based on a literature review and a documentary review of a pilot application of SLCA in the informal recycling system in Cuenca, Ecuador. The results show that SLCA requires adaptation to be applied in informal settings. There are particular challenges in delineating boundaries due to the fuzzy nature and variability of informal activities. Tasks such as establishing specific indicators, developing reference scales and data collection, require careful planning and active stakeholder participation. For instance, indicators regarding Fair Salary or Working hours were adapted based on best practices. Furthermore, tasks such as verifying and disseminating results should be included in interpretation phases to generate long-term impacts and influence behaviors. The study underscores SLCA's multidimensional view but highlights the need for further standardization and adaptation for informal sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Occupational health and safety (OSH) is crucial for sustainable development, recognized by corporations, the European Union, and Sustainable Development Goals. This study introduces a characterization model for OSH in the social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) to support the quantification of OHS along product supply chains and sustainable decision making. The characterization model aims to provide a practical approach for assessing OHS at the product level with actual working hours or recommends a secondary approach with monetary data, when working hours are unavailable, to calculate the Occupational Health and Safety Potential (OHSP). The developed model was tested in a theoretical case study on shirt production in Europe and globally. The case study shows that the European shirt value chain resulted in higher OHSP values than the global shirt values chain. In addition, the model shows which life cycle stages and organizations highly contributed to the OHSP results. In both approaches, the shirt production stage contributed highly. Differences in results emerged based on the calculation approach, underscoring the model's versatility, because increasing the complexity of calculating the CFs with monetary values will affect the results based on sectorial monetary output. Additionally, the study mentions benefits to the operationalization of social impact assessment and limitations when the developed characterized model is employed. Last, this study aids in offering a tool for organizations to meet the demands of the new Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive by quantifying and publicizing OHS data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article deals with the application of social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) in the construction sector and explicitly focuses on carbon reinforced concrete (CRC). The publication consists of two parts: (1) a scientific literature review on the current implementation of S-LCA in the construction sector, and (2) the definition of the relevant social hotspots for the cradle-to-gate production of CRC. The literature review was conducted to provide a general overview and compare S-LCA studies in the construction sector; second, countries that provide the relevant input materials needed for CRC were identified. Analysis within the Social Hotspot Database (SHDB) helped determine the relative importance of the CRC supply country for each social category and subcategory. By developing a metric in the form of scores for each risk information, the potential risks indicated by the SHDB were measured. The results show that the focus of the indicators to be highlighted and further used in the indicator catalog is particularly in the area of labor rights and decent work in the health and safety subcategory. Missing data within the SHDB may result in a defined high average score and lead to a lower level of information. In the future, the identified 36 social indicators for CRC should be revised again in cooperation with the manufacturing industry. This study aims to further raise awareness in the construction sector of life-cycle-based sustainability that goes beyond the environmental aspects, and it is the first social hotspot screening using the SHDB for CRC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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 sustainability into Micro, Small, and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) poses challenges due to limited resources, low social awareness, and particular cultural factors. Despite this, MSMEs play a crucial role in countries' development since they constitute an essential actor in generating wealth and employment. Therefore, determining tools and methods to support sustainable decision-making and understanding the impacts in MSMEs is a significant challenge. This work describes the application of Social Organizational Life Cycle Assessment (SO-LCA) in three case studies of the Ecuadorian textile MSME sector to analyze their impacts regarding the social dimension. To this end, 121 inventory indicators linked to workers' and consumers' subcategories were applied. Utilizing sunburst charts, social performance is analyzed at subcategory and indicator levels. Company A showed intermediate worker performance with well-managed Occupational Safety and Health (OSH). Company B excelled, particularly in OSH, social benefits, and working hours. Despite its size, Company C had the lowest overall performance but exhibited superior Consumer category performance. This application of SO-LCA in the MSME sector offers insights for systematic evaluation, identifying areas for improvement and commendable practices. The study discusses implementing SO-LCA in small firms, highlighting the need for methodological adjustments to enhance applicability in this sector.

The improper disposal of PET bottle waste in Brazil jeopardizes the sustainability goals, impacting the social, economic, and environmental aspects. In order to tackle this issue, this study introduces a framework that was developed using a combination of environmental and social life cycle assessments (LCAs), along with a modified Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) methodology. Nine disposal scenarios were evaluated in Bauru, Brazil, including various combinations of landfills, sorting cooperatives, and incineration. Environmental (Env-LCA) and social (S-LCA) assessments followed the ISO 14040 standards, with the S-LCA incorporating the UNEP/SETAC guidelines. Scenario 9 was identified as the most sustainable option from the evaluated scenarios, with 100% of the waste sent to sorting cooperatives, with modified collection schemes. Conversely, Scenario 1, with a high landfill percentage, proved to be the least sustainable.

This review explores the social impacts of electricity production by applying the framework of Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA). The authors adhered to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines to select studies that were published post-2010 and used S-LCA in the context of various electricity sources, including bioelectricity, solar, wind, and hydropower. The search yielded 13 eligible studies that employed both generic and site-specific assessment strategies, primarily relying on the Social Hotspot Database and Product Social Impact Life Cycle Assessment database for generic evaluations. The findings emphasize the Workers stakeholder as the most frequently examined, with significant attention also given to the Local Community, Society, Value Chain Actors, and Consumer stakeholders when social databases are employed. The studies primarily assessed socioeconomic impact subcategories related to labor practices, health and safety, and economic contributions, as well as a tailored set of self-developed social impacts and indicators specific to the energy sources and geographical contexts examined. This review demonstrates the crucial role of S-LCA in revealing the socio-economic impacts of electricity generation and the need to consider the impacts on Local Community and Society stakeholders through site-specific assessments. Such insights are crucial for guiding policy reforms and industry practices towards more socially responsible energy production.

Abstract Social aspects of miscanthus cultivation have been investigated in a limited way in the scientific literature. Adopting existing frameworks for social life‐cycle assessment enables assessments to include numerous social aspects; however, the relevance of these aspects depends on the local context. This study aims to identify the most relevant social aspects from the farmers' perspective using a previously proposed framework for the assessment of the stakeholder ‘farmer’. It is based on a case study for miscanthus production in Sisak Moslavina in Croatia. The existence of abandoned lands in Croatia presents an opportunity for the cultivation of miscanthus as a potential source of biomass for the production of bio‐based materials and fuels. The study seeks to assess the feasibility of cultivating miscanthus in the region, taking into account potential challenges and opportunities, as well as farmers' willingness to adopt the crop, and to understand the reasons behind land abandonment. We conducted a survey among 44 farmers in the region and used a scoring method to identify the most relevant social aspects. The aspects most valued by the farmers were health and safety, access to water, land consolidation and rights, income and local employment, and food security. Responses to the question of whether they would adopt the crop highlight the importance of an established market, good trading conditions and profitability of cultivation. The survey also enabled an understanding of farmers' preferences with respect to the production conditions of crops. The farmers regarded the provision of subsidies as one of the main factors that render a crop attractive. Opportunities for the adoption of the miscanthus cultivation include high yields and low input requirements. Barriers include land conflicts and land availability. Despite the opportunities for miscanthus development in the region, there are important challenges to consider for successful implementation of the crop.

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The improper disposal of PET bottle waste in Brazil jeopardizes the sustainability goals, impacting the social, economic, and environmental aspects. In order to tackle this issue, this study introduces a framework that was developed using a combination of environmental and social life cycle assessments (LCAs), along with a modified Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) methodology. Nine disposal scenarios were evaluated in Bauru, Brazil, including various combinations of landfills, sorting cooperatives, and incineration. Environmental (Env-LCA) and social (S-LCA) assessments followed the ISO 14040 standards, with the S-LCA incorporating the UNEP/SETAC guidelines. Scenario 9 was identified as the most sustainable option from the evaluated scenarios, with 100% of the waste sent to sorting cooperatives, with modified collection schemes. Conversely, Scenario 1, with a high landfill percentage, proved to be the least sustainable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) is a methodology that can help companies administer their supply chain and promote both social responsibility and sustainability through the assessment of both positive and negative social and socio-economic aspects of products during their entire life cycle. Here, a case study was performed to test an S-LCA database as a comparative assessment tool of two products, i.e. the traditional almond sugared confetti and Tenerelli sugared almonds, made by the same company. Methods: The S-LCA case study was carried out by using the Product Social Impact Life Cycle Assessment (PSILCA) database, for the two products on openLCA software. Results and discussion: The risk assessment helped to identify the most affected impact categories and which product influences the most on them as well as the categories on which the foreground processes have the greatest impact. For both the analysed products, the category "Contribution of the sector to economic development" is marginally affected. Overall, the production of Confetti entails higher medium risk hours regarding some categories (e.g. "Public sector corruption", "Promoting social responsibility", "Migration flows"), whilst for others, it is the Tenerelli that affect the most (e.g. "Biomass consumption", "Trade unionism"), depending on the different inputs used. Finally, the results are not very influenced by foreground processes, and the social risks are therefore related to upstream processes for both products. Conclusions: The comparison can become more useful for products of the same or similar functions and the same audience but of different inputs and therefore different supply chains. Indeed, it could be useful for decision-making with the aim of selecting between various possible options the one that entails lower social risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social aspects of miscanthus cultivation have been investigated in a limited way in the scientific literature. Adopting existing frameworks for social life‐cycle assessment enables assessments to include numerous social aspects; however, the relevance of these aspects depends on the local context. This study aims to identify the most relevant social aspects from the farmers' perspective using a previously proposed framework for the assessment of the stakeholder 'farmer'. It is based on a case study for miscanthus production in Sisak Moslavina in Croatia. The existence of abandoned lands in Croatia presents an opportunity for the cultivation of miscanthus as a potential source of biomass for the production of bio‐based materials and fuels. The study seeks to assess the feasibility of cultivating miscanthus in the region, taking into account potential challenges and opportunities, as well as farmers' willingness to adopt the crop, and to understand the reasons behind land abandonment. We conducted a survey among 44 farmers in the region and used a scoring method to identify the most relevant social aspects. The aspects most valued by the farmers were health and safety, access to water, land consolidation and rights, income and local employment, and food security. Responses to the question of whether they would adopt the crop highlight the importance of an established market, good trading conditions and profitability of cultivation. The survey also enabled an understanding of farmers' preferences with respect to the production conditions of crops. The farmers regarded the provision of subsidies as one of the main factors that render a crop attractive. Opportunities for the adoption of the miscanthus cultivation include high yields and low input requirements. Barriers include land conflicts and land availability. Despite the opportunities for miscanthus development in the region, there are important challenges to consider for successful implementation of the crop. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a need to generate micro‐scale indicators to measure progress towards meeting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 6 and 8. In this sense, this study applies Social Life Cycle Assessment, including Quality of Employment (QoE) and Adequate Public Water Supply (AWS) indicators to assess the social performance of Mexico City's water cycle to identify the level (low, medium and high) of the potential risk of social impact (PR). The results show that the labor hours (WH) required by 1m3 of water in Mexico City is equivalent to 0.062 WH. The QoE indicator shows that 94% of WH are associated with high PR due to low wages. For AWS, 5% is associated with a high PR for local communities in the Cutzamala system due to poor water quality and consumption of bottled water. This case study demonstrates that progress on QoE and AWS indicators can significantly contribute to achieving SDGs 6 and 8 in the water management of communities involved in Mexico City's water cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change concerns have goaded countries toward seeking renewable energy options (bio-energy being one of them) to replace/supplant the conventional fossil-fuel alternatives (coal, oil and natural gas) commonly used now. Fuel pellets—at the confluence of the forestry, agriculture, waste management and bio-energy sectors—when produced from biomass residues, serve the dual purpose of ensuring energy security and environmental sustainability. By valorizing more and more organic wastes to bio-energy products, one could, to use the old adage, 'kill two birds with one stone'. Social LCA is a method used to analyze a very wide range of social issues associated with the stakeholders in a value chain—workers, local community dwellers, society, global consumers, banks, investors, governments, researchers, international organizations and NGOs. In this analysis, the authors commence with a highly focused, niche literature review on the social dimension of sustainability in the African energy/bio-energy sector. The streamlined social footprint analysis inspired by the relatively lesser number of such studies for this sector in Africa is not a novel addition per se to the S-LCA knowledge base. The purpose of the application is to shed light on something in Zambia that must be understood better so as to bring about much-needed alterations in the direction of sustainable development. While the questions addressed to four different groups of stakeholders encompass a clutch of sustainable development goals, gender equality (SDG 5) and the need for greater interest on the part of governments and investors (SDG 9) to look at sustainable alternatives to the status quo stand out as concerns that need to be tided over. This paper and the streamlined social footprint analysis carried out are all the more relevant and timely when one considers some key changes that have happened in Zambia over the last five years—the implementation of the National Energy Policy in 2019 and the creation of the Ministry of Green Economy in 2021. These are verily harbingers of positive change auguring well for future developments in the bio-energy (and bio-pellets) sector, not just in Zambia but, by way of emulating and learning, in other countries on the continent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The building industry is essential for a national transition towards a circular economy (CE) in Denmark. The Danish state subsidises the Danish affordable housing sector, which is the largest single sector within the Danish building industry, making the sector an essential driver for the transition. The social components of sustainability are considered crucial to ensuring the quality of the environmental and economic components of the CE. However, social value creation (SVC) has been neglected in building processes, and public investments are being used without the policymakers thoroughly assessing the CE's socioeconomic efficiency and effectiveness. The sector therefore needs integrated methodologies to support comprehensive decision making on the CE during construction and renovation. SVC is an apparent field for architectural firms. Two surveys were conducted among business and sustainability managers of Danish architectural firms to identify the challenges and potentials regarding assessing sustainability and SVC in architects' practices. The results of the surveys are described and analysed in this study. Several impact categories, indicators and tools are identified, discussed and summarised in a methodological framework that can support architects in decision making about SVC in constructing and renovating affordable housing. Further refinement of the framework to support dynamic and iterative decision-making is anticipated as future work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The paper contributes to the S-LCA impact assessment by understanding its maturity level to identify each characterization model's good practices and limitations. Method: Our research analyzes the S-LCIA type II (impact pathway) models' current state of the art through a systematic review. To this end, we identified publications through international databases without period restriction up to 2020. Gray literature, theoretical propositions, and papers covering solely case studies of former developed models were not included. Among the 102 papers identified, only 14 papers presented type II modeling. These models were evaluated considering the following criteria and sub-criteria: (i) scope coverage (contextualization, time lag, and data level), (ii) scientific robustness (presentation of cause-and-effect chain, transparency, and accessibility), and (iii) characterization factor (CF) (existence, feasibility of regionalized CFs, and presence of uncertainty or sensitivity analysis). Each criterion is composed of sub-criteria related to desirable characteristics. We classified models on scales comprising two or three levels for each sub-criterion. Results and discussion: We noticed some models need to provide clear cause-and-effect chains, relationships with social sciences, and measurement models are not always explicit. Most of them do not present ready-to-use characterization factors, and only a few models consider the time lag between cause and effect. Finally, several models are not always connected to company data. Based on the results, we provide recommendations for impact modeling in S-LCIA to support life cycle social and sustainability assessment. Conclusions: Despite advances in S-LCIA impact pathway modeling, there are necessary improvements to support S-LCA. We identified good practices, but no model presents all characteristics. Even if the criteria proposed to evaluate the type II models are only partially comprehensive, this framework supports S-LCIA model development by listing desirable characteristics and recommended good practices. We advise (i) including the model's usage limitations, (ii) using time series analysis to include the time lag between cause and effect or to inform if the effect is immediate, (iii) and using company or sector data to develop the characterization factors. The characterization models with links to social sciences, the cause-effect chain, and the reproducibility of the measurement model can improve the models' clarity. At last, providing contextualized CFs would support mainstream S-LCA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite green sugarcane harvesting being promoted in Thailand, with some limitations on the use of harvesting machines, green sugarcane harvesting is practiced manually in many sugarcane fields. Although the environmental benefit seems clear, this harvesting practice’s social implications are yet unknown. This study assessed social performances of green and burnt manual sugarcane harvesting in North-Eastern Thailand, the region hosting the largest sugarcane plantation area, using the Social Life Cycle Assessment technique. Data collection was undertaken by surveys. The performance reference points method was applied to assess the different stakeholder’s social performances. Key stakeholder groups examined were workers, local community, and farm owners. The main social issues included in this study are fair wages, working conditions, health and safety, local employment, economic development, social responsibility, and satisfaction of occupation. The results showed that the social performances of green and burnt sugarcane harvesting were generally similar except for the local community group. This is mainly due to the health impact of sugarcane burning on the local community. Different issues cause the farmers to harvest the burnt sugarcane; for example, labor shortage in the harvesting season and the difficult working conditions for green harvesting, causing the farm owners to bear higher costs. For these reasons, mechanized harvesting is suggested to help promote green harvesting to reduce local air pollution. However, technology development is in urgent need to make the harvesting machines more affordable and applicable to all geographical conditions.

In the present world, rapid industrialization and extensive use of resources have led to an unprecedented increase in waste volumes. Industries seeking to produce more to satisfy the upsurge demand while exploiting the potential provided by advancements in technology contribute to this. This situation is leading to fast-approaching expiration date for natural resources, which calls for immediate intervention, sustainable practices, and proper waste disposal strategies. As pillars to sustainability, not only the environmental and economic aspects should be considered, the social domain is also very important to take into account. For the particular case of the waste-to-energy (WtE) technologies, the social domain entails several concerns that have never been thoroughly and representatively appraised, a clear understanding of the reasons behind this being missing. Thus, the purpose of this work is to conduct a literature review on social assessments related to the thermal conversion of wastes. Then, distinct methodologies already used for the social aspects in other areas were compared to the achieved results to better frame them and potentially suggest a workflow for this type of assessment in the WtE sector. The aim is to identify and address knowledge gaps, in order to facilitate a comprehensive evaluation of the current context surrounding this controversial topic. The main findings indicate a lack of consistent reporting practices for social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) implementation, the UNEP/SETAC approach appearing as the most commonly used. Social concerns primarily focus on employment, human health, accessibility, safety, and odor-related issues. Knowledge gaps persist, including the need for a better understanding of the interrelation between dimensions, the absence of concise and binding legislation, low sector engagement, discrimination issues, inconsistency in sensitivity analysis, and a lack of objectivity. Based on the literature review, it can be concluded that while WtE techniques have the potential to contribute to a more sustainable and resilient society, there are social concerns that must be addressed. The review highlights the importance of conducting comprehensive social assessments in the context of thermal waste conversion. By filling knowledge gaps and considering the social implications of these techniques, a more informed evaluation can be conducted, leading to better decision-making and the development of more sustainable waste management strategies. This effort should be tightly connected to the sustainability efforts and goals in place, such as the ones preconized by the European Commission and the United Nations. [Display omitted] • Social assessments in the thermal conversion of wastes were reviewed and analysed. • Challenges, opportunities and discrepancies with existing frameworks were identified. • A lack of consistent enactment and reporting for S-LCA was observed in the sector. • The social dimension needs to be addressed towards a holistic view of sustainability. • Actionable steps were suggested as leverage for in-depth social impact assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The German Bioeconomy focuses on innovation and in particular on the smart mobilization of resources to produce high-value-added bio-based products, processes and services. In the case of the production of biofuels, the demand for reducing fossil fuel utilization has placed the focus on second-generation biofuel value chains, which mobilize residual streams as their main biomass feedstocks. However, while the environmental impacts of these value chains have been studied using life-cycle approaches, little attention has been given to their social implications. This work aims to fill this gap by assessing the potential social hotspots associated with the production of second-generation biofuel through a prospective case study in Eastern Germany. We use the RESPONSA framework, a regionalized social life cycle assessment developed specifically for assessing value chains of the German Bioeconomy. The results for 22 social indicators reveal that while biofuel production generates employment opportunities, aspects such as working conditions, support for professional qualification, and workers' participation have an overall poor social performance. The results lead to conclude that socioeconomic issues related to advanced biofuel production persist, exhibiting a socioeconomic disparity, with employment creation being the only area of socioeconomic benefit. Yet, there is a contradiction between job creation and addressing broader social issues in the biofuel industry, which underlines the need for a balanced approach to reconcile environmental objectives with social development. These results provide an opportunity to discuss how to mitigate the negative social impacts of second-generation biofuel production in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marginal agricultural land (MAL) has received much attention in research and policy formation as a potential resource for cultivating biomass for energy and biobased products. However, it is still unclear whether biomass from MAL meets the requirements of social sustainability. This study develops a conceptual linkage between value‐chain analysis and social life‐cycle analysis (S‐LCA), and assesses both positive impacts (handprints) and negative impacts (footprints). A participatory approach including interviews and surveys was used to understand views and perceptions of the relevant stakeholders. A systemic strategy was applied to analyze value‐chain activities, understand challenges, and identify competitive advantages and disadvantages. For S‐LCA, the variety of impacts and indicators was met through a literature review and a consistent scoring system. The cultivation of perennial crops on MAL tends to cause skepticism among stakeholders, who are concerned about long‐term commitment and biodiversity risks. Annual crops, on the other hand, are perceived by all stakeholder categories as very promising opportunities across all impact categories and indicators. They can facilitate income diversification and offer smart sustainable cropping options through crop rotation, agroforestry, etc. Most of the technological pathways examined are highly innovative, have a low technological readiness level, and are still at the early market development stage. As such they are ranked by stakeholders as medium opportunities for short‐term implementation. In contrast, pyrolysis to industrial heat, ethanol from switchgrass, insulation material from hemp, and biogas/biomethane from sorghum are considered opportunities with good chances of being implemented in the short term. © 2022 The Authors. Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining published by Society of Industrial Chemistry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Freight operations are relevant for economies but can negatively impact society due to the performance of activities related to fuel production, vehicle manufacturing, and infrastructure construction. This study applies the social organizational life cycle assessment (SO-LCA) methodology to analyze the social performance of companies involved in the supply chain of road transport companies located in different contexts such as Latin American, European, and Asian. The results of the three case studies are compared to analyze the methodology's robustness and the influence of development and culture on how social performance is perceived. An approach for the SO-LCA, based on the UNEP/SETAC guidelines, was applied to freight companies in Colombia, Spain, and Malaysia. This integrated approach considers the key components of the transport system: fuels, vehicles, and infrastructure. A multi-tier inventory analysis was performed for 26 social impact subcategories, and reference scale assessments were applied to obtain single and aggregated social performance indexes. Interviews with stakeholders were used to aggregate indexes and identify priorities for decision-making in different contexts. First, the stakeholders concurred that freight companies must focus on labor rights to improve their social performance. The second social category in order of importance was human rights, except in the Spanish case study, where it was socioeconomic repercussions. These results indicate that social impact subcategories are influenced by socioeconomic development and the culture or beliefs of its inhabitants. These specificities help identify hotspots and stakeholder concerns toward which transport companies should direct their efforts. This study expands the range of indicators for social impact measurement and the known literature by investigating social matters for different categories of stakeholders spanning three continents. When these indicators are fully developed, their consideration in management practices could benefit business practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Sustainable agri-food production is incredibly important for society. Despite Iran and Malaysia being one of the highest production countries for paddy rice, there is no study on the social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) for rice production for both countries in the literature. The lack of data and complexity of social issue are the challenges of conducting the S-LCA study. This study compared the social impacts from the related stakeholders in the life cycle of paddy rice production between Malaysia and Iran. Methods: This study applied S-LCA based on UNEP (UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative, 2020) as an evaluation technique to investigate social issues and social performance of paddy rice production in Malaysia and Iran. This research included workers, local communities, and farmers as the stakeholders. The inventory data were collected by using questionnaires. The subcategories for evaluation were adapted from UNEP 2020 guideline. The items in the questionnaire were separately validated by experts in Malaysia and Iran, and the reliability was done by conducting pilot studies in Malaysia and Iran. The questionnaires were distributed by multistage sampling method. The following four steps were conducted following the ISO14040 framework: (1) goal and scope definition, (2) social life cycle inventory analysis (S-LCI), (3) social life cycle impact assessment (S-LCIA), and (4) interpretation. Results and discussion: The result showed that the social performance of workers and farmers in Malaysia was better than Iran because of low cost with high yield for farmers, contributing to increased income. Rice cultivation in Iran for local community did not show good performance regarding health and safety because of burning of rice residue. Around 62% of local Iranian people reported air pollution from rice residue burning. However, the overall social performance for local community was not different in Iran and Malaysia, showing good performances with respect to job opportunity. Sexual harassment was identified as one of the negative social issues in Iran with the score of 60%, including unwanted sexual attention. Moreover, the farmers showed poor performance in Iran, resulting from low satisfactory from income, and low yield and high cost of paddy production in Iran. Conclusion: The key investigation from this research revealed that social performance of crop production in different geographical areas could show different results. The key finding from this study reported that modern agriculture could increase social and economic performance by reducing the production cost, and increasing productivity and social performance in terms of satisfactory from income for farmers. The result of this study can be used for policy makers to improve social performance by using modern agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite green sugarcane harvesting being promoted in Thailand, with some limitations on the use of harvesting machines, green sugarcane harvesting is practiced manually in many sugarcane fields. Although the environmental benefit seems clear, this harvesting practice's social implications are yet unknown. This study assessed social performances of green and burnt manual sugarcane harvesting in North-Eastern Thailand, the region hosting the largest sugarcane plantation area, using the Social Life Cycle Assessment technique. Data collection was undertaken by surveys. The performance reference points method was applied to assess the different stakeholder's social performances. Key stakeholder groups examined were workers, local community, and farm owners. The main social issues included in this study are fair wages, working conditions, health and safety, local employment, economic development, social responsibility, and satisfaction of occupation. The results showed that the social performances of green and burnt sugarcane harvesting were generally similar except for the local community group. This is mainly due to the health impact of sugarcane burning on the local community. Different issues cause the farmers to harvest the burnt sugarcane; for example, labor shortage in the harvesting season and the difficult working conditions for green harvesting, causing the farm owners to bear higher costs. For these reasons, mechanized harvesting is suggested to help promote green harvesting to reduce local air pollution. However, technology development is in urgent need to make the harvesting machines more affordable and applicable to all geographical conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The social aspects of municipal solid waste management (MSWM) systems are underpinning their sustainability and effectiveness. The assessment of these systems from a life cycle perspective is widespread throughout environmental life cycle assessment (LCA), but few studies have used social life cycle assessment (S-LCA). The present study is an innovative review with the objective to analyse and describe the current level of development of S-LCA applications in MSWM, and to identify the main methodological challenges and best practices, aiming at recommending approaches to harmonise future S-LCA applications in MSWM. Materials and methods: A systematic review of the literature found 36 relevant scientific articles. These were submitted to bibliometric and content analysis, which includes an analysis of how methodological aspects of the four phases of S-LCA were applied in comparison with best practice and existing guidelines. Results and discussion: There was a predominance of case studies in developing countries (59%) and evaluation of the stages of collection/transportation, pre-processing (sorting) and landfilling (55%). There were more studies focusing on stakeholders, "workers" and "local communities" and in the impact subcategories "employment", "working hours", "health and safety/working conditions", "community involvement/participation" and "health and safety/living conditions of community". There was great variability in the application of the method (47% of the studies included methodological developments). However, the 39% based on UNEP guidelines were closer to a methodological consensus. Conclusion: In general, studies need more detail and clarity in describing the methodological decisions used. Improvements are needed for issues that limit the S-LCA method, including the difficulties of covering the entire life cycle, relating impacts to the functional unit, standardizing impact assessment methods, addressing allocation and data quality issues and interpretation of results and their limitations. Improvements can be achieved by using participatory methods in the selection of categories, subcategories and impact indicators, as well as by clarifying the definition of a product system and detailing "cut-off criteria" of processes/organizations and the impact of these decisions on results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increase in industrial production and energy consumption has led to excessive exploitation of non-renewable resources, resulting in serious environmental problems such as greenhouse gas emissions. In response, there's a growing investment in renewable energies such as hydroelectric, wind, and solar power. However, these sources are unable to fully meet demand, leading to imbalances between consumption and production. An emerging solution to this challenge is green hydrogen, produced from clean sources, reducing dependence on fossil fuels and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. The S-LCA methodology presented in the UNEP/SETAC Guidelines for the Social Life Cycle Assessment is applied to the production of green hydrogen via the electrolytic separation of water using a proton exchange electrolyser. The process involves the extraction and processing of raw materials from the electrolyser, BOP and reverse osmosis system, the manufacture of the systems and the production of green hydrogen. The data from each stage is inventoried and entered into the PSILCA v.3.1 and SHDB 2022FV5 databases, integrated into the SimaPro software version 9.3.0.2, enabling a complete analysis of the social impacts associated with the production of green hydrogen. The data was evaluated considering 4 stakeholder categories: workers, value chain actors, society and local community. The results indicate that the extraction and processing of raw materials for the electrolyser was the primary stage responsible for the social impacts in both databases. However, the electrolyser manufacturing stage was the main contributor to the indicators "weekly working hours per employee" and "union density" in the PSILCA database. Nafion® and Iridium were identified as the major contributors among components in both databases. The study highlights the significant role played by countries like China and South Africa in social impacts, particularly in the extraction and processing of raw materials. Despite this, Portugal emerged as the largest contributor to five out of fourteen indicators in the PSILCA database, while its contributions in the SHDB database were less than 7 %. Moreover, a comparison between the two databases revealed that PSILCA exhibited a greater distribution of results across various stages, components, and countries assessed, whereas SHDB showed more centralized results. The observed discrepancies between the results obtained from different databases can be attributed to three main factors: the input-output database utilized in each S-LCA tool, the assumed risk levels for each indicator, and the equivalence between indicators and subcategories. This exploratory study offers valuable insights for guiding strategic decisions regarding the social component of sustainability, providing a detailed understanding of the social impacts associated with the specific case of green hydrogen production in a planned hub in Portugal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The main purpose of this S-LCA case study is to analyse social impacts of the use phase of mobility services is a holistic way, taking into account positive as well as negative impacts. The use phase plays an important role for the assessment of services, which is why this study exclusively focuses on the use phase assessment. That way, this study aims to contribute to answer the question whether mobility services can improve quality of life in cities. Methods: For the analysis, seven different mobility options were chosen in the city of Berlin, Germany, including free-floating car sharing, e-scooter sharing, S-Bahn, subway, tram, bus and the car in private ownership. For the analysis, five stakeholder groups that are outlined in the S-LCA Guidelines (UNEP 2020) were taken into account: Local Community, Consumer, Worker, Value Chain Actors and Society. For a detailed analysis of all relevant aspects, 37 indicators were analysed, out of which 23 are quantitative and 14 are qualitative. For data collection, several different data sources were used, including publicly available data e.g. from statistics as well as own data from interviews. Results and discussion: For comparability, all results are displayed on a 5-point scale from − 2 to + 2, in line with the Handbook (Goedkoop et al. 2018) and the S-LCA Guidelines (UNEP 2020). For some indicators, the results of the case study are as expected, for example regarding impacts on air quality. For other indicators, however, the results are specific for the analysed mobility services in Berlin and therefore give new insights and reveal new aspects, as for example in the case of job creation for the local community. The main challenge of this S-LCA case study was data availability and data quality, which is why assumptions and simplifications had to be made, especially regarding space occupancy and the allocation of common infrastructure. Conclusions: This S-LCA case study provides a holistic assessment of the use phase of mobility services, taking into account five stakeholder categories and their respective social impacts. The study illustrates specific results for the city of Berlin, showing positive as well as negative social impacts of mobility services and outlines a procedure for further studies. That way, this case study contributes to answer the overlying question whether mobility services can improve quality of life in cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Investigating 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. Methodology: This 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. Results: The 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. Conclusions: This 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Several frameworks coincide in the importance of addressing social impacts to ensure sustainability. However, the agri-food sector, regarded as key in sustainable production, still neglects to identify potential social impacts when applying life cycle approaches. This work contributes to understanding the social performance of three agricultural products from a Latin American and Caribbean developing country as Costa Rica while recognising the challenges of Social-Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) application in this context. Methods: S-LCA represents a powerful technique to evaluate the potential social impacts of a product. Three case studies were analysed through S-LCA, using the subcategory assessment method (SAM) to characterise the social impacts and detect hotspots in the production of green coffee, raw milk and leafy vegetables. Primary data was collected through questionnaires to relevant informants and observations. In addition to secondary information, these data and information were used to assess eight impact subcategories for the farmer and worker stakeholder groups and nine subcategories for the local community. Results and discussion: The main results suggest that the Costa Rican institutional and market frameworks provide an enabling environment for a generally positive social performance in the studied cases. The assessed stakeholders can fulfil basic needs through access to inputs and services and achieve fair-trading conditions. Child labour, forced labour and evidence of environmental or health risks for the surrounding communities were absent. Important efforts to address the delocalisation, migration and child labour were observed, suggesting the potential development of social handprints in further studies. However, the farm production phase, related to farmers and workers, entails hotspots regarding social security and women's empowerment. Moreover, farmers appear as the most vulnerable group because of their overall social performance. Conclusions: S-LCA helped identify relevant areas of intervention in the context of these particular case studies; however, further research and capacity building are recommended to tackle the detected challenges, both in the agri-food chains and in the use of S-LCA. Furthermore, these findings can aid in future decision and policy-making to improve and safeguard the positive social performance observed in the studied products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) methodology needs to advance in its methodological development, mainly regarding the impact assessment phase, in which a widely accepted method is missing. The goal of this study is to introduce a social metric to evaluate the human development of workers in production chains and economic sectors. Methods: The applied characterization model of the proposed social metric was inspired by the Human Development Index (HDI), whose significance and wide use make it a good proxy to express human prosperity. Similar to HDI, our indicator called Workers' Human Development Index (W-HDI) is derived from the geometric mean of the three dimensions of HDI, covering education, income, and health aspects of workers in different economic sectors linked to a given production chain. W-HDI proposal was tested by performing a case study from the sugarcane industry in Brazil, considering different sugarcane biorefinery configurations, including a couple of first-generation ethanol options and an integrated first- and second-generation ethanol production system (1G2G). Results and discussion: The proposed metric was used to address the social impacts of different biorefinery scenarios. The scenario representing the first-generation ethanol production with basic technology achieved the lowest W-HDI score mostly because of the manual sugarcane harvesting system that contributed to a higher rate of occupational accidents (lower health dimension), fewer years of education, and lower wages than the other biorefinery scenarios. The highest W-HDI was obtained by the 1G2G scenario, mainly due to a more advanced technology reflected by the higher educational profile (more years of schooling) required to the workers and better wages. Additionally, our proposed W-HDI was applied in the assessment of Brazilian economic sectors, and most of them (84%) obtained medium or high development levels. Conclusions: The present study contributes to the development of sustainability assessment tools by providing advances in the social life cycle assessment methodology. More specifically, the W-HDI is proposed to address the impact assessment phase with an indicator that can be applied in many sectors and production chains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The social impacts generated by industrial waste treatment processes have not been studied enough, as shown in the literature. Social life cycle assessment studies have mainly focused on the assessment of products and less on industrial waste, especially wastewater, although potentially relevant from an environmental point of view, and also from a social one for various stakeholders. Purpose: This case study concerns the social assessment of an innovative technology to treat the wastewater of a microelectronics company. In order to produce electronic components and semiconductors, the company has to treat and dispose of relevant wastewater streams containing various toxic substances. The wastewater streams need to be treated in order to protect the eco-system, representing a high cost for the company and a potential impact on the environment. For this reason, the company developed a LIFE project to demonstrate the viability to decrease the burdens on water bodies. The positive outcome of the test on the pilot plant paved the way for the construction of the full-scale plant that will treat all the wastewater generated by the company. The objective of this paper is the socio-economic assessment of a full-scale plant designed to treat three different kinds of wastewater. Methods: The assessment of socio-economic potential impacts of a new technology has been carried out through the PSILCA (Product Social Impact Life Cycle Assessment) database implementation to evaluate 65 social indicators of a wastewater treatment plant. Results: The line with the highest impact is the one which treats tetramethylammonium hydroxide; this is because this wastewater flow is the most abundant (14 and 43 times greater than the other wastewaters, respectively). The most affected stakeholder is the Local Community, followed by the Actors of the Value Chain; in fact, the results referred to the functional unit considered exceed 300,000 medium risk hours in both cases. For the Local Community this result arises from the indicator "Contribution to environmental load," which is understandable considering the object of the study since this indicator includes health effects. As far as the Value Chain Actors stakeholder is concerned, the two indicators most impacted are "Corruption" and "Social responsibility along the supply chain". The analysis conducted has also shown that upstream has a fundamental relevance for the social risks detected. Conclusions: Considering the current lack of studies on both environmental and social impacts of wastewater treatment, and the fact that Social Life Cycle Assessment has not been widely used in this field, as emerged from literature review, this work is the first use of the PSILCA database to assess an industrial wastewater plant. The use of a social life cycle assessment database allows the value chain of a product system to be considered: the results show that most of the overall social risk derives from upstream sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]