Estimation of the potential changes in the social impacts of transitioning to circular economy for multiple stakeholders — a case of Indian transportation infrastructure.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to understand the social impacts on various stakeholders — consumers, workers, value chain actors, local community, and society — who are directly or indirectly impacted by the construction of land transportation infrastructure. The study further extends to determine the scale of change in these social impacts with the incorporation of circular economy (CE) in the sector. Methods: The study is based on the UNEP-SETAC methodology for social life cycle assessment (S-LCA). Separate questionnaires are designed for each of the stakeholder categories — ensuring assessment for every social impact category. Social impact scores (SICs) are determined for every social impact category for the existing business-as-usual (BaU) scenario for every stakeholder category. Furthermore, to determine the change in social impacts in a circular economy scenario, experts are interviewed to understand and account for the change. The change in social impacts is mapped using a "Potential Circular Impact" formula devised by the authors. Finally, the results are compared based on the scale of social impacts in the BaU and CE scenarios. Results: It is observed that in the BaU scenario, the value chain actors have the highest social scores, implying that value chain actors fare well in the selected social impact categories. Furthermore, the consumers have the least social well-being, followed by the local community. In the case of a transition to CE, it is observed that the highest social benefits will be available for consumers, whereas the workers will be least benefited. The results also present the scale of change with the adoption of circular economy with respect to every social impact category, as well as corresponding performance indicators. Conclusion: The study presents a general trend of the potential social trade-offs of implementation of CE in the construction sector. The results can aid construction management and policy makers to design and implement strategies for the welfare of various stakeholders. The research is also of value for accounting social impacts of transitioning to CE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]