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The Role of Social Life Cycle Assessment in Sustainability
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The Role of Social Life Cycle Assessment in Sustainability

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Social Ecology and Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (26 March 2023) | Viewed by 28135

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Luigia Petti

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Economic Studies, “G. d’Annunzio” University Pescara, Pescara, Italy
Interests: life cycle approach; life cycle assessment; social life cycle assessment; social organizational life cycle assessment; sustainable supply chain management; sustainable production and consumption
Dr. Manuela D’Eusanio

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Economic Studies, “G. d’Annunzio” University Pescara, Pescara, Italy
Interests: social organizational life cycle assessment; social life cycle assessment; supply chain management; decision support tools; decision-making process

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In this period of Covid–19, the circumstances have led us to face many questions and unexpected challenges. The point is, we have discovered that we are ready to change our way of living, also in terms of production and consumption. But to do so effectively, we need to better understand our models and patterns.

The need to address social issues is clearly expressed both by the market and the policy makers. The front runners on the market, the innovators have acknowledged that the ability to manage social risks and opportunities along the value chain is a key factor for competitiveness in a globalized economy. The management of social issues is also an opportunity because it allows consumers to be guided in their decision process to buy products based on social features in addition to their function. Moreover, it is an opportunity to recognize those companies that have been creating social value.

Sustainability is not a simple word but a whole concept; to make that happen, all social actors should provide their contribution.

Joining this Special Issue will give you the opportunity to participate in the debate and get to know the methods and tools to use in this new period.

This Special Issue aims to explore the role of social life cycle assessment in terms of methodological and applicative aspects within the framework of sustainability. This means that we are particularly interested in receiving contributions that look into methodological developments by including scientific positioning, literature reviews, and lessons learned on main challenges and future trends, as well as practical applications. Moreover, contributions on understanding the synergies and interlinkages between social life cycle assessment and other methods, tools and approaches as well as sustainable development goals, supply chain management, corporate social responsibility, sustainable production and consumption models, are encouraged.

Prof. Dr. Luigia Petti
Dr. Manuela D’Eusanio
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • social sustainability
  • social life cycle assessment
  • methodological challenges
  • case-studies
  • literature reviews
  • supply chain management
  • sustainable production and consumption models
  • sustainable development goals
  • SDGs

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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10 pages, 1356 KiB  
Article
From Social Accountability 8000 (SA8000) to Social Organisational Life Cycle Assessment (SO-LCA): An Evaluation of the Working Conditions of an Italian Wine-Producing Supply Chain
by Manuela D’Eusanio, Bianca Maria Tragnone and Luigia Petti
Sustainability 2022, 14(14), 8833; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14148833 - 19 Jul 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2237
Abstract
The Life Cycle Thinking (LCT) methodologies allow the entire supply chain of wine to be analysed via a systematic approach. Social Organisational Life-Cycle Assessment (SO-LCA) extends the product perspective of Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) to a more complex view of the organisation, [...] Read more.
The Life Cycle Thinking (LCT) methodologies allow the entire supply chain of wine to be analysed via a systematic approach. Social Organisational Life-Cycle Assessment (SO-LCA) extends the product perspective of Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) to a more complex view of the organisation, assessing the entire organisation or part of it (e.g., facilities, geographical area, brands) from a life cycle perspective. It is implemented via the technical framework adopted by Organisational LCA (O-LCA) and S-LCA and according to ISO 14040:2020 and ISO 14044:2020 standards; it follows four phases: Goal and Scope Definition phase, Life Cycle Inventory (LCI), Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) and Life Cycle Interpretation. This study focuses on the implementation of SO-LCA in a wine-producing organisation starting from a social organisational approach to the working conditions previously evaluated with SA8000. The SO-LCA case study was performed on a consortium composed of nine cooperative wineries located in Chieti, Abruzzo, a region in Central Italy. The existing experience of the consortium with SA8000 provided information and data on the working conditions of the companies involved in the life cycle of the evaluated wine line. All the results were in compliance with our expectations. In the future, it would be desirable to integrate the evaluation based on SA8000 with other data, thus including further working-related social themes in the evaluation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Social Life Cycle Assessment in Sustainability)
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10 pages, 1362 KiB  
Article
Using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) to Introduce Weights to Social Life Cycle Assessment of Mobility Services
by Katharina Gompf, Marzia Traverso and Jörg Hetterich
Sustainability 2021, 13(3), 1258; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13031258 - 26 Jan 2021
Cited by 53 | Viewed by 7196
Abstract
Decisions in social sustainability assessment of mobility services often pose a multi-criteria decision-making issue, as trade-offs can occur between multiple alternatives and a participatory process should be used. Thus, the goal of this research is to support decision-making through determining weightings for different [...] Read more.
Decisions in social sustainability assessment of mobility services often pose a multi-criteria decision-making issue, as trade-offs can occur between multiple alternatives and a participatory process should be used. Thus, the goal of this research is to support decision-making through determining weightings for different criteria and indicators for social sustainability assessment of mobility services. For the weighting process, the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) method was used. A participatory analysis was chosen to identify those weightings. In total, 48 experts in the field of sustainable urban mobility were questioned from three different groups: academic institutions, city authorities, and mobility service providers in order to analyze differences and similarities between these groups. While some indicators resulted in clear prioritization, other indicators revealed large differences between the expert groups. For the majority of indicators, the weighting results were similar for all three groups of experts. Consequently, the results provide clear guidance for decision-makers in the field of sustainable urban mobility. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Social Life Cycle Assessment in Sustainability)
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25 pages, 2432 KiB  
Article
Social Life-Cycle Assessment: A Review by Bibliometric Analysis
by Irene Huertas-Valdivia, Anna Maria Ferrari, Davide Settembre-Blundo and Fernando E. García-Muiña
Sustainability 2020, 12(15), 6211; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12156211 - 1 Aug 2020
Cited by 96 | Viewed by 8506
Abstract
This study examined the literature on social life-cycle assessment (S-LCA) published in the last 15 years (2003–2018) using bibliometric methods. Applying scientific mapping and analyzing publication performance, the study describes the structure of and trends in S-LCA publications in terms of related subject [...] Read more.
This study examined the literature on social life-cycle assessment (S-LCA) published in the last 15 years (2003–2018) using bibliometric methods. Applying scientific mapping and analyzing publication performance, the study describes the structure of and trends in S-LCA publications in terms of related subject categories, authors, journals, countries, and highly cited articles. Challenges and research gaps in the S-LCA literature were also explored. The content of related papers published in the ISI Web of Science databases was examined to identify the main themes investigated, evolution of publication activity, and most representative elements. Analyses were conducted with SciMAT software. This tool enables researchers to map research specialties by extracting qualitative information in the specialized literature and representing it using quantitative measures. The results show rapid and exponential growth of the S-LCA research line in the past ten years, with a clear upward trend in related publications (mostly case studies), especially after publication of the UNEP/SETAC Guidelines for Social Life Cycle Assessment of Products in 2009: 66% of all articles published on S-LCA were published during the period 2015–2018, primarily by European authors. The findings also delineate S-LCA as a highly fragmented research field that has been applied to diverse sectors (agriculture, bioenergy, transport, water management, chemical products, electronics, etc.), mainly in non-European countries. Critical questions concerning methods, framework, paradigms, and indicators remain to be resolved. This study provides insight into the publication performance of S-LCA, characterizing its intellectual structure and salient authors and works. In identifying hotspots in the S-LCA research, the study provides a useful state-of-the-art reference guide for academics and reveals critical research gaps and potential research avenues for future studies to advance in consolidating the discipline. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Social Life Cycle Assessment in Sustainability)
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Review

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29 pages, 11173 KiB  
Review
Social Life Cycle Assessments: A Review on Past Development, Advances and Methodological Challenges
by Louisa Pollok, Sebastian Spierling, Hans-Josef Endres and Ulrike Grote
Sustainability 2021, 13(18), 10286; https://doi.org/10.3390/su131810286 - 15 Sep 2021
Cited by 38 | Viewed by 6489
Abstract
Society’s interest in social impacts of products, services and organizational behaviors is rapidly growing. While life cycle assessments to evaluate environmental stressors have generally been well established in many industries, approaches to evaluate social impacts such as Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) lack [...] Read more.
Society’s interest in social impacts of products, services and organizational behaviors is rapidly growing. While life cycle assessments to evaluate environmental stressors have generally been well established in many industries, approaches to evaluate social impacts such as Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) lack methodological consistency and standardization. The aim of this paper is to identify past developments and methodological barriers of S-LCA and to summarize how the automotive industry contributed to the advancement or application of this method. Therefore, a qualitative content analysis of 111 studies published between 2015 and 2020 is used to gather information on past scientific and political milestones, methodological barriers impeding S-LCA and the participation of the automotive sector. The review shows that a broad range of sectors such as the automotive industry contributed to the testing and advancement of S-LCA in the past but that S-LCA remains a young and immature method. Large-scale application is impeded by major barriers such as the variety of impact categories and sub-categories, the lacking integration of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), issues of linking LCA structures to social phenomena or the difficult tracking of social impact pathways. Further research on standardization possibilities, the connection to political social targets and the testing of methods is necessary to overcome current barriers and increase the applicability and interpretability results. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Social Life Cycle Assessment in Sustainability)
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Other

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13 pages, 3066 KiB  
Perspective
Type I Social Life Cycle Assessments: Methodological Challenges in the Study of a Plant in the Context of Circular Economy
by Georgios Archimidis Tsalidis
Sustainability 2022, 14(22), 15031; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142215031 - 14 Nov 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1710
Abstract
Policymakers need to know where the social externalities of products occur in order to act at the macro level. The Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) method can contribute to the assessment of the social externalities of products; a necessary method supporting the European [...] Read more.
Policymakers need to know where the social externalities of products occur in order to act at the macro level. The Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) method can contribute to the assessment of the social externalities of products; a necessary method supporting the European Union while they transitioning to a circular economy. This study follows the type I approach that explores how the S-LCA results of products manufactured by circular systems can be interpreted. A hypothetical case of industrial water production was designed comprising two product systems: a linear and a circular one. The S-LCA results are calculated using the Subcategory Assessment Method and aggregated or normalized to the number of organizations involved. Furthermore, allocation and weighting were applied to the circular system. The results show that the number of organizations involved in the system boundaries is crucial for the social performance score. Circular systems are expected to comprise more organizations than the existing linear systems. When the results are normalized by the number of organizations, the circular system provides social benefits, but the score values of each involved organization fall outside the score value range of the Subcategory Assessment Method, and they become challenging to interpret. Weighting the contribution of organizations to S-LCA results provides valuable insights, but it is unclear whether it should be performed on characterized inventory data or aggregated results. The application of the type I approach requires development, especially now that the circular economy systems are designed and constructed. The type I approach can be useful to organizations when selecting suppliers, but it is unclear how it can provide useful information to policymakers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Social Life Cycle Assessment in Sustainability)
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