Integration of Social Aspects in Decision Support, Based on Life Cycle Thinking

Annekatrin Lehmann, Daniela Russi, Alba Bala, Matthias Finkbeiner and Pere Fullana-i-Palmer
Additional contact information
Annekatrin Lehmann: Department of Environmental Technology, Technische Universität Berlin, Office Z1, Strasse des 17. Juni 135, D-10623 Berlin, Germany
Daniela Russi: UNESCO Chair in Life Cycle and Climate Change, Escola Superior de Comerç Internacional (ESCI), Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Passeig Pujades, 1, E-08003 Barcelona, Spain
Alba Bala: UNESCO Chair in Life Cycle and Climate Change, Escola Superior de Comerç Internacional (ESCI), Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Passeig Pujades, 1, E-08003 Barcelona, Spain
Matthias Finkbeiner: Department of Environmental Technology, Technische Universität Berlin, Office Z1, Strasse des 17. Juni 135, D-10623 Berlin, Germany
Pere Fullana-i-Palmer: UNESCO Chair in Life Cycle and Climate Change, Escola Superior de Comerç Internacional (ESCI), Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Passeig Pujades, 1, E-08003 Barcelona, Spain

Sustainability, 2011, vol. 3, issue 4, 1-16

Abstract: Recently increasing attention has been paid to complementing environmental Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) with social aspects. The paper discusses the selection of social impacts and indicators from existing frameworks like Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA) and Social Impact Assessment (SIA). Two ongoing case studies, addressing sustainability assessment within decision support, were considered: (1) Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) in Indonesia; and (2) Integrated Packaging Waste Management in Spain and Portugal (FENIX). The focus was put on social impacts occurring due to decisions within these systems, such as choice of technologies, practices or suppliers. Thus, decision makers—here understood as intended users of the studies’ results—are not consumers that buy (or do not buy) a product, such as in recent SLCA case-studies, but mainly institutions that decide about the design of the water or packaging waste management system. Therefore, in the FENIX project, a list of social impacts identified from literature was sent to the intended users to be ranked according to their priorities. Finally, the paper discusses to what extent the entire life cycle is reflected in SLCA impact categories and indicators, and explains how both life-cycle and on-site-related social impacts were chosen to be assessed. However, not all indicators in the two projects will assess all stages of the life cycle, because of their varying relevance in the different stages, data availability and practical interest of decision makers.

Keywords: social impacts; social indicators; SLCA; SIA; LCA; sustainability assessment; integrated water resources management; packaging waste management; software; decision support (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/3/4/562/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/3/4/562/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:3:y:2011:i:4:p:562-577:d:11899

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().