Harmonizing Social LCA in the Agri-Food Sector: A Literature Review

Roberta Guglielmetti Mugion (), Veronica Ungaro, Laura Di Pietro, Atifa Amin and Chiara Moretti
Additional contact information
Roberta Guglielmetti Mugion: Department of Business Studies, Roma Tre University, 00145 Rome, Italy
Veronica Ungaro: Department of Business Studies, Roma Tre University, 00145 Rome, Italy
Laura Di Pietro: Department of Business Studies, Roma Tre University, 00145 Rome, Italy
Atifa Amin: Department of Business Studies, Roma Tre University, 00145 Rome, Italy
Chiara Moretti: Department of Business Studies, Roma Tre University, 00145 Rome, Italy

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 17, 1-18

Abstract: The growing importance of social sustainability in the agri-food sector has increased attention toward Social Life Cycle Assessment as a tool for evaluating social impacts along the value chain. This review aims to explore the application of Social Life Cycle Assessment in the agri-food domain, with a particular focus on the dairy sector, to identify methodological approaches and recurring challenges. A review of the existing literature was conducted, analyzing case studies through a comparative lens based on key methodological dimensions such as stakeholder involvement, impact assessment methods, and database usage. The findings highlight a prevalent reliance on the Reference Scale impact assessment method, limited stakeholder engagement, and a general absence of materiality assessments. Furthermore, data availability and standardization remain critical issues, with most studies depending on generic databases such as SHDB. The review concludes that although progress has been made, further empirical validation and greater standardization are needed.

Keywords: social life cycle assessment; literature review; agri-food; dairy sector (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/17/7957/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/17/7957/ (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:17:y:2025:i:17:p:7957-:d:1741682

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 ().