Embodied Environmental and Social Impacts: A Regionalised Sectoral Method for Low-Carbon Construction Materials in Italy

Elisabetta Palumbo () and Francesco Pomponi
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Elisabetta Palumbo: Department of Engineering and Applied Science (DISA), University of Bergamo, 24129 Bergamo, Italy
Francesco Pomponi: York School of Architecture, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 21, 1-27

Abstract: The decarbonisation of the built environment has increased reliance on Environmental Life Cycle Assessment (E-LCA) to evaluate the impacts of construction materials. However, social aspects—particularly those affecting workers—remain underexplored. This study presents a regionalised approach to support socially and environmentally informed decision-making in the Italian construction sector. For this purpose, we have integrated worker health and safety indicators into the E-LCA of two representative building products assessed across key life cycle stages. These indicators are incorporated into the evaluation of Global Warming Potential (GWP), thus serving as a decision-support tool during the design phase. From a design perspective, the aim is to promote a broader understanding of sustainability—encompassing both environmental and social dimensions—within building projects. Methodologically, the contribution is twofold. First, it addresses the current gap in context-specific data on the critical indicator of worker health and safety in the construction sector, an essential requirement for robust and scientifically recognised S-LCA studies. To this end, the study develops a regionalised scoring system based on publicly available occupational health and safety data from the Italian National Accident Database (INAIL), disaggregated by sector and region. Second, we propose a framework to combine these social indicators with LCA-based environmental impact metrics, which remain central to building-scale E-LCA. It is clear that no single region performs best, while a critical need for multi-criteria decision-making in sustainable design is evident.

Keywords: Environmental Life Cycle Assessment; Social Life Cycle Assessment; sustainable construction; occupational health and safety; regionalised data; material selection (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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