Social Life Cycle Assessment Used in Indigenous Contexts: A Critical Analysis

MacNeil, Kristina Sehlin; Daniels-Mayes, Sheelagh; Akbar, Skye; Marsh, Jillian; Wik-Karlsson, Jenny; Össbo, Åsa

doi:10.3390/su13095158

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…In addition to the documents that collect the fundamental bases on S-LCA, there are numerous articles in the scientific literature that propose new approaches or models [ 38 , [40] , [41] , [42] , [43] , [44] ] or adaptations according to different scopes [ [45] , [46] , [47] , [48] , [49] ]. The analysis of this type of wok is intended to gain a better understanding of the evolution of the methodology along its different streams.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As an alternative to the UNEP guidelines, S-LCA methodologies have been developed from private initiatives. In the scientific literature, there are proposals for frameworks [ 44 , [61] , [62] , [63] , [64] , [65] , [66] ], methodologies with new indicators and category analyses [ [67] , [68] , [69] , [70] ], integration of social and environmental analyses [ 48 , 62 , [71] , [72] , [73] , [74] ] and specific methodologies for industrial products [ 12 , 13 , 46 , 53 , [75] , [76] , [77] , [78] , [79] ]. As a reference, the Handbook for Product Social Impact Assessment (PSIA) [ 80 ] and the SEEbalance © method stand out.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Social life cycle assessment for industrial product development: A comprehensive review and analysis

Mármol,

Martín-Mariscal,

Picardo

et al. 2023

Heliyon

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social life cycle assessment for industrial product development: A comprehensive review and analysis

Mármol,

Martín-Mariscal,

Picardo

et al. 2023

Heliyon

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Feedback between the social dimension and biorefinery supply chain modules (e.g., forest resource, customer choice) will be established by quantifying the indicator results of a social‐life cycle assessment (S‐LCA) method (as part of the LCA model), as suggested by the studies (Fortier et al., 2019; Kühnen & Hahn, 2017; Sehlin MacNeil et al., 2021; Siebert et al., 2018) on the implementation of renewable energy technologies. The S‐LCA indicators may estimate the impacts in multiple social aspects, including the well‐being of the community (employment, household income, food security, etc.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A review of system dynamics modeling for the sustainability assessment of biorefineries

Roy

2022

J of Industrial Ecology

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Bioeconomy has been incorporated into the national strategy for sustainable development by many countries, and the concept of biorefinery has been considered as one of the essential components of such strategies. The environmental, economic, and social implications of a biorefinery hinge upon both the endogenous interactions among its supply chain components and their responses to the exogenous factors. The system dynamics (SD) modeling approach is suitable for understanding such complex systems. This study provides a state-of-the-art review of the methodological assumptions of existing SD studies relevant to the sustainability of biorefineries. Among the reviewed studies, common supply chain components of a biorefinery were feedstock supply, biomass conversion, market demand, distribution, and use of bioproducts. Components of a supply chain are interlinked through feedback loops. For instance, the preference for bioproduct use increases the corresponding market demand, which attracts more investment in biorefineries and changes the supply of feedstock. Exogenous variables investigated by the reviewed studies cover the market demand, population growth, GDP change, imposed regulations and incentives to evaluate endogenous factors such as the price of biomass and biofuel, change in land-use pattern, and fuel or energy choices of consumers. Through analyzing the methodological assumptions, we also identified several limitations of the models/frameworks in the existing literature, including (1) the lack of a mechanism to represent the complex interactions within the supply chain of a biorefinery with a diverse product portfolio, and (2) the lack of feedback loops incorporating the environmental (e.g., via life cycle assessment), economic (e.g., via techno-economic analysis), and social (e.g., via social life cycle assessment) influences into the interactions among supply chain components. Accordingly, we proposed a recommendation for methodology development to address these limitations.

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“…One question is whether we should even talk about well-being in the S-LCA context, since different cultures have different definitions of well-being. For example, the well-being of indigenous communities can be related to their land, and these kind of differences should be taken into account in S-LCA [104].…”

Section: Ethical Challenges Caused By the Interpretationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing WELBY Social Life Cycle Assessment Approach through Cobalt Mining Case Study

et al. 2022

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The interconnected nature of social, environmental, and economic sustainability aspects must be considered in decision-making to achieve strong sustainability. Social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) has been developed to better include social sustainability aspects into life cycle thinking. However, many of the current S-LCA impact assessment approaches have been developed only on a theoretical level, and thus more case studies are needed. We assess the challenges and opportunities of the S-LCA approach through a case study on cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Data for the case study were collected from scientific literature, reports, newspaper articles, and interview material. The applicability and possible strengths and weaknesses of the WELBY approach for the case were interpreted. The results showed that applying the WELBY approach in practice is possible, even though there is a lack of existing case studies. However, there are several challenges that must be addressed before the approach can be more widely used. The main challenge with the WELBY approach is the overestimation of impacts when adding multiple impact categories, as is recommended in the S-LCA guidelines. More case-specific severity weights should be developed to address this challenge. Moreover, the interpretation of the results from the perspective of informal work should be executed carefully. Even though the WELBY approach is promising, more methodological development is still needed to build a more ethical and reliable S-LCA methodology.

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Social Life Cycle Assessment Used in Indigenous Contexts: A Critical Analysis

Cited by 4 publications

References 43 publications

Social life cycle assessment for industrial product development: A comprehensive review and analysis

Social life cycle assessment for industrial product development: A comprehensive review and analysis

A review of system dynamics modeling for the sustainability assessment of biorefineries

Assessing WELBY Social Life Cycle Assessment Approach through Cobalt Mining Case Study

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