LCA of an Ecolabeled Notebook - GreenDeltaTC

Goal and Scope
Stakeholder group society:
Table 10: Indicators of the stakeholder society for background processes
Source: own, referring to UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative (2010)
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Subcategory Indicators
Public commitments
to sustainable issues
Contribution to economic
development
Prevention and
mitigation of conflicts
Technology
development
� Presence of publicly available promises or agreements on sustainable
issues and complaints to the non fulfilment of these commitments
� Implementation/signing of principles or codes of conducts
� Economic situation of the country and relevance of the considered
sector for the economy
� Presence of conflicts in the country
� Risk of conflicts with regard to the sector 38 and measures of the
sector to reduce the risk
� Sector efforts in technology development regarding ecofriendliness
� Investments in technology development
Corruption � Risk of corruption in country/sector
2.2.4.1.3 Social Impact Assessment
The study performs an environmental and a social impact assessment. For E-LCIA, predefined
impact assessment methods exist, as for instance CML, Eco-indicator, Traci, or
ReCiPe. These methods have been broadly discussed in the scientific community.
For S-LCIA, the situation is very different as there are no internationally accepted impact
assessment methods available. GreenDeltaTC developed a first impact assessment
method for social impacts, which is able to consider both quantitative and qualitative
data. 39 This impact assessment method is also applied in this project. The procedure of
the method is explained in detail in the following, to ensure replicability and transparency.
There are two types of impact categories in LCA: endpoints and midpoints. While midpoint
categories model immediate effects as ozone depletion, acidification, or human
toxicity, endpoint categories aim to consider the ”final impact” on the areas of protection
human health, environment, and resources. The developed S-LCIA method considers
exclusively midpoints, because the use of endpoints implies the aggregation of results,
which in turn reduces transparency and increases uncertainty. Furthermore, in
38
For instance, (potential) conflicts due to the depletion of rare resources, massive pollution, or
poor labour standards.
39
Franze/Ciroth (2009)