LCA Food 2012 in Saint Malo, France! - Manifestations et colloques ...

GROUP 6, SESSION B: METHODS, TOOLS, DATABASES 8 th Int. Conference on LCA in the
Agri-Food Sector, 1-4 Oct 2012
908
165. Subcategory assessment method: stakeholder workers
Paola Karina Sánchez Ramirez 1,* , Luigia Petti 1 , Cássia Maria Lie Ugaya 2
1 Department of Economic Studies, Università degli Studi "G. D'Annunzio", Pescara, Italy, 2 Technological
Federal University of Parana, Curitiba, Brazil, * Corresponding author. E-mail: p.sanchez@unich.it
Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) is a technique to evaluate potential positive and negative impacts
along the life cycle of a product (UNEP and SETAC 2009). S-LCA follows four phases, similarly to an (environmental)
LCA: goal and scope definition, inventory analysis, impact assessment and interpretation; nevertheless
it requires adaptations (Grießhammer, Benoît et al. 2006). Going from data to impact assessment in
S-LCA is still a challenge. UNEP and SETAC (2009) have presented a contribution by providing a list of 31
subcategories related to 5 stakeholders (workers, consumers, local community, society and value chain actors)
that can be either aggregated to impact categories or modelled, through pathways, to endpoints. Thereafter,
methodological sheets for each of the subcategories were elaborated, including definition, contribution
for the sustainable development, unit and even possible data sources (UNEP and SETAC 2010). Some Life
Cycle Impact Assessment methods, to subcategory level, were also proposed (Dreyer, Hauschild and Schierbeck
(2006); Ciroth and Franze (2011)). The first one is limited to worker stakeholder and the second is not
clear how to evaluate from data to the subcategory and how to aggregate subcategories into impact categories.
The aim of this study is to propose a Subcategory Assessment Method (SAM) to decrease the variability
of the evaluation of subcategories in S-LCA studies. A proposal for stakeholder worker and a case study to
test it are presented. SAM includes 8 subcategories (freedom of association and collective bargaining, child
labor, fair salary, working hours, forced labour, equal opportunities/discrimination, health and safety, social
benefits/social security) from the stakeholder worker of UNEP and SETAC (2009). SAM enables the analysis
of the organisation in four classes (A, B, C and D) for each subcategory. Fulfilling Class A means that the
organisation shows a proactive behaviour compared to the basic requirement. The basic requirement is defined
for each subcategory, based on International Agreements. Class B means that the organisation follows
the basic requirement. Classes C and D identifies the organisation which does not meet the basic requirement
and are differentiated due to generic data which provides background information concerning the possibility
of the environment to have a positive outlook to social issues. SAM was applied in a small winery to evaluate
stakeholder worker. The case study showed that it was possible to collect data and evaluate a company
using SAM. Results show that S-LCA is as time and work demanding as (environmental) LCA, since the
issues are specific and change from company to company, sector to sector, and region to region. SAM may
also be implemented for the whole product life cycle. Future development of SAM will include the other
subcategories, adapting the basic requirement for each one.
References
Ciroth, A., Franze, J., 2011. LCA of an Ecolabeled Notebook – Consideration of Social and Environmental
Impacts along the entire Life Cycle, Berlin.
Dreyer, L.C, Hauschild, M., Schierbeck ,J., 2006. A framework for social life cycle impact assessment. Int J
Life Cycle Assess. 11, 2, 88–97.
Grießhammer, R., C. Benoît, et al., 2006. Feasibility study: integration of social aspects into LCA. Available
from http://www.saiplatform.org/uploads/Library/UNEP-SETACLifeCycleInitiativeTFonSocialIssues-
FeasibilityStudy.pdf Last visited on 13/01/2012.
UNEP and SETAC, 2009. Guidelines for social life cycle assessment of products, United Nations Environment
Program, Paris SETAC Life Cycle Initiative United Nations Environment Programme.
UNEP and SETAC, 2010. Social Life Cycle Assessment: Methodological Sheets of Sub-Categories of Impact
for Social LCA. Available from http://fr1.estis.net/builder/includes/page.asp?site=lcinit&page_id=
D45A9A8F-10FA-4501-BF93-FB9AEAE4D163 Last visited on 23/01/2012