Skip to main content
Fachgebiete
Automobil + Motoren Bauwesen + Immobilien Business IT + Informatik Elektrotechnik + Elektronik Energie + Nachhaltigkeit Finance + Banking Management + Führung Marketing + Vertrieb Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe Versicherung + Risiko
DE
EN
Themenseiten
Organisationspsychologie Projektmanagement Marketing Smart Manufacturing
Bücher
Zeitschriften
Weitere Formate
Podcasts Webinare Technik Webinare Wirtschaft Kongresse Veranstaltungskalender Awards
Jetzt Einzelzugang starten
Zugang für Unternehmen
Referenzkunden
MTZ-Fachkongress

Antriebe und Energiesysteme von morgen


Austausch von Automobil- und Energiewirtschaft

Am 14./15. Mai geht es in Chemnitz um die Mobilitätswende durch Elektro- und Wasserstofffahrzeuge.
Erweiterte Suche
Anmelden
nach oben
The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment
Erschienen in: The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 2/2020

26.10.2019 | SOCIETAL LCA

A critical view on social performance assessment at company level: social life cycle analysis of an algae case

verfasst von: Parisa Rafiaani, Tom Kuppens, Gwenny Thomassen, Miet Van Dael, Hossein Azadi, Philippe Lebailly, Steven Van Passel

Erschienen in: The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment | Ausgabe 2/2020

Einloggen

Aktivieren Sie unsere intelligente Suche, um passende Fachinhalte oder Patente zu finden.

search-config
loading …

Abstract

Purpose

Social indicators are not easy to be quantitatively analyzed, although at the local scale, the social impacts might be relevant and important. Using the existing approaches for both quantitative and semi-qualitative measurements, this study aims to assess the social impacts of a company working on algae production systems in Belgium through social life cycle analysis (SLCA). By highlighting the opportunities and challenges on the way of applying the existing SLCA approaches at company level, the objective of this study is to contribute to the development of a suitable and clear SLCA approach when a company is considered as the unit of analysis.

Methods

Based on the list of potential social impact categories suggested by the United Nations Environment Program/Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (UNEP/SETAC) guidelines (2009) for SLCA, three stakeholder groups (workers, consumers, and local community) and three subcategories associated with each stakeholder group were identified as the most relevant for carbon capture and utilization technologies. Company and sector level data were collected using existing documents and reports, and the data were analyzed and scored using a combined quantitative and semi-quantitative approach to develop a social assessment model for the case study.

Results and discussion

The company appears to perform well for all the evaluated social indicators except the one related to the subcategory “equal opportunity/discrimination for workers” for which the share of women employed is lower compared with the sector-level data. The results of our assessment were further discussed regarding the challenges and limitations of performing SLCA at the company level. Based on our experience, the validity of the outcomes is significantly influenced by the data availability, the generality of the indicators introduced within the UNEP/SETAC guidelines, and the subjectivity in data collection for the semi-quantitative assessment among others.

Conclusions

By highlighting the difficulties and challenges of applying the SLCA at the company level, our study provides a starting point for improving the quantitative assessment and monitoring social implications at the company level within a regional foreground in Europe.
Vorheriger Artikel Comparative life cycle assessment of car disc brake systems—case study results and method discussion about comparative LCAs
Nächster Artikel Different paths in social life cycle impact assessment (S-LCIA)—a classification of type II impact pathway approaches

Sie haben noch keine Lizenz? Dann Informieren Sie sich jetzt über unsere Produkte:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

  • über 102.000 Bücher
  • über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

  • Automobil + Motoren
  • Bauwesen + Immobilien
  • Business IT + Informatik
  • Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
  • Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
  • Finance + Banking
  • Management + Führung
  • Marketing + Vertrieb
  • Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
  • Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

Jetzt informieren

Springer Professional "Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

  • über 67.000 Bücher
  • über 390 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

  • Automobil + Motoren
  • Bauwesen + Immobilien
  • Business IT + Informatik
  • Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
  • Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
  • Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe




 

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

Jetzt informieren
Fußnoten
1
The calculation of living wage by WageIndicator Foundation considers the following six components: food, housing, transportation, health, education, and other expenditures (e.g., clothing, personal care), all in the local context. More information on https://​wageindicator.​org/​salary/​living-wage/​belgium-living-wage-series-december-2018
 
Literatur
Alvarez-ChÁvez CR, Edwards S, Moure-Eraso R, Geiser K (2012) Sustainability of bio-based plastics: general comparative analysis and recommendations for improvement. J Clean Prod 23:47–56
Anker R (2011) Estimating a living wage: a methodological review. International Labour Office, Geneva
Aparcana S, Salhofer S (2013) Application of a methodology for the social life cycle assessment of recycling systems in low income countries: three Peruvian case studies. Int J Life Cycle Assess 18(5):1116–1112
Baumann H, Tillman A (2004) The hitchhiker’s guide to LCA: an orientation in life cycle assessment methodology and application. Studentlitteratur, Lund
Benoît C, Norris GA, Valdivia S, Ciroth A, Moberg A, Bos U, Prakash S, Ugaya C, Beck T (2010) The guidelines for social life cycle assessment of products: just in time!. Int J Life Cycle Assess 15(2):156–163
Bouzid A, Padilla M (2014) Analysis of social performance of the industrial tomatoes food chain in Algeria. Mediterranean journal of economics, agriculture and environment. New Medit 13(1):60–65
Campbell PK, Beer T, Batten D (2011) Life cycle assessment of biodiesel production from microalgae in ponds. Bioresour Technol 102(1):50–56
Chang Y-C, Wang J-D (1995) Cumulative injury rate and potential workdays and salary lost. Scand J Work Environ Health 21(6):494–503
Chhipi-Shrestha GC, Rehan Sadiq KH (2015) ‘Socializing’ sustainability: a critical review on current development status of social life cycle impact assessment method. Clean Techn Environ Policy 17:579–596
Chou C-J, Chen C-W, Conley C (2015) An approach to assessing sustainable product-service systems. J Clean Prod 86:277–284
Christiansen L, Lin H, Pereira J, Topalova P, Turk R (2016) Individual choice or policies? Drivers of female employment in Europe. IMF Working Paper WP/16/49, Washington D.C
Ciroth A, Franze J (2011) LCA of an ecolabeled notebook: consideration of social and environmental impacts along the entire life cycle. GreenDeltaTC GmbH, Berlin
Daroch M, Geng S, Wang G (2013) Recent advances in liquid biofuel production from algal feedstocks. Appl Energ 102:1371–1381
Dreyer L, Hauschild M, Schierbeck J (2006) A framework for social life cycle impact assessment. Int J Life Cycle Assess 11(2):88–97
Dreyer L, Hauschild M, Schierbeck J (2010) Characterisation of social impacts in LCA. Part. 2: implementation in six company case studies. Int J Life Cycle Assess 15:385–402
Efroymson RA, Dale VH, Langholtz MH (2017) Socioeconomic indicators for sustainable design and commercial development of algal biofuel systems. GCB Bioenergy 9:1005–1023
Ekener-Petersen E, Finnveden G (2013) Potential hotspots identified by social LCA—part 1: a case study of a laptop computer. Int J Life Cycle Assess 18:127–143
Ekener-Petersen E, Höglund J, Finnveden G (2014) Screening potential social impacts of fossil fuels and biofuels for vehicles. Energ Policy 73:416–426
Foolmaun RK, Ramjeeawon T (2013) Comparative life cycle assessment and social life cycle assessment of used polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles in Mauritius. Int J Life Cycle Assess 18:155–171
Franze J, Ciroth A (2011) A comparison of cut roses from Ecuador and the Netherlands. Int J Life Cycle Assess 16:366–379
Garrido SR, Parent J, Beaulieu L, Revéret J-P (2018) A literature review of type I SLCA—making the logic underlying methodological choices explicit. Int J Life Cycle Assess 23(3):432–444
Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) (2006) Sustainability Reporting Guidelines, Amsterdam
Gnansounou E, Raman JK (2016) Life cycle assessment of algae biodiesel and its co products. Appl Energ 161:300–308
Greco S, Ishizaka A, Tasiou M, Torrisi G (2019) On the methodological framework of composite indices: a review of the issues of weighting, aggregation, and robustness. Soc Indic Res 141(1):61–94
Handler RM, Shonnard DR, Kalnes TN, Lupton FS (2014) Life cycle assessment of algal biofuels: influence of feedstock cultivation systems and conversion platforms. Algal Res 4:105–115
Hannouf M, Assefa G (2018) Subcategory assessment method for social life cycle assessment: a case study of high-density polyethylene production in Alberta, Canada. Int J Life Cycle Assess 23(1):116–132
Hosseinijou S, Mansour S, Shirazi M (2014) Social life cycle assessment for material selection: a case study of building materials. Int J Life Cycle Assess 19:620–645
Idris MNM, Hashim H, Lim JS, Ho CS (2017) Economic assessment of microalgae-based CO2 utilization in power plant sector in Malaysia. Chem Eng Trans 56:643–648
ISO (2006) Environmental management—life cycle assessment - principles and framework. International Organization of Standardization
Jørgensen A, Le BA, Nazarkina L, Hauschild MZ (2008) Methodologies for social life cycle assessment. Int J Life Cycle Assess 13(2):96–103
Khan MI, Shin JH, Kim JD (2018) The promising future of microalgae: current status, challenges, and optimization of a sustainable and renewable industry for biofuels, feed, and other products. Microb Cell Fact 17(1):36
Koller M, Salerno A, Tuffner P et al (2012) Characteristics and potential of microalgal cultivation strategies: a review. J Clean Prod 37:377–388
Lardon L, Hélias A, Sialve B, Steyer J-P, Bernard O (2009) Life-cycle assessment of biodiesel production from microalgae. Environ Sci Technol 43:6475–6481
Madugu FU (2015) Modelling and analysis of the techno-economic and social impacts of an algal oil production facility. School of Energy, Environment and Agrifood Offshore Renewable and Energy Engineering, Cranfield University
Manik Y, Leahy J, Halog A (2013) Social life cycle assessment of palm oil biodiesel: a case study in Jambi Province of Indonesia. Int J Life Cycle Assess 18(7):1386–1392
Martínez-Blanco J, Lehmann A, Muñoz P, Antón A, Traverso M, Rieradevall J, Finkbeiner M (2014) Application challenges for the social LCA of fertilizers within life cycle sustainability assessment. J Clean Prod 69:34–48
Martínez-Blanco J, Lehmann A, Chang Y-J, Finkbeiner M (2015) Social organizational LCA (SOLCA)—a new approach for implementing social LCA. Int J Life Cycle Assess 20:1586–1599
Menetrez MY (2012) An overview of algae biofuel production and potential environmental impact. Environ Sci Technol 46:7073–7085
Méthot A (2005) FIDD: a green and socially responsible venture capital fund. Presentation on the Life Cycle Approaches for Green Investment—26th LCA Swiss Discussion Forum, 2005, Lausanne, Switzerland
Montero MJ, Araque RA, Rey JM (2009) Occupational health and safety in the framework of corporate social responsibility. Saf Sci 47(10):1440–1445
Musaazi MK, Mechtenberg AR, Nakibuule J, Sensenig R, Miyingo E, Makanda JV, Hakimian A, Eckelman MJ (2015) Quantification of social equity in life cycle assessment for increased sustainable production of sanitary products in Uganda. J Clean Prod 96:569–579
Neugebauer S, Traverso M, Scheumann R, Chang Y-J, Wolf K, Finkbeiner M (2014) Impact pathways to address social well-being and social justice in SLCA—fair wage and level of education. Sustainability 6:4839–4857
Neugebauer S, Emara Y, Hellerström C, Finkbeiner M (2017) Calculation of fair wage potentials along products’ life cycle–introduction of a new midpoint impact category for social life cycle assessment. J Clean Prod 143(1):1221–1232
NRC (2012) Sustainable development of algal biofuels in the United States. Committee on the Sustainable Development of Algal Biofuels. National Research Council of the National Academies. The National Academies Press, Washington, DC
Ofori Agyekum E, Fortuin KPJ, van der Harst E (2017) Environmental and social life cycle assessment of bamboo bicycle frames made in Ghana. J Clean Prod 143:1069–1080
Omann I (2007) A multicriteria tool for evaluating the impacts of product service systems on sustainable development: an application in Austrian companies. SERI Working paper 5:1–28
Parent J, Cucuzzella C, Revéret J-P (2010) Impact assessment in SLCA: sorting the sLCIA methods according to their outcomes. Int J Life Cycle Assess 15:164–171
Parent J, Cucuzzella C, Reveret J (2013) Revisiting the role of LCA and SLCA in the transition towards sustainable production and consumption. Int J Life Cycle Assess 18(9):1642–1652
Petti L, Ramirez PKS, Traverso M, Ugaya CML (2018) An Italian tomato “Cuore di Bue” case study: challenges and benefits using subcategory assessment method for social life cycle assessment. Int J Life Cycle Assess 23(3):569–580
Plaza M, Herrero M, Cifuentes A, Ibanez E (2009) Innovative natural functional ingredients from microalgae. J Argic Food Chem 57:7159–7170
Prasara-A J, Gheewala SH (2018) Applying social life cycle assessment in the Thai sugar industry: challenges from the field. J Clean Prod 172:335–346
Rafiaani P, Kuppens T, Van Dael M, Azadi H, Lebailly P, Van Passel S (2018) Social sustainability assessments in the biobased economy: towards a systemic approach. Renew Sust Energ Rev 82(2):1839–1853
Rafiaani P, Dikopoulou Z, Van Dael M, Kuppens T, Azadi H, Lebailly P, Van Passel S (2019) Identifying social indicators for sustainability assessment of CCU technologies: a modified multi-criteria decision making technique. Soc Indic Res. https://​doi.​org/​10.​1007/​s11205-019-02154-4
Raj-Reichert G (2013) Safeguarding labour in distant factories: health and safety governance in an electronics global production network. Geoforum 44:23–31
Ramirez PKS, Petti L, Haberland NT, Ugaya CML (2014) Subcategory assessment method for social life cycle assessment. Part 1: methodological framework. Int J Life Cycle Assess 19:1515–1523
Ramirez PKS, Petti L, Brones F, Ugaya CML (2016) Subcategory assessment method for social life cycle assessment. Part 2: application in Natura’s cocoa soap. Int J Life Cycle Assess 21:106–117
Rizwan M, Lee JH, Gani R (2015) Optimal design of microalgae-based biorefinery: economics, opportunities and challenges. Appl Energ 150:69–79
Ronzon T, Santini F, M’Barek R (2015) The bioeconomy in the European Union in numbers. Facts and figures on biomass, turnover and employment; European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Institute for Prospective Technological Studies: Seville, Spain
Schmidt I, Meurer M, Saling P, Kicherer A, Reuter W, Gensch C (2004) SEEbalance—managing sustainability of products and processes with the socio-eco-efficiency analysis by BASF. Green Manage Int 45:79–94
Siebert A, Bezama A, O’Keeffe S, Thrän D (2018) Social life cycle assessment indices and indicators to monitor the social implications of wood-based products. J Clean Prod 172:4074–4084
Sousa-Zomer TT, Miguel PLC (2018) The main challenges for social life cycle assessment (SLCA) to support the social impacts analysis of product-service systems. Int J Life Cycle Assess 23(3):607–616
Spierling S, Knüpffer E, Behnsen H, Mudersbach M, Krieg H, Springer S, Albrecht S, Herrmann C, Endres H-J (2018) Bio-based plastics - A review of environmental, social and economic impact assessments. J Clean Prod 185:476–491
Spillemaeckers S, Vanhoutte G, Taverniers L, Lavrysen L, van Braeckel D, Mazijn B, Rivera JD (2004) Integrated product assessment—the development of the label ‘Sustainable Development’ for products ecological, social and economical aspects of integrated product policy. Belgian Science Policy, Brussels
Spruijt J (2017) Market analysis and competitiveness of the PUFAChain in ‘van der Voort MPJ, Spruijt J, Potters J, de Wolf PL, Elissen HJH (2017) Socio-economic assessment of Algae-based PUFA production’ Public Output report of the PUFAChain project, Göttingen, December 2017, 79 pp. www.​pufachain.​eu. Accessed 10 Feb 2019
Telles do Carmo BB, Margni M, Baptiste P (2016) Social impacts profile of suppliers: a S-LCA approach. IFAC PapersOnLine 49(2):36–41
Thévenon O (2013) Drivers of female labour force participation in the OECD. OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers No. 145, OECD Publishing
Thomassen G, Van Dael M, Van Passel S (2018) The potential of microalgae biorefineries in Belgium and India: an environmental techno-economic assessment. Bioresour Technol 267:271–280
Traverso M, Asdrubali F, Francia A, Finkbeiner M (2012a) Towards life cycle sustainability assessment: an implementation to photovoltaic modules. Int J Life Cycle Assess 17(8):1068–1079
Traverso M, Finkbeiner M, Jørgensen A, Schneider L (2012b) Life cycle sustainability dashboard. J Ind Ecol 16:680–688
Traverso M, Bell L, Saling P, Fontes J (2018) Towards social life cycle assessment: a quantitative product social impact assessment. Int J Life Cycle Assess 23:597–606
Ugaya C, Brones F, Corrêa S (2011) S-LCA: preliminary results of Natura’s cocoa soap bar. Proceedings of Life Cycle Mangement conference, 2011, Berlin
van Haaster B, Ciroth A, Fontes J, Wood R, Ramirez A (2017) Development of a methodological framework for social life-cycle assessment of novel technologies. Int J Life Cycle Assess 22(3):423–440
Vinyes E, Oliver-Solà J, Ugaya C, Rieradevall J, Gasol C (2013) Application of LCSA to used cooking oil waste management. Int J Life Cycle Assess 18:445–455
Wang S-W, Hsu C-W, Hu A-H (2016) An analytic framework for social life cycle impact assessment—part 1: methodology. Int J Life Cycle Assess 21:1514–1528
Wang S-W, Hsu C-W, Hu AH (2017) An analytical framework for social life cycle impact assessment—part 2: case study of labor impacts in an IC packaging company. Int J Life Cycle Assess 22(5):784–797
Wilson MH, Mohler DT, Groppo JG, Grubbs T, Kesner S, Frazar EM, Shea A, Crofcheck C, Crocker M (2016) Capture and recycle of industrial CO2 emissions using microalgae. Appl Petrochem Res 6(3):279–293
Wu W, Lin K-H, Jo-Shu C (2018) Economic and life-cycle greenhouse gas optimization of microalgae-to-biofuels chains. Bioresour Technol 267:550–559
Yang Y, Zhang B, Cheng J, Pu S (2015) Socio-economic impacts of algae-derived biodiesel industrial development in China: an input–output analysis. Algal Res 9:74–81
Zimmermann AW, Schomäcker R (2017) Assessing early-stage CO utilization technologies-comparing apples and oranges? Energy Technol 5(6):850–860
Zamalloa C, Vulsteke E, Albrecht J et al (2011) The techno-economic potential of renewable energy through the anaerobic digestion of microalgae. Bioresour Technol 102:1149–1158
Zhu L, Huo S, Qin L (2015) A microalgae-based biodiesel refinery: sustainability concerns and challenges. Int J Green Energy 12:595–602
Metadaten
Titel
A critical view on social performance assessment at company level: social life cycle analysis of an algae case
verfasst von
Parisa Rafiaani
Tom Kuppens
Gwenny Thomassen
Miet Van Dael
Hossein Azadi
Philippe Lebailly
Steven Van Passel
Publikationsdatum
26.10.2019
Verlag
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Erschienen in
The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment / Ausgabe 2/2020
Print ISSN: 0948-3349
Elektronische ISSN: 1614-7502
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-019-01702-x

Weitere Artikel der Ausgabe 2/2020

The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 2/2020 Zur Ausgabe

REGIONAL TOPICS FROM EUROPE

Comparative life cycle assessment of car disc brake systems—case study results and method discussion about comparative LCAs

CRITICAL REVIEW

(Sprayed) concrete production in life cycle assessments: a systematic literature review

UNCERTAINTIES IN LCA

On the number of Monte Carlo runs in comparative probabilistic LCA

WATER USE IN LCA

Organizational water footprint: a methodological guidance

LCIA OF IMPACTS ON HUMAN HEALTH AND ECOSYSTEMS

Abiotic resource depletion potentials (ADPs) for elements revisited—updating ultimate reserve estimates and introducing time series for production data

COMMENTARY AND DISCUSSION ARTICLE

From the allocation debate to a substitution paradox in waste bioenergy life cycle assessment studies