Addressing positive impacts in social LCA—discussing current and new approaches exemplified by the case of vehicle fuels

Ekener, Elisabeth; Hansson, Julia; Gustavsson, Mattias

doi:10.1007/s11367-016-1058-0

Cited by 59 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…From an empirical perspective, positive performance is more likely to emerge from the social dimension of sustainability (e.g., Ekener et al. ; Vinyes et al. ) than from the ecological dimension, which mainly focuses on assessing negative impacts, because the ultimate purpose of social actions is to improve people's well‐being (Kroeger and Weber ).…”

Section: Theoretical Background and Relevant Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although social performance measurement approaches, such as social life cycle assessment (SLCA), have the potential to record and display negative and positive performances, such approaches are still in the developmental stage and have to overcome various challenges to become widely accepted assessment methodologies (Ekener et al. ). Arcese and colleagues () conclude that SLCA has become a highly fragmented field without a coherent theoretical understanding and without a clear prioritization of problems and future research directions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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From SLCA to Positive Sustainability Performance Measurement: A Two‐Tier Delphi Study

Kühnen

Hahn

2018

J of Industrial Ecology

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Summary Life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) currently has a preoccupation with capturing and repairing negative dysfunctions and pathologies instead of fostering positive features that make a human life sustainable and worth living. With the intention to overcome this imbalance, this paper aims at transferring the shift to a positive sustainability performance measurement (PSPM) perspective in industrial ecology. We argue that positive performance is likely to develop from the lens of social life cycle assessment (SLCA), because sustainability is an anthropocentric concept that puts positive benefits to human well‐being (i.e., the social dimension of sustainability) at the center of the analysis. However, the field of SLCA is highly fragmented, without a coherent theoretical understanding and without a clear prioritization of problems and future research directions. Therefore, we engage in an extensive Delphi study with experts from academia and practice to foster a discussion of lessons learned from SLCA for PSPM. In this way, the paper contributes to a more coherent and deeper understanding of both connected fields. The results emphasize that SLCA has become a defensive risk management instrument against reputational damages, whereas PSPM offers the potential to proactively measure and manage positive contributions to sustainable development. We identify three main challenges (definitional, methodological, and managerial) and two main areas of benefits (organizational and societal) and use them to consolidate the debate on SLCA and PSPM and to provide a roadmap for future research.

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Section: Theoretical Background and Relevant Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

From SLCA to Positive Sustainability Performance Measurement: A Two‐Tier Delphi Study

Kühnen

Hahn

2018

J of Industrial Ecology

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“…Four papers Ekener et al 2017;Petti et al 2017b;Valente et al 2017) mainly focus on the inventory and implementation steps. Fontes et al (2017) (Product social impact assessment) pursue the goal of consolidating principles for the level of product/service social assessment, in accordance with the main literature available and with industrial strategies on social impacts.…”

Section: Improvement For Type I S-lcamentioning

confidence: 99%

Preface

Macombe

Zamagni

Traverso

2017

Int J Life Cycle Assess

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“…In comparison to its environmental life cycle assessment (ELCA) predecessor, which largely considers only negative impacts, SLCA also includes positive impacts relating to social factors (Ekener, Hansson, & Gustavsson, 2016). However, these positive impacts are sometimes simply the absence of a negative one.…”

Section: Positive Impacts In Sustainable Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While the activities discussed in hand printing involves interactions between individuals and social groups, the fundamental theory is still environmentally linked. Ekener et al (2016) divides the subcategories in the SLCA guidelines into positive and negative impacts, and suggested tentative indicators for the 12 positive social impacts that were identified. However, there is no proposed way to identify, measure, and assess the beneficial user values.…”

Section: Positive Impacts In Sustainable Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

An integrated tool to support sustainable toy design and manufacture

Shin

Colwill

2017

Production & Manufacturing Research

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Whilst the importance of considering the positive societal benefits of a product, in addition to other social, economic and environmental factors, has received wider recognition, its definition, concept, and integration into product design are not so well developed and studied. A literature review on sustainable design identified the potential of Social Life-Cycle Assessment as a tool to measure societal benefits of products; however further analysis of sustainable assessment methods highlighted the lack of a coherent definition and method for achieving this. This paper presents a framework for including societal benefits within a product portfolio management process and a prototype tool which aims to support the implementation of the framework within the toy industry, specifically on the societal benefit assessment of the products during the first stage. Finally a simulated case study of three toys is used to exemplify the intended application of this tool and to support the concluding discussions.

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Addressing positive impacts in social LCA—discussing current and new approaches exemplified by the case of vehicle fuels

Cited by 59 publications

References 39 publications

From SLCA to Positive Sustainability Performance Measurement: A Two‐Tier Delphi Study

From SLCA to Positive Sustainability Performance Measurement: A Two‐Tier Delphi Study

Preface

An integrated tool to support sustainable toy design and manufacture

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