Social Aspects in the Assessment of Biobased Value Chains

Abstract

Social Life-Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) is under continuous development. The Methodological Sheets for Subcategories in S-LCA are a set of guidelines commonly used for the performance of such assessments. They cover a variety of stakeholders and subcategories for the social assessment of products in general. However, they may not necessarily be appropriate for the assessment of biobased value chains of agricultural and forestry origin. The aim of this study is the identification of social aspects relevant for the assessment of biobased value chains across various regions of the world, including those aspects possibly overlooked in the Methodological Sheets for Subcategories in S-LCA. For this purpose, a literature review of empirical studies was performed using the sheets as a reference. The results show that the Methodological Sheets for Subcategories in S-LCA provide good coverage of social topics relevant for biobased value chains, but that the stakeholders “smallholder” and “family farm” are not adequately addressed. Drawing on the empirical literature reviewed, the study emphasizes the relevance of these stakeholders in the analysis of biobased value chains of agricultural and forestry origin, and proposes criteria for consideration in the assessment of this stakeholder.

Identifying methodological challenges in the social risk assessment of cellulosic ethanol value chains

“…Additionally, indicators for the topics “food insecurity” and “working poor,” which are not given in the Soca database, were included in this study due to their relevance for biobased value chains. The aspect of food insecurity is part of the SDG number 2 and is mentioned in the assessment of various biobased value chains (Marting Vidaurre et al., 2020). The aspect “poverty alleviation” is now part of the impact subcategories proposed by the Guidelines for S‐LCA (UNEP et al., 2020) and the aspect “no poverty” is the first SDG.…”

Measuring farmers' well‐being: Influence of farm‐level factors on satisfaction with work and quality of life

“…Research on the social aspects of sustainability is not conclusive on methods to operationalise the social dimension in performance monitoring systems (Janker et al, 2019; Kühnen, 2018; Reidsma et al, 2018), which makes the identification and agreement on indicators a significant and challenging task (Ait Sidhoum et al, 2019) especially when the purpose involves standardisation across several contexts (Marting Vidaurre et al, 2020). In general, it is acknowledged that social aspects include the farmer dimension and also the effects of farming on the social system (Janker et al, 2019; Lebacq et al, 2013).…”

Crosslinked polymers based on monomers derived from renewable resources and their application potential

“…Nevertheless, some of them, for example, vegetable oils derived from sunflower, rapeseed, olive, soy, and coconut [7], may interfere with the food chain, which appears critical in countries with high population density or regions with food shortages. In such countries, nutrition of the population has a strong impact on the social and economic situation [8, 9]. Therefore, food security, which is defined as the ability to access sufficient, safe, and nutritious food, has major importance over using biomass of agricultural and forestry origin for industrial production [9].…”

“…In such countries, nutrition of the population has a strong impact on the social and economic situation [8, 9]. Therefore, food security, which is defined as the ability to access sufficient, safe, and nutritious food, has major importance over using biomass of agricultural and forestry origin for industrial production [9]. Thus, resources based on waste have moved into the focus [10, 11].…”