Introduction to social LCA

Transcription

1 1 Introduction to social LCA Aliénor RICHARD (ULB) WHAT IS A SOCIAL LCA? A social impact assessment technique Social and socio-economic aspects of products Positive and negative impacts Life cycle Références éventuelles 2 1

2 STILL A YOUNG DISCIPLINE In 2009 : first s-lca guidelines (UNEP) Significant number of case studies but: Not standardized Not comparable Different challenges Data availability : few databases Availability of impact assessment methods : still under development Availability of tools : no commercial software tools 3 The goal of a s-lca is to Classify socially significant conditions or attributes into impact categories and impact subcategories Impact Categories Human rights Working conditions Health and safety Cultural heritage Governance Socio-economic repercussions 4 2

3 TWO CLASSIFICATIONS FOR CATEGORIES Stakeholders categories Workers Local community Society Consumer Value chain actors Impact Categories Human rights Working conditions Health and safety Cultural heritage Governance Socio-economic repercussions 5 DETERMINE RELEVANT SUB-CATEGORIES Stakeholders categories Workers Impact sub-categories Freedom of association and collective bargaining Fair salary Hours of work Forced labour Equal opportunity/discrimination Health and safety Social benefit/security 6 3

4 CAUSAL CHAIN FROM COLLECTED DATA TO SOCIAL IMPACTS 7 C. Benoît et B. Mazijn, Éd., Guidelines for social life cycle assessment of products. United Nations Environment Programme, 2009 EXAMPLE FROM INDICATORS TO IMPACTS Category Sub-category Indicators Working conditions Aggregate Social security Aggregate % employees covered by health assurance % employees covered by pension Fair salary % employees covered by Legal contract Use of characterization models 8 4

5 S-LCA FOLLOWS ISO 14040/44 FRAMEWORK 1. Goal and Scope 2. Life Cycle Inventory 3. Life Cycle Impact Assessment 4. Interpretation 9 S-LCA : GOAL AND SCOPE Selection of subcategories (with link to a stakeholder classification) Definition of FU and reference flow Selection of an activity variable (eg : working hours) : to determine the relative importance of elementary processes Define system boundaries FU: - Caracteristics of the product - Social use (functionality, aesthetics, cost, ) - Market segment - Substitution products 10 5

6 S-LCA : LCI Description of the product system (identify hot spot) Collect generic data on social problems in the region Databases, Collect specific data on social, socio-economic indicators Actual situation, social conditions in a factory Interviews, observations, visits, documents, Relate to FU and unit process Not always applicable (qualitative data) Importance to get geographically specific data! 11 S-LCA : IMPACT ASSESSMENT Use of a characterization model to link indicators to impact categories Use of reference points to consider performances Positive and negative impacts possible Cause-effect chain: Indicators mid-points impacts end-point impacts (wellbeing) 12 6

7 CHALLENGES Social impacts often described qualitatively How to aggregate quantitative, semi-quantitative, qualitative indicators? Not possible to allocate to a unit process (social conditions collected at company s level) Characterization methods missing, no generally accepted model 13 GEOGRAPHICAL CONDITIONS : RBC workers Health and security unemployement House hygrometry Local community House thermal conditions Use cost Affordability society Cultural heritage 14 7

8 INVENTORY : WORKERS UNEMPLOYEMENT architects workers unemployement Indicator = Σ i %unempl * m.m i engineers electricians plasterer Statistics (Institut Bruxellois de Statistiques) 15 GEOGRAPHICAL CONDITIONS : RBC workers Local community Health and security House thermal conditions # workaccidents Tmin / yr Tmax / yr Use cost Mean cost/yr (PEB) in Affordability Project cost in 16 8

9 CONCLUSIONS slca is a young discipline, often housing cases elca and slca : complementary techniques Develop relevant criteria for the Brussels building context Propose midpoint and endpoint scores Identify format for the data Need to develop characterization methods Consider all system stages, including investment and use phase. 17 9