The Role of the Social Dimension in Life Cycle Engineering

Transcription

1 Abstract The Role of the Socal Dmenson n Lfe Cycle Engneerng Margot J. Hutchns and John W. Sutherland Department of Mechancal Engneerng-Engneerng Mechancs, Sustanable Futures Insttute Mchgan Technologcal Unversty, Houghton, Mchgan, USA Sustanablty recognzes the nterdependence of ecologcal, socal, and economc systems, and nowhere s the concept of sustanablty more crtcal than n developng natons, whose economes rely heavly on natural resources. Software for lfe cycle assessment (LCA) s becomng ncreasngly effectve n evaluatng the potental envronmental and resource mpacts of desgn and supply chan decsons. As more decsonmakers commt to sustanablty, there s ncreasng pressure to ncorporate economc and socal consderatons nto LCA. In addton, t may be necessary to ncorporate socal mpacts to ensure LCA s relevant wth respect to developng countres. The degree to whch socal mpacts have been ncluded n LCA s brefly revewed and metrcs assocated wth socal mpacts are dscussed. Input-Output analyss s ntroduced as a method for consderng socal mpacts. Keywords Lfe Cycle Assessment, Socal Impacts, Sustanablty, Corporate Socal Responsblty, Economc Input- Output Analyss 1 INTRODUCTION Over the past few decades, the concepts of sustanablty and sustanable development have emerged as humanty has become cognzant of ts ncreasng mpact on the world. The World Commsson on Envronment and Development (WCED) brought the concept of sustanablty to a level of global promnence n Our Common Future (or the Brundtland Commsson Report) and descrbed sustanable development as meetng the needs of the present wthout compromsng the ablty of future generatons to meet ther needs [1]. The Unted Natons (UN) has repeatedly demonstrated ts commtment to sustanablty through efforts such as Agenda 21 [2] and the Mllennum Development Goals [3]. Furthermore, sustanablty has been ntegrated nto the msson of numerous organzatons and nsttutons, from local to nternatonal n scale [4]. Alternatvely, sustanablty can be defned as desgn of human and ndustral systems to ensure that humanknd s use of natural resources and cycles do not lead to dmnshed qualty of lfe due ether to losses n future economc opportuntes or to adverse mpacts on socal condtons, human health and the envronment [5]. The nterrelatonshps among socety, the envronment, and economc/ndustral development are ntegral to the dea of sustanablty. In order to acheve sustanable development n both ndustralzed and developng countres, we must characterze the connectons and nteractons among these three pllars of sustanablty. A balance among the pllars cannot be acheved wthout an adequate understandng of how socetal and ndustral actons affect the envronment or how today s decsons may mpact future generatons. Therefore, ncreased knowledge and awareness of the ssues encompassed by sustanable development s needed. Decson-makers vrtually always address the economc pllar of sustanablty, and over the last decade, ncreasng attenton has been drected at the envronmental pllar through attenton to envronmental lfe cycle mpacts. The pllar assocated wth the socal dmenson of sustanablty, however, has been almost unversally gnored. Clearly, there s a need to ncorporate the socal dmenson nto lfe cycle assessment (LCA) to recognze ts mportance wth respect to sustanablty. In addton, the concept of corporate socal responsblty (CSR) also acknowledges the mportance of the socal dmenson of sustanablty. The Brundtland report concedes the extraordnary pressure that developng countres are under to explot ther envronmental resource base for economc gan. The report hghlghts the dffcultes facng developng countres whose economes rely heavly on ther natural resources. Ths suggests that developng countres focus largely on economc benefts, perhaps at the expense of the envronment; what often does not appear to be consdered, however, are the concomtant socal effects, Whle the Brundtland defnton of sustanablty s wdely known and generally accepted, at the very least as a startng place n constructng a defnton for sustanablty, a defnton for corporate socal responsblty has yet to be establshed. However, there are strong lnkages between the concepts of sustanablty and CSR. Many defntons of CSR nclude references to ethcal behavor related to the envronment, socety, and the economy [6]. For example, as the Internatonal Organzaton for Standardzaton (ISO) Advsory Group on Socal Responsblty began the ground work for ISO 26000, whch wll provde gudelnes for socal responsblty and s set to launch n 2008, t adopted ths defnton of organzatonal socal responsblty: a balanced approach for organzatons to address economc, socal and envronmental ssues n a way that ams to beneft people, communtes and socety [6]. Another recurrng element of CSR s conductng busness n a way that s consstent wth the morals and values of socety, but not necessarly requred by law [7]. The degree to whch an nsttuton exceeds legal expectatons reflects ts approach to corporate socal responsblty. Wnsor [8] dscusses three theoretcal approaches to CSR economc, ethcal, and corporate ctzenshp. An economc CSR perspectve s characterzed by fnancal responsblty, customary ethcs, and lmted publc polcy. An ethcal approach to CSR dsplays self-restrant and altrusm wth an expansve publc polcy. The corporate ctzenshp concepton of CSR s typfed by a multnatonal enterprse focused on tactcally cultvatng poltcal nfluence and corporate reputaton across several legal jursdctons. To clarfy, ths approach has qualtes of both the ethcal and economc approaches, but s not a synthess of them; t has qualtes ndependent of them. Globalzaton and outsourcng have ncreased the complexty of supply chans and the amount of nteracton 55

2 between ndustralzed and developng countres. Developng countres are often challenged wth meetng ther most basc needs (e.g., clean drnkng water and santaton) and are beset wth fundamental health challenges related to nutrton, vaccnatons, shelter, and heat. As a result, decson-makng practces that emphasze solely economc and envronmental mpacts fal to capture the fundamental ssues n developng countres (e.g., need for equty, educaton, and nfrastructure). Poltcal and ndustral nsttutons from the developed world that nteract wth these countres have an ethcal responsblty to consder the socal mplcatons of ther decsons. The call for sustanablty ncreases a company s responsblty to nclude not only ts own processes, but also the actvtes of ts supplers, ther supplers, and users. Therefore, a company seekng to operate n accord wth the prncples of sustanablty or takng an ethcal or ctzenshp approach to corporate socal responsblty must consder ts entre supply chan, not just those lnks whch belong to ts own sphere of legal responsblty [9]. Addressng sustanablty and CSR (as commonly defned) requres consderaton of envronmental, economc, and socal mpacts throughout the lfe cycle of the product. To ensure that more envronmentally and socally responsble decsons are made, decson-makers requre tools that facltate a more complete understandng of potental mpacts. The systems approach of lfe cycle thnkng allows a company to dentfy areas that have sgnfcant mpacts and problem shftng when mpact reductons n one element of a product s lfe cycle result n ncreased mpacts n others. The next secton revews sustanablty as t apples to lfe cycle ssues. Several measures or ndcators of performance wth respect to the socal dmenson are then dscussed. Input-output analyss s ntroduced as a method to ncorporate measures of socal performance nto lfe cycle decson makng. A smple example s presented to llustrate how nput-output modelng may be used to consder the socal dmenson of sustanablty. The paper concludes wth a bref summary and recommendatons for further work. 2 SUSTAINABLE LIFE CYCLE DESIGN The lfe cycle of a product or servce spans across raw materal extracton, materal processng, manufacturng, dstrbuton, use, and dsposal optons (e.g., recyclng) as shown n Fgure 1. The boundary, shown wth a dashed lne, dentfes the processes to be examned va a lfe cycle assessment; the bounded regon specfes the spatal or temporal doman that s to be consdered. The energy, materal and addtonal goods enterng the bounded regon and the emssons extng are talled n the lfe cycle nventory descrbed n the next secton. A lfe cycle assessment can provde nformaton related to the mpacts of the product or servce (.e., envronmental, economc, and socal). Some of these mpacts may be outsde the sphere of a busness s drect control, but not outsde ts sphere of ndrect control. As noted above, pursut of sustanablty requres an nclusve vew of mpacts throughout the lfe cycle. Envronmental lfe cycle assessment (ELCA) s becomng an ncreasngly effectve tool for determnng ecologcal mpacts. Lfe cycle costng (LCC), though not fully developed, seems a lkely canddate to address the economc mpacts of products and servces across ther lfe cycle. A few attempts have been made to construct socal lfe cycle assessment (SLCA) tools, whch ntegrate socal mpacts nto LCA, but ths pllar of sustanablty s surely the most weakly supported by lfe cycle tools. Energy Materals Extracton / Processng Materal Manufacturng Addtonal Goods Dstrbuton to Water to Ar to Land Fgure 1: Generc Product Lfe Cycle 2.1 Lfe Cycle Assessment Use Dsposal ISO establshes the methods for consderng the envronmental mpacts of a product or servce throughout ts lfe cycle. Ths framework conssts of four fundamental steps: goal and scope defnton, lfe cycle nventory analyss, lfe cycle mpact assessment, and nterpretaton [10]. The goal puts forth the purpose and ntended audence of the results of the LCA study. Durng scope defnton, systems boundares are selected to ensure adequate breadth, depth, and detal to support the goal. The purpose of the nventory analyss s to quantfy the relevant nputs and outputs of the product system (e.g., resources and emssons). The mpact assessment typcally nvolves dentfyng categores of envronmental mpacts (e.g., ozone depleton, smog formaton, and acdfcaton), classfyng nventory data nto these categores, and attemptng to understand the envronmental mpacts assocated wth these categores. Fgure 2 shows how mpacts could be categorzed. Ths example s herarchcal wth three levels of categorzaton. The most general categores are on the left and specfc envronmental mpacts assocated wth the categores on the rght. The nterpretaton phase of ELCA, s based on the prevous steps and conssts of the followng elements: 1. dentfcaton of sgnfcant mpacts or mpact categores of the product or servce, 2. evaluaton of the completeness, senstvty, and consstency of the assessment, and 3. conclusons and recommendatons [11]. Energy Consumpton Raw Materals Land Use Toxcty Rsk Water Ar Sold Global Warmng Ozone Depleton Photochemcal Ozone Creaton Acdfcaton Fgure 2: Envronmental mpact categores n LCA (adapted from [12]) Scentsts have successfully developed many models and tools descrbng the mpact pathway the causal 56 PROCEEDINGS OF LCE2006

3 relatonshps between the emsson of a substance and mpacts on varous enttes (e.g., the ozone, ecosystems, and humans) [13]. Ths knowledge makes the converson of data from the lfe cycle nventory to the lfe cycle mpact assessment possble. Fgure 3 shows the range of spatal scales that may be consdered n ELCA, wth examples of mpacts at each scale. Knowledge of the effects of polluton has grown n breadth and depth over the last century. Intal polluton management and research focused on the regonal level [5]. Because ssues such as bo-accumulatve persstent toxcty and global clmate change are better understood, mpact pathways that are spatally and temporally broader than n the past may be consdered. Understandng the transport mechansm between emssons and mpacts has also been useful n establshng emsson control and complance strateges. Emsson Source Local Workplace Effects Communty Impacts Regonal Smog Acd Ran Global Ozone Depleton Global Warmng Fgure 3: Envronmental Impact Transport Across Scales The ISO lfe cycle standard provdes a useful tool to facltate consderaton of the broader mpacts of ndustral actvty and decsons. However, the scope of lfe cycle assessment has generally been lmted to envronmental mpacts. In order to address sustanablty, economc and socal ssues must also be consdered. 2.2 Lfe Cycle Costng The Socety of Envronmental Toxcology and Chemstry Europe s workng group on lfe cycle costng has defned t as an assessment of all costs assocated wth the lfe cycle of a product that are drectly covered by any one or more of the actors n the product lfe cycle (suppler, producer, user/consumer, end-of-lfe actor), wth complmentary ncluson of externaltes that are antcpated to be nternalzed n the decson-relevant future [14]. Ths defnton s somewhat broader and more applcable to sustanablty than prevous defntons [15]. Tradtonally, LCC has been performed from the perspectve of a corporate or consumer decson-maker and the focus has been on drect costs and benefts. By ncludng complementary externaltes, less tangble or hdden costs may be ntroduced. These costs may or may not have been ncluded as overheads n conventonal cost accountng; however, ctng them specfcally through LCC facltates greater understandng of ther relatonshp to the product or servce beng provded. When usng ELCA n conjuncton wth LCC, care should be taken to ensure mpacts are not double counted as envronmental mpacts and externaltes. 2.3 Socal Dmenson of LCA There has been a global movement toward ncreased use and relevance of LCA [16]. The Unted Natons Envronmental Program (UNEP) has partnered wth the Socety of Envronmental Toxcology and Chemstry (SETAC) n a Lfe Cycle Intatve. The msson of the ntatve s to develop and dssemnate practcal tools for evaluatng the opportuntes, rsks, and trade-offs assocated wth products and servces over ther entre lfe cycle to acheve sustanable development [16]. Specfc goals nclude: ncreasng and mprovng applcaton of lfe cycle approaches, ncreasng the access to and qualty of LCI databases, and evaluatng envronmental mpacts through task forces orented toward experencesharng/gudance and practce/tranng. Recently, members of ths ntatve determned that soco-economc aspects should be ncluded n lfe cycle management [17]. To support ths goal, the members beleve socal scentsts should be nvolved n the effort and a survey of soco-economc ndcators s necessary. Furthermore, the ntatve has proposed a number of cross-cuttng task forces, the am of whch s to address ssues that have been dentfed as relevant n the overall user needs assessment and concern more than one program. Interestngly, only one cross-cuttng task force has been nsttuted ts objectve s ntegratng socal aspects n LCA. There have been a few efforts toward ntegratng socal aspects nto a lfe cycle format n the past decade. Most notable are O Bren et al. [18] and Dreyer et al. [19]. The approach of O Bren et al., supplements ELCA by dentfyng socal and poltcal factors that contrbute to envronmental ssues. One of the key elements of ths approach s analyzng the envronmental nventory and mpacts to determne the controls over, organzaton of and actons n the lfe cycle [18]. In ths way, the connecton between envronmental mpacts and socal, cultural, and poltcal structures are emphaszed. The framework suggested by Dreyer et al. [19], seeks to become a corporate decson-makng tool and addresses the mpacts of products and servces on people, specfcally promotng human health, human dgnty, and basc needs fulfllment. The authors advocate use of a two-tered approach, ncludng an oblgatory porton guded by unversal and local/country norms (e.g., Internatonal Labour Organzaton Conventons, natonal envronmental regulatons) and an optonal porton, whch would allow parameters of specal nterest or relevance to be ncorporated. Subjectvty related to the ncluson of socal mpacts would be revealed by leveragng the emphass on transparency wthn the ISO ELCA framework. The methodology recognzes that the depth and breadth of LCA studes may vary wdely, but requres approprate documentaton of the nformaton underlyng the LCA (e.g., assumptons, data sources and qualty). One of the challenges assocated wth ntegratng the envronmental, economc, and socal dmensons nto a lfe cycle framework s clarfyng the boundares between related mpacts [9, 17, 20]. For example, f a manufacturng faclty were to employ a polluton preventon technology that sgnfcantly reduced the amount of carcnogens beng released from the faclty, there would be some questons regardng the dstrbuton of mpacts among envronmental, economc, and socal categores. The change n carcnogens n the envronment would be lnked to correspondng changes n human health (a socal concern). Furthermore, the changes n human health would be lnked to changes n health care cost (an economc concern). Would the mproved vtalty of the envronment be best categorzed as an envronmental or socal mpact? Would lost wages due to llness be categorzed as a socal or economc concern? In consderng the socal mpacts of corporate actons, Fgure 4 shows the nteracton between a company and ts stakeholders. The company provdes ts employees wth wages, and the employees, n turn, provde the company wth labor, skll, and/or expertse. The company may also postvely mpact ts employees (and ther famles) by provdng health care, chld care, and educaton. The basc exchange between a company and ts supplers s money for goods. There may also be opportuntes for each of the stakeholders to have a role n gudng the 13 th CIRP INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LIFE CYCLE ENGINEERING 57

4 values of the company (lkewse, the company may help shape the values of ts stakeholders). For example, f a large company were to requre a certan level of socal responsblty from ts supplers, there would be ncreased ncentve for members of ths ndustral sector to compete to reach ths level of socal responsblty. The communty and larger socety may establsh laws and regulatons that must be met by the company. The company may contrbute taxes, nfrastructure, or phlanthropc gfts to these outsde stakeholders. Owners (or shareholders) nvest fnancal captal n the company and the company may return some funds n the form of profts (or dvdends). The socal ssues assocated wth ownershp nclude fnancal accountablty. Recent examples where companes have dsplayed a lack of socal responsblty to the owners nclude actvtes at Enron, ImClone, and Global Crossng. Identfyng the boundary condton for an assessment of socal mpacts s mportant because of the lnkages between scales. For example, dentfyng a correlaton between educatonal, on-ste chld-care and mproved lteracy rates among employee s chldren would be possble wth adequate data resources. However, the mpact pathway from corporate taxes to mprovements n natonal lteracy rates s complex at best and ndscernble at worst. There s consderable need for better understandng of the causal relatonshps between corporate actvtes and socal mpacts n the greater socety, n order to fully operatonalze a socal lfe cycle assessment. Communty And Greater Socety Supplers Product Workers Company Fgure 4: Boundary Volume for Assessng Socal Performance of a Company Socal Sustanablty Indcators Owners A consensus has not been reached regardng the measurement of sustanablty. Parrs and Kates [21] revewed 12 efforts to defne ndcators of sustanablty, rangng n scale from global (e.g., UN Commsson on Sustanable Development) to local (e.g., the Boston Indcators Project). The ntatves dentfed from 6 to 255 ndcators of sustanablty. In pursut of socal sustanablty crtera, Labuschagne and Brent [22] revewed 31 frameworks, gudelnes, and standards related to socal mpact assessment, corporate socal responsblty, and other formal applcatons of the socetal/busness relatonshp. The authors developed a framework to assess socal sustanablty, whch was valdated through the Delph Technque. The framework was then appled to three case studes. The prmary fndng of ths work was that the calculaton of all socal ndcators was not possble due to a lack of data. The Unted Natons Dvson for Sustanable Development (UNDSD) has adopted a theme/sub-theme framework for organzng and selectng ndcators of sustanable development [23]. Ths framework classfes ndcators frst by the prmary dmenson of sustanable development (e.g., socal), then by theme (e.g., educaton), and fnally by sub-theme (e.g., lteracy). Fgure 5 shows the themes assocated wth socal sustanablty (far left column), subthemes for health, and ndcators for mortalty (far rght column). Notng the correspondence between ths llustraton and Fgure 2, ths framework may lend tself to the categorzaton wthn the lfe cycle nventory and lfe cycle mpact phases of a LCA. Addtonally, reports from the Human Development Report Offce of UNEP provde data for the ndcators for many countres. Equty Educaton Health Securty Housng Populaton Nutrtonal Status Mortalty Healthcare Delvery Santaton Fgure 5: Socal Impact Categores n LCA Infant Mortalty Lfe Expectancy 3 MODELING SOCIAL IMPACTS WITH ECONOMIC INPUT-OUTPUT ANALYSIS Integratng the socal dmenson wthn lfe cycle analyss poses a sgnfcant challenge. One ssue s that of defnton whch socal mpacts or ndcators should be consdered wthn a socal LCA? Dreyer et al., [19] navgate ths ssue wth oblgatory and optonal components n SLCA. The oblgatory porton of the SLCA s dctated by norms, whereas the optonal porton allows decson-makers to select parameters reflectve of ther and ther stake holder s, needs. Another noteworthy ssue s that of data avalablty and complexty. For example, consder a company that s nterested n promotng educaton, specfcally, mprovng lteracy rates, through mprovements n the supply chan. Lteracy rate data would need to be dentfed, and the spatal specfcty of ths data would need to be consdered. Secondly, the mpact pathway between supplers and change n socal ndcators s dffcult to dscern. These concerns are not lmted to socal LCA; envronmental LCA faces smlar dffcultes. Economc nput-output modelng has been useful n mtgatng these obstacles for some applcatons. 3.1 Input-Output Modelng Leontef [24] receved a Nobel Prze for hs work n descrbng economc systems usng nput-output models. An nput-output representaton may be used to descrbe the monetary flows to/from ndustral sectors n response to ncremental changes n the demands on an economy. Input-output models have been establshed for economes at a varety of spatal scales (e.g., natonal, regonal, and local) to understand the mpact on the partcpatng ndustral sectors. Recently, the methodology has been used to predct the envronmental effects (e.g., CO 2 emssons, effluent dscharges, and sold waste outputs) assocated wth a change n demands [25]. Duchn [26] has examned the mpacts of structural changes on nputoutput models, for example, mpacts of less pollutng technques for generatng energy. Input-output modelng may also be used to characterze the effects of changes n economc demands on socal ndcators. 58 PROCEEDINGS OF LCE2006

5 R R R Q X One potental applcaton of nput-output modelng s assessng the effect of a change n a supply-chan on the resultng lfe cycle economc, envronmental, and socal performance. In the context of ths paper, emphass wll be placed on socal ndcators. For example, magne that a company s consderng changng the suppler that provdes a certan component. In ths era of global outsourcng, t may be that the orgnal suppler s wthn one country, and the potental new suppler s from a dfferent country. To demonstrate the effect of such a change on socal performance, consder the followng smple relatonshp: (k) (k) ' S f (M ' M ) f (M ' M ), (1) k where j j (k) f s a functon that maps the monetary nflows of the th country nto the k th ndcator of socal performance, M s the base economc nflow nto the th country, and ' M s the change n economc flow. As s evdent, the change n the k th socal performance ndcator, ' S, s the dfference between the functon evaluated for a postve monetary ncrement for the th country (new suppler) and the functon evaluated for a monetary decrement for the j th country. Of course, Eq. (1) suggests a relatvely smple relaton between the nput and output ths relaton may be extended to consder multple nputs and outputs. 3.2 Example of Input-Output Modelng of Socal Impacts To employ the relatonshp presented n Eq. (1), the frst step s to establsh a model that relates a socal ndcator to the economc flow. Fgure 6 dsplays the nfant mortalty as a functon of gross domestc product (GDP) per capta, as reported n the UN s Human Development Report The vast majorty of the 176 countres ncluded n the data set are UN members and the data s almost entrely for 2003 exceptons are noted wthn the report. It should also be noted the GDP s gven n purchasng power party (PPP) n Unted States currency ($US). Ths approxmates the exchange rate requred to equalze the purchasng power of dfferent currences, gven the cost of lvng for the countres under consderaton. W F N U V M E F F L TKI KJ N F E JKS G HI F D E C IN B C O P ! #"%$ &(' )+*,) /0213.-, : ; < >=?0@A" Fgure 6: Infant Mortalty vs. GDP per Capta, 2003 (natonal data as reported n [27]) Based on the llustrated data, the followng model was establshed to characterze the nfant mortalty ndcator: S Y (M), (2) where S s the nfant mortalty n deaths per 1000 lve brths and M s the GDP per capta. The "ft" of the j k 2 equaton, or R, s Of course, alternatve forms for Eq. (2) may be created and further analyss s possble usng other sources, ncludng the regonal and natonal level development reports publshed by the Unted Natons. As prevously shown n Fgure 5, nfant mortalty s an ndcator categorzed wthn the health theme and mortalty sub-theme of the sustanablty ndcators framework as adopted by the UNDSD. Ths framework s reasonably well suted for ntegraton nto the current ISO methodology for envronmental lfe cycle analyss provdng an opportunty for prelmnary consderaton of socal, as well as envronmental, mpacts. Wth Eq. (2) establshed, t may now be used n concert wth Eq. (1) to predct the effects of a change n the supply chan. As an example, let us consder a stuaton where a company has a U.S. suppler that provdes $100M worth of components. It s desred to understand the socal mpact f a suppler from Mexco s used as an alternatve. The populatons for the US and Mexco are and mllon and the correspondng GDPs per capta, M j and M, are gven as $37,562 and $9,168, respectvely [17]. The brthrates (per 1000 people) for the two countres were and n 2005 [28]. Ths data was used to estmate the total number of brths n and mllon brths n the US and Mexco. Usng Eq. (2), the ntal nfant mortalty rates predcated for the U.S. and Mexco are and 14.30, and the total number of nfant deaths would be 16,675 and 31,337. For the stuaton descrbed above, the change n the economc flows for the U.S. and Mexco, assumng the current exchange rate reflects purchasng power party, translate nto new predcted nfant mortalty rates of and The US nfant mortalty rate remans unchanged because a loss of $100M reflects only a % change n GDP. In summary, the change n supplers, and the resultng changes n GDP, wll hypothetcally result n a reducton of three nfant deaths. 4 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS The concept of sustanablty emphaszes the nterrelatonshps among ecologcal, socal, and economc systems. Untl recently, the socal dmenson of sustanablty has largely been held n abeyance. The need for sustanable development and the push for corporate socal responsblty are drvng the establshment of decson-makng tools drected at socal mpacts. Currently, a number of organzatons and ndvduals are attemptng to establsh measures or ndcators of socal performance. Envronmental lfe cycle assessment s becomng ncreasngly effectve n evaluatng the potental ecologcal mpacts of desgn and supply chan decsons. Lfe cycle costng s focused on determnng the total cost, possbly ncludng externaltes, of goods and servces. To complete the sute of sustanable lfe cycle tools and make LCA relevant to developng countres, a socal lfe cycle assessment s needed. Input-output analyss s one method that could be used to ncorporate socetal mpacts nto decson makng from a lfe cycle perspectve. In ths paper nput-output analyss has been ntroduced and employed as a technque for gudng supply chan and outsourcng decsons. Specfcally, an example has been provded that consders nfant mortalty rate as a functon of GDP per capta. Through the example, a socal ndcator has been lnked to a supply chan decson. 13 th CIRP INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LIFE CYCLE ENGINEERING 59

6 Ths paper has contrbuted to the growng dscusson on ncorporatng the socal dmenson nto lfe cycle assessment. To fully ntegrate socal consderatons nto lfe cycle assessment, much work remans to be completed. The mpact pathways for socal mpacts must be characterzed. Ths ncludes dentfyng the crtcal varables and establshng the condtons under whch the models are vald. Only through a better understandng of the lnkages between busness and socety can we make progress on the path to sustanablty. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors gratefully acknowledge support from Mchgan Technologcal Unversty s Sustanable Futures Insttute and the Sustanable Futures Integratve Graduate Educaton and Research Traneeshp program funded by the Natonal Scence Foundaton. The authors would also lke to thank Greta Hutchns for edtng ths manuscrpt. REFERENCES [1] WCED, 1987, Our Common Future, Oxford Unversty Press, New York. [2] UN, 2002, Agenda 21, Unted Natons Conference on Envronment and Development, Ro de Janero. 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[25] Carnege Mellon Unversty Green Desgn Insttute. 2006, Economc Input-Output Lfe Cycle Assessment (EIO-LCA) model [Internet], Avalable from: [Accessed Jan. 7, 2006]. [26] Duchn, F., 1998, Structural Economcs: Measurng Change n Technology, Lfestyles, and the Envronment, Island Press, Washngton D.C. [27] UN, 2005, Human Development Report 2005: Internatonal cooperaton at a crossroads: Ad, trade and securty n an unequal world, Hoechstetter Prntng Co., New York. [28] Central Intellgence Agency, 2006, The World Factbook, Avalable from: [updated Jan. 10, 2006]. CONTACT Margot Hutchns Mchgan Technologcal Unversty, Department of Mechancal Engneerng-Engneerng Mechancs, 1400 Townsend Dr., Houghton, MI, USA, mjhutch@mtu.edu 60 PROCEEDINGS OF LCE2006