Standards Development

Scope

This document provides a global framework for social life cycle assessment based on principles. The framework includes assessment systems for social impacts and their possible link and interaction with environmental impacts and costs effects. This approach is in line and supports the new Scope of ISO/TC 207with regards to advancing in the field of sustainability and is an important standard for developments of sustainability assessments in a life cycle context.

The document guides practitioners from industries, SME, government, universities and NGO in the efficient and credible development and implementation of practices of the assessment of social impacts. This framework supports addressing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and reaching the targets by identifying the enabling aspects from the inhibiting ones (with detrimental contribution). The scope of the framework covers guidance for the scope definition, data and information handling, the assessment, interpretation and reporting of social aspects in a life cycle approach.

Purpose

Social impacts assessments are relevant in the sustainability context and needs to be considered in the Life Cycle Assessment context. Although there is a high demand of integrating social aspects in life cycle assessments or holistic sustainability evaluations, there is no ISO standard available that describes the processes and approaches.

The proposal will address how social indicators should be considered, evaluated, interpreted and reported. It will standardize how this type of assessments should be developed, what the different steps will be to fulfil and how the structure of such a process should look like for the generation of meaningful results. The ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 will be an important basis where this standard will rely on and is based. These important standards are needed but are not covering specific requirements on social aspects. They have to be worked out in a new standard that can be applied to products, services on one hand but on the assessment of companies and integration of their results to a sustainability study on the other hand.

A simple replacement of environmental indicators by social impacts is not possible because social impacts are needed to be evaluated with a different approach which includes the stakeholder categories in the assessment.

General guidance for the preparation of S-LCA study is needed to support practitioners in the assessment of social impacts. The number of social impacts that can be considered is very high, much higher than the impact categories mainly used in an environmental LCA and at different types of impact categories have been identified in the praxis: type I called Reference Scale and type II Impact Pathway much similar to the LCIA .

The procedures for selecting a set of meaningful indicators, the assessment, interpretation, summary and reporting are important steps that needs to be standardized, and based on robust social science principles Consider the following: What problem does this document solve? Different international reference documents have been published dealing with social impacts in a life cycle perspective.

These documents are based on different approaches and where not harmonized so far. General principles, definitions, terms etc. need to be standardized to give practitioners a common platform where they can base their assessments on. Like the ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 standards for LCA, a similar harmonized standard for Social LCA needs to be developed that address the specificities of social aspects and impacts and will serve the development for S-LCA type of studies.

This harmonized standard will enable covering the increasing demand for this type of studies. S-LCA  can support decision-making in the sustainability assessment together with LCA which focuses on environmental assessment. The combination of both approaches can be covered with this standard.

The definition of goals and scope, materiality, functional units, system boundaries and assessments systems with specific data requirements will be covered in this Standard. The next steps of preparation of results, their reporting and interpretation will be covered as well and will give guidance for analysing the overall sustainability of products.

The new standard will be the basis for further developments of specific tools addressing social impacts in a life cycle approach. It guides with rules when generating specific studies. It will support database providers as well to provide data in a format that can be used in S-LCA studies. Is there a verified market need for the proposal?

Recent international developments such as the Capitals coalition, Roundtable for Product Social metrics, the Project for the revision of the UNEP Guidelines funded by UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative, the UN Global compact initiative for sustainable finance, the provision of SDG and the subsequent use of the SDG in society, industry and government as well as in the Green Deal of the EU commission gives clear indications that the topic of the assessment of social aspects in an LCA context is needed in the market and will give this type of analysis a push to further applications. Organizations as Together for Sustainability, Ecovadis, GRI etc. addresses social impacts and will benefit from a harmonized standard to address social aspects.

Guidance and harmonization through an internationally acknowledged sustainability framework are required. What value will the document bring to end-users? Transparency on social impacts along supply chains and/or along a life cycle product is important for end-users/consumer.

This valuable and meaningful information helps consumers to make betterinformed purchasing decisions in favour of sustainability topics. Importance of environmental impacts increased in the last decades, thus, helping societies to transition towards a sustainable development.

However the sustainability has three pillars including the social welfare and wellbeing as well as human dignity which are becoming increasingly relevant and more and more in the focus of end-users. Social aspects and impacts need to be addressed in a meaningful, understandable, comprehensive way in response to increasing social concerns.

The way social impacts and related indicators were selected, assessed and interpreted need to be also clearly presented. The link to the SDG gives clarity on gaps and indicate possible paths towards the fulfilling of the targets and goals of Agenda 2030. It should give clear indications, how end-users can contribute. It highlights products from a social perspective and supports decision-making as well as the development of products with new features and profiles increasing the sustainable design and production.

Target beneficiaries are decision-makers from business and Governments, civil society organizations representing different social-related concerns (e.g. abating child labour), labelling organizations, consultants and experts requiring in-depth social impacts studies following a life cycle approach.

Potential benefits for stakeholders and practitioners involved including consumers and societies include:

• reduced risk of non-compliance with legal and non-legal requirements; to fulfil environmental and social criteria in line with the guidance principles of the whole supply chain.

• increased revenue through improved market access and securing longer-term contracts, who may give preferential treatment to enterprises providing products that are compliant with the guidance principles;

• improved and more transparent management systems;

• improved access to funding and credit from financial institutions willing to mitigate risks by requiring compliance with the guidance principles improving the social impacts and fulfilling needs from the SDG;

• demonstrated commitment to sustainability* along value chains of products. End-users of this document include companies, traders, organizations, … of products along value chains benefit from a harmonized and standardized approach.

The new standard will support to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. It will deliver guidance on how addressing impacts to specific SDG, mainly with social background and impacts. So almost all are covered.

Specifically the focus where environmental impacts are linked with social aspects are the poverty alleviation (SDG1), Zero Hunger (SDG2), Good Health and Well-being (SDG 3) Quality Education (SDG4), Gender equality (SDG5), Clean Water and Sanitation (SDG6), Decent Work and Economic Growth (SDG8), , Reduced Inequalities (SDG10), Sustainable Cities and Communities (SDG11), Responsible Consumption and Production (SDG12), Peace and Justice Strong Institutions (SDG16) among others