A critical view on social performance assessment at company level: social life cycle analysis of an algae case

peer reviewed ; Purpose: Social indicators are not easy to be quantitatively analyzed, although at the local scale, the social impacts might be relevant and important. Using the existing approaches for both quantitative and semi-qualitative measurements, this study aims to assess the social impacts of a company working on algae production systems in Belgium through social life cycle analysis (SLCA). By highlighting the opportunities and challenges on the way of applying the existing SLCA approaches at company level, the objective of this study is to contribute to the development of a suitable... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Rafiaani, Parisa
Kuppens, Tom
Thomassen, Gwenny
Van Dael, Miet
Azadi, Hossein
Lebailly, Philippe
Van Passel, Steven
Dokumenttyp: journal article
Erscheinungsdatum: 2019
Verlag/Hrsg.: Springer
Schlagwörter: Algae / CO2 / Social life cycle analysis (SLCA) / Social indicator / Sustainability / Belgium / Life sciences / Agriculture & agronomy / Social & behavioral sciences / psychology / Business & economic sciences / Sciences du vivant / Agriculture & agronomie / Sciences sociales & comportementales / psychologie / Sciences économiques & de gestion
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-26584983
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/242620

peer reviewed ; Purpose: Social indicators are not easy to be quantitatively analyzed, although at the local scale, the social impacts might be relevant and important. Using the existing approaches for both quantitative and semi-qualitative measurements, this study aims to assess the social impacts of a company working on algae production systems in Belgium through social life cycle analysis (SLCA). By highlighting the opportunities and challenges on the way of applying the existing SLCA approaches at company level, the objective of this study is to contribute to the development of a suitable and clear SLCA approach when a company is considered as the unit of analysis. Methods: Based on the list of potential social impact categories suggested by the United Nations Environment Program/Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (UNEP/SETAC) guidelines (2009) for SLCA, three stakeholder groups (workers, consumers, and local community) and three subcategories associated with each stakeholder group were identified as the most relevant for carbon capture and utilization technologies. Company and sector level data were collected using existing documents and reports, and the data were analyzed and scored using a combined quantitative and semi-quantitative approach to develop a social assessment model for the case study. Results and discussion: The company appears to perform well for all the evaluated social indicators except the one related to the subcategory “equal opportunity/discrimination for workers” for which the share of women employed is lower compared with the sector-level data. The results of our assessment were further discussed regarding the challenges and limitations of performing SLCA at the company level. Based on our experience, the validity of the outcomes is significantly influenced by the data availability, the generality of the indicators introduced within the UNEP/SETAC guidelines, and the subjectivity in data collection for the semi-quantitative assessment among others. Conclusions: By ...