Guidelines for Social Life Cycle Assessment of Products and Organisations 2020

The Guidelines for Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) of Products provide a roadmap and a body of knowledge to help stakeholders in the assessment of social and socio-economic impacts of products’ life cycles, their related value chains and organizations. Awareness about value chain social issues such as child labor used for harvesting cotton, unpaid wages of factory workers and safety issues when using a product, raises the question of what the extent of product and organization social impacts are and how they can be improved. To answer this question, the S-LCA Guidelines present a methodology to assess the social impact of products using a life cycle perspective. This methodology builds on the more commonly known Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), which focuses on environmental impacts. The importance of social sustainability in moving towards sustainable development is undeniable. Now, more than ever, social sustainability, social inclusion and leaving no one behind must be critical parts of our thinking and efforts to build back better and greener.