Course – Social LIfe Cycle Assessment (Barcelona, Spain)

The course on on Social LIfe Cycle Assessment will take place in Barcelona Spain and will start on Wednesday, February 19, 2014 and run through Friday, February 21, 2014. This course is composed of 10 hours of lectures and 10 hours of workshops/exercises. It is an ILCA Approved ILCA course.


The course covers both the theory and practice of social LCA. It introduces the theory and background, the reasons for incorporating social impacts into life cycle assessment, as well as the difficulties related to their evaluation. A background to important social issues will be given, along with an examination of the UNEP-SETAC S-LCA Guidelines. The course includes practical work on the basis of these guidelines, and practical application of the current S-LCA methods. Students will closely examine stakeholder groups and subcategories, and their policy relevance. The concept of Creating Shared Value (CSV) will also be introduced and applied in exercises. Data collection exercises will demonstrate the available data sources for S-LCA and the necessary precautions needed for their application and interpretation. Case studies with different assessment methods, including fully quantitative, will be used to identify hotspots, and explore the options and justification for aggregating data across impact categories.

Course Outline (Lectures and Exercises on):

◦Context and terminology: Sustainable development, human well-being, sustainable consumption and production, Social Responsibility, Life Cycle Thinking, related techniques and tools for assessment.
◦Differences and similarities between Social LCA, biophysical LCA, Life Cycle Costing, Social Responsibility, and other environmental and social impact assessment tools.
◦Selection of impact categories, subcategories and characterization models. Impact categories from a philosophical perspective.
◦The UNEP-SETAC S-LCA Guidelines in-depth. Stakeholders and their relevance to S-LCA. Distinguishing between stakeholder categories, subcategories, inventory indicators, inventory data, impact pathways and characterisation factors.
◦Quantitative, semi-quantitative and qualitative data and assessment methods
◦Introduction to and comparison of practical methods: The quantitative social pressure indicators by B.P. Weidema; The PROSA method, The Hot Spot database, The Humtec RWTH approach.
◦Data sources: Generic and site-specific data. Using statistical data for Life Cycle Screening. Exercise with the Social Hot Spot Database. Data collection in the field. Data quality and uncertainty assessment.
◦Practical work with quantitative social pressure indicators.
◦Life cycle impact assessment for S-LCA. Identifying social and environmental hot spots. Aggregating across impact categories.
◦Life cycle interpretation for S-LCA.
◦Linking results to E-LCA and LCC. Communication of results.
◦Challenges in S-LCA.

Learning Outcomes:

Knowledge of the background and need for S-LCA. Understanding of the differences between the scopes of different environmental and social impact assessment tools. Comprehension of the UNEP-SETAC guidelines for S-LCA. Ability to identify data sources and organise data collection. Ability to select relevant impact categories, subcategories and characterization models. Understanding how to apply quantitative social pressure indicators and impact categories form a philosophical perspective. Ability to identify social and environmental hotspots.

Academic Recognition:

2 ECTS. This includes reading a mandatory list of literature references.
Participant Prerequisites:
Masters degree or equivalent. Must bring own laptop computer. A good understanding and/or experience with life cycle assessment is an asset.

For more information or to register click here.

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