Page 120 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

116 5. Development and applicability of life cycle impact assessment methodologies

a. high level risks/hot spots/influences in each stages of the life cycle, positively or
negatively;
b. the most likely hot spots/influences in the life cycle; and
c. the recognition of the hot spots/influences related to stakeholders.
(4) Participation of stakeholders. It is very important of the participation of stakeholders in
S-LCA reports, especially in a specific case.

5.4.4 The similarities and differences between S-LCA and LCA

According to Section 5.4.2, the development of S-LCA is based on the evaluation method of
LCA. So there are many similarities between S-LCA and LCA. However, some traditional
methods of LCA can’t apply to S-LCA, because of the complexity and diversity of social im-
pact. So, some changes of theory and method must be taken, according to the actual situation.
The similarities and differences between S-LCA and LCA will be shown in this section. The
similarities between the two are as follows:
(1) Use the same ISO technical framework (goal and scope definition, inventory analysis, and
impact assessment), though several steps of S-LCA have some differences.
(2) Heavy demand for data.
(3) Proceed in an iterative manner.
(4) Need peer review when preparing for communicating with public or comparing.
(5) Provide useful information for decision-makers.
(6) Purpose is not to determine whether a product should be produced or not.
(7) Have the same effect to evaluate a hot topic.
(8) Give no expression of the impact of functional units when using semiquantitative or
qualitative data.
Although S-LCA and LCA have many similarities (the same technical framework), there
are still some differences among them. The most significant difference is that the focus points
of them are different. The focus of an LCA is environmental impact assessment, while the
focus of an S-LCA is on the social economic aspect. Where the LCA places emphasis on
collecting the physical quantitative data of products and others (production/use/abandon-
ment related), the S-LCA will collect organizational additional information in supply chain.
The differences between LCA and S-LCA are shown in Table 5.2.

5.5 The sustainability assessment—LCSA

5.5.1 Theory and practice
According to UNEP/SETAC, the life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) will evaluate
the environmental, economic, and social impacts of a product (or a craft, or an activity) in its
whole life cycle. The evaluation results will be used in the decision-making process. Kl€ oepffer
integrated three life cycle assessment methods into a unified framework, which becomes the