Page 73 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

68 4. Life cycle sustainability assessment: An ongoing journey

FIG. 4.7 Calculation Method evolution in LCA. Courtesy of Rosenbaum, R.K., 2014. Selection of impact categories, cat-
egory indicators and characterization models. In: Curran, M.A. (Ed.), Goal and Scope Definition in Life Cycle Assessment, LCA.

FIG. 4.8 Examples of a social life cycle inventory (S-LCI) and interrelationships to subcategories and impact cat-
egories. Courtesy of UNEP/SETAC, 2011. Towards a Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment: Making Informed Choices on Prod-
ucts, UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative.

category “society,” several subcategories, such as contribution to national economy and na-
tional budget, or employment creation, risks, impact, or conflicts, were also described
(Tsurukawa et al., 2011)(Figs. 4.7 and 4.8).

4.3.1.7 Indicators
According to Neugebauer et al. (2015), an indicator can be defined as “something
representing the state of a certain aspect or effect used to measure a progress towards a stated
goal and it can function as variables, parameters, measures, measurement endpoints or
thresholds.” However, indicators have been specially defined as a tool to measure a causal
effect. For LCSA inventory, as well as for LCA, midpoint and endpoint indicators can be dis-
tinguished, describing each step along the cause–effect chain.