A qualitative Social Life Cycle Assessment approach for early-stage SSbD projects

Funded by the European Union under the GA number 101091464. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA). Neither the European Union nor HaDEA can be held responsible for them. SUSTAINABLE SURFACE PROTECTION BY GLASS-LIKE HYBRID AND BIOMATERIALS COATINGS A qualitative Social Life Cycle Assessment approach for early-stage SSbD projects Project video @BIO-SUSHY Project @BIO-SUSHY Project www.bio-sushy.eu | www.wood-kplus.at [email protected] Daniela Groiß-Fürtner1, Andreas Barth1, Franziska Hesser1 1Kompetenzzentrum Holz GmbH – Wood K plus, Altenberger Straße 69, 4040 Linz, Austria 2University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences – BOKU University, Institute of Marketing and Innovation, Feistmantelstraße 4, 1180 Wien Introduction Results and Discussion Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA) is recognized as the 5th step within the Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) framework, ensuring a comprehensive perspective on sustainability. Social impacts are shaped by different factors, including geopolitical conditions, industry sectors, culture, context-, organizational and process-specifications. Especially value chains on low TRL remain with high uncertainties regarding social impacts. Within the BIO-SUSHY project, a qualitative SLCA approach was developed, addressing earlystage challenges and offering insights to enhance social viability. Methodological Approach A 4-steps approach is recommended as the understanding of social issues is quite broad and to overcome data limitations. Qualitative methods help to avoid the application of overrepresented aspects from literature. Our case study shows that a strong focus is given to consumer topics and product specific issues (e.g. quality, price, technical requirements). Innovative, individual and tailor-made approaches are needed for low TRL SLCA. Stakeholder engagement is key to casespecific SLCA. Feel free to structure the text as a bullet list. •The aim of the poster is to attract attention for starting conversations. •A poster is not a detailed research showcase. Insert entities logo with numbers according to list of Authors (below the title) SETAC Europe 35th Annual Meeting 11 – 15 May 2025 Vienna, Austria Step 5. Social and economic impacts throughout the life cycle