Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA)
The benefits
In short- Identify social risks, social performance and social impacts
- Integrate environmental, economic and social impacts (LCSA)
- Explore future scenarios using MAGNET macro equilibrium model
- Support sustainability strategies and reporting
- Develop dashboards visualising the results
How do products and production processes affect people throughout the value chain? Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) identifies social risks and impacts, from working conditions to community wellbeing. We help organisations assess these impacts in agri-food systems and use the findings to make more socially responsible decisions.
Every product has a social footprint. From farms to processing and distribution, production affects workers, farmers and local communities. Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) helps organisations understand these effects by assessing social risks and impacts throughout a product's life cycle.
At Wageningen University & Research, we apply S-LCA to agri-food systems, including livestock production. We examine issues such as working conditions, health and safety, forced labour, local employment, community wellbeing and animal welfare. Our assessments combine farm-level data, stakeholder input and established social hotspot databases, such as PSILCA and SHDB, to identify where social risks and impacts occur.
In addition, we carry out forward-looking studies and scenario analyses, using the shared socio-economic pathways (SSP) in the MAGNET model, to evaluate how policies, technologies, and future farming systems may affect social sustainability over time.
We support companies, farmers and policymakers in several projects with hotspot identification, indicator development, benchmarking, sustainability reporting, and CSRD-related assessments, helping translate complex social data into practical insights for strategy and innovation.
From Life Cycle Assessment results to insights
- Beyond detection: assessing the environmental, economic, and social implications of UAV-based forest fire monitoring
- Environmental, economic, and social impacts of precision agricultural technology: Convergences and divergences between theory and practice
- Short Communication: True Cost Accounting (TCA) as a transformative approach for livestock agri-food systems
- Technical paper: Interoperability is essential for ensuring digital sustainability: Part of D4.4: Socio-environmental Assessment of Last-mile and Edge Technological Solutions
Get inspired
Get in touch
Do you have questions regarding Social Life Cycle Assessments or opportunities to work with us? Ask our expert:
Our expertises
Additional products & services
Social & economic research
With our social and economic research, we drive fair and sustainable food systems through evidence-based insights.