Social life cycle analysis (S-LCA) is applied for calculating, assess and document social aspects of products and organizations along their life cycle, here applied on the Norwegian food industry.
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to increase basic knowledge on social sustainability related to Norwegian food production.
Method
The main conclusions of the study is:
- So far, there is not a complete analysis on the status of social sustainability in the food sector in Norway.
- Companies are used to map and report greenhouse gas emissions but not all companies have an equally good overview of the social impacts associated with their business activity.
- If negative working conditions are discovered in a part of the value chain for a food production, this can have an impact on the reputation of the company that markets the product.
- Negative social conditions can pose a business risk. It is therefore in everyone's interest to uncover such matters as early as possible.
- It is valuable to map the extent to which the company or other actors in the value chain contribute positevely to social sustainability for increasing corporate responsibility and secure safe socially sound products and services.
- Transparency and the exchange of information between all actors associated to a product or service MUST to be transparent to enable trustworthy S-LCA’s and to secure good scocial conditions throught the value chain.
- It is usefull to conduct a "hotspot" analysis to identify the most critical social challenges and where they originate. The link between Sustainable Development Goals and food production is very desirable for finding out which indicators have the greatest impact on the food industry in Norway.
Read more in Matindustrien 26.05.2020 - popular science publication.
