There several other important initiatives that focus or at least cover social impacts. The Social LC Alliance is defenitely an importat development. The articles below try to summarise the most relevant, but please add or comment as you like.
Already in 2009, a group of experts developed the first UNEP Guidelines for Social LCA. Recently a major update was developed and published in three reports:
- a Guidance document (with a similar scope as the Handbook + Methodology Guide)
- the Methodological Sheets, which have a similar scope as the Social Topics Report.
- the Report on Pilot Projects, which is comparable to the Casestudies published by the Sovial Value Initiative
The group that developed the Guidelines for Social LCA is organized under the Social LC Alliance, and you can find the Guidance and the backgrounds on this website.
During the development of both the SVI and the Social LC Alliance we have had frequent contacts and exchanges. The Social Value Initiative for instance participated in the road testing, and some of the Social LC Alliance members gave very useful contributions and feedback to our Handbook.
Of course, we often get the question why we are not merging, and in the end this may of course happen. At the same time we also think it is good to have two parallel initiatives, as we also take another angle:
- The Social Value Initiative is initiated and led by a group of proactive companies that want to inspire and learn from each other. The focus is on being pragmatic and effective.
- The Social LC Alliance consists mainly of a great team of people with a scientific background. There is more focus on being complete and comprehensive. This team has produced really interesting scientific publications, which has had low priority in the Social Value Initiative so far.
One reason to establish this Community of Practice is to foster interaction between the two initiatives. So please feel free to contribute.
Comments