Social Life Cycle Assessment Application: Stakeholder Implication in the Cultural Heritage Sector

Abstract

The word “sustainability” is often used to refer to equity within and between generations, as explained in the Brundtland Report (1987). The clarification of the concept in the triple bottom line is often used to illustrate the need to investigate the social, environmental, and economic decisions. The classification of stakeholders is still controversial and not universally agreed upon in the various analysis models, are a common point balance categories: customers, staff, suppliers, and the local community (Hinna 2005; Schwartz 2006a). The Social Life Cycle Assessment (SCLA) methodology can be described as a tool that allows a strategic vision and management of the social sustainability of the product and takes the form of an analysis that lets the company observe the social impact of the product through its sustainability evaluation throughout its life cycle (Benoit et al. Int J Life Cycle Assess 15, 156–163, 2010). The possible solution to this gap can be represented by models of assessment of social impacts based on Life Cycle Thinking, and especially through the application of the Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA) methodology that is suitably integrated with the models until now mentioned in the literature (UNEP/SETAC, United Nations Environment Program, Paris SETAC Life Cycle Initiative United Nations Environment Programme, 2009b). The evaluation of the life cycle for the social aspects (social LCA) is a framework that allows the generation, organization, evaluation and communication of social impacts on the life cycle of a product, process, or service. The aim of this study is to create a framework for the social impact evaluation in the cultural heritage sector, through the association of existing Social Life Cycle Assessment tools with data resulting from social evaluation of the relationship between cultural services and stakeholders in order to point out the criticalities of the cultural heritage sector. This study introduced a theoretical framework for the evaluation of social impact on the cultural heritage sector, through the application of SLCA methods, and shows how it could be possible to classify the stakeholder subcategories in order to consistency. It is the preliminary approach of an integrative support to the SAM methods for SLCA.