A Social Hotspot Database for Acquiring Greater Visibility in Product Supply Chains: Overview and Application to Orange Juice

Abstract

Social life cycle assessment (SLCA) is a technique to measure social and socio-economic impacts of product life cycles. The social hotspots database (SHDB) is an overarching, global model that eases the data collection burden in SLCA studies. It enables supply chain visibility by providing the information decision-makers need to prioritise unit processes for which site-specific data collection is desirable. Data for two criteria are provided to inform prioritisation: (1) labour intensity in worker hours per unit process and (2) risk for, or opportunity to affect, relevant social themes. This paper will present an overview of the results from a pilot study for orange juice made in the U.S. conducted with the SHDB and mandated by The Sustainability Consortium.