Evaluating social sustainability of bioeconomy value chains through integrated use of local and global methods

A bioeconomy is an economic system, which replaces fossil resources with renewable biological resources. As strategies are implemented, new bio-based value chains are created and others expand to replace fossil fuel based supply chains. Understanding the sustainability impacts of this development re...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Biomass & bioenergy 2018-02, Vol.109, p.276-283
Main Authors: Mattila, Tuomas J., Judl, Jáchym, Macombe, Catherine, Leskinen, Pekka
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Environmental Sciences
Life cycle thinking
Multiple criteria decision analysis
Social hotspots database
Social life cycle assessment
Wood products
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Summary:A bioeconomy is an economic system, which replaces fossil resources with renewable biological resources. As strategies are implemented, new bio-based value chains are created and others expand to replace fossil fuel based supply chains. Understanding the sustainability impacts of this development requires tools for assessing the impacts. The environmental impacts of bioeconomies have been studied through life cycle assessment, but the social impacts are poorly understood. Commonly applied social sustainability methods are local in scope and lack a life cycle perspective. The aim of this paper was to compare the priority setting in global and local approaches to social sustainability assessment and to explore possibilities for integrating them. A multi-region input-output model was used to estimate the social life cycle impacts of Finnish wood products. The main social issues were found in health and safety and gender inequality, with a large part of the impacts occurring outside the forest sector and outside Finnish boundaries. In contrast, local stakeholders views on social sustainability focused mostly on local conditions, employment and co-operation between companies. Ways to combine the contrasting results were explored and a framework for integrating the local and global approaches was outlined. •Methods and tools for assessing social sustainability of bioeconomic value chains were evaluated and compared.•Multi-regional input-output analysis was used to quantify the social value chain effects of Finnish wood products.•More than half of the estimated social impact of Finnish wood products was found to originate outside Finland.•The integrated use of participatory methods and databases may provide a more complete view of social sustainability.
ISSN:0961-9534
1873-2909
DOI:10.1016/j.biombioe.2017.12.019