Abstract
Purpose
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) account for 99 % of companies operating in the European food and drink industry and, often, are part of highly fragmented and complex food chains. The article focuses on the development of a social impact assessment methodology for SMEs in selected food and drink products as part of the EU-FP7 SENSE research project. The proposed methodology employs a top-down and bottom-up approach and focuses on labour rights/working conditions along the product supply chain as the key social impact indicator, limiting key stakeholder classification to workers/employees and local communities impacted by the production process. Problems related to this emerging field are discussed, and questions for further research are expounded.
Methods
The article reviews both academic and ‘grey’ literature on life cycle assessment (LCA) and its relationship to social LCA (S-LCA) and SMEs at the beginning of 2013 and includes case study evidence from the food sector. A pilot questionnaire survey sent to European food and drink sector SMEs and trade associations (as partners in the research project) about their knowledge, experience and engagement with social impacts is presented. Proposals are elaborated for a social impact assessment methodology that identifies the key data for SMEs to collect.
Results and discussion
The literature reveals the complexity of the S-LCA approach as it aims to unite disparate and often conflicting interests. Findings from the pilot questionnaire are discussed. Using a top-down and bottom-up approach, the proposed methodology assesses data from SMEs along the supply chain in order to gauge social improvements in the management of labour-related issues for different product sectors. Issues relating to the ‘attributional’ choice of a social impact indicator and key stakeholder categories are discussed. How ‘scoring’ is interpreted and reported and what the intended effect of its use will be are also elaborated upon.
Conclusions
Whilst recognising the difficulty of devising a robust social impact assessment for SMEs in the food and drink sector, it is argued that the proposed methodology makes a useful contribution in this fast-emerging field.
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Notes
SENSE (http://www.senseproject.eu/, accessed 8 November 2013) focuses on European SMEs and aims to deliver a harmonised system for the environmental impact assessment of food and drink products—to be presented as a self-administered data entry software tool. In order to identify what categories of data are to be used, the project is evaluating existing relevant environmental impact assessment methodologies to identify key environmental performance indicators (KEPIs) and is also considering social and socio-economic impacts.
Information on ILO core labour standards can be found at http://www.ilo.org/global/standards/introduction-to-international-labour-standards/conventions-and-recommendations/lang--en/index.htm (accessed 8 November 2013).
Full details of the ETI base code can be found at http://www.ethicaltrade.org/resources/key-eti-resources/eti-base-code (accessed 8 November 2013).
Full details of the SGF/IRMA CoC can be found at http://www.sgf.org/en/home/fks/nachhaltige-produkte/ (accessed 8 November 2013).
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Acknowledgments
This research was undertaken with support from the EU Seventh Research Framework collaborative research project under the KBBE theme, grant no: 288974, entitled ‘SENSE: HarmoniSed ENvironmental Sustainability in the European food & drink chain’.
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Smith, J., Barling, D. Social impacts and life cycle assessment: proposals for methodological development for SMEs in the European food and drink sector. Int J Life Cycle Assess 19, 944–949 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-013-0691-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-013-0691-0