Social Life Cycle Assessment Of Pulp And Paper Production - A Portuguese Case Study

Due to its size and intense use of resources, the pulp and paper industry is responsible for many devastating environmental impacts such as carbon pollution and wildlife species' extinction. While these environmental impacts have been investigated in numerous studies through environmental life cycle assessment, little attention has been given to the equally devastating social impacts. For this reason, the main goal of this work is to carry out a social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) to quantify the social impacts that a Portuguese pulp and paper supply chain has on its stakeholders. These impacts are aggregated into five different social categories, including labor rights and decent work, community infrastructure, governance, health and safety, and human rights. In this work, data extracted from the Social Hotspots Database accessed through SimaPro will be used. The results of the S-LCA conducted will be discussed to identify which part of the pulp and paper supply chain is responsible for most of the social impacts and which of these impacts are more critical. Based on this discussion, recommendations for improving the social sustainability of the supply chain analyzed will be provided.