Credible metrics on social impact for decision making and reporting.
Featured case study summaries based on the 2018 version of the handbook:
“At DSM we provide Brighter Living Solutions; products that are measurably better than the mainstream solution on the market in terms of environmental or social impact. We are proud to be co-founder and contributor to the Roundtable that has now created a next stepping stone towards harmonised metrics with this fifth iteration of the Handbook for Product Social Impact Assessment.”
“One key mission of our team is to support the continuous sustainability progress of ArcelorMittal’s products and processes. This means assessing their environmental profile, and also understanding their positive or negative impact on society.”
“We, at Solvay, strongly believe that building a more sustainable business will create superior value for the society at large. We are convinced, as professional, that sustainability can and must be measured in a robust, relevant and opposable way. This is why we have developed and implemented our “Sustainable Portfolio Management” – SPM – tool in the Group for about 10 years. The Handbook represents high valuable guidelines for our future expansions and improvements in our social assessments, within the frame of our overall program for sustainability: Solvay One-Planet.”
“I founded PRé Sustainabilty in 1990 believing that decisionmakers need robust metrics to base their decisions in the field of sustainability on. After developing environmental metrics, I saw social metrics as the next challenge for companies that want to understand, manage and improve sustainability in a life cycle perspective.”
“To enable our customer to make conscious choices, we will assess both the environmental and the social impacts of our products and work side by side with them to substantiate sustainability claims.
To be able to do this, a credible methodology to measure social impacts along the value chain is essential.”
At Nestlé, we have been using life cycle assessment and eco-design to evaluate the environmental performance of our products during their design & development process. We intend to integrate social performance into our product design process as early as possible. Therefore, we want to develop a simplified, yet scientifically sound and externally recognized approach with the support of the Roundtable for Product Social Metrics.
“My motivation is that the collaboration of the companies in the Roundtable in measuring positive and negative impact will bring an acceleration in transparency and will lead to better decision-making that will ultimately result in a better life and more joy for all stakeholders in the life cycle of products.”
“BASF developed sustainability evaluation methods like SEEBALANCE® and AgBalance™, where social indicators are a significant part of. To discuss social indicators and the further development of them together with other industry partners was a main motivation of taking part in this project. ”
“I’m enthusiastic about working with life cycle assessment because it provides a structured solution for analyzing the impact of products. Thereby, it is an essential starting point for making improvements, coming up with innovative solutions, and driving change. And change is needed. We cannot keep taking from the planet and future generations as we have been doing over the last few decades, without giving back.”
“Fuji Europe Africa sees itself as a member of society. Insight in the effect that our business activities have on society is key to fulfill our core value of working towards a sustainable society.”
Latest news
Next phase of the Roundtable starts in March 2021
The Roundtable started in 2013. Since then more than 20 companies worked together in the development of a pragmatic and [...]
On-lineTraining | How to apply Product Social Metrics in business (January, 2021)
Recently the fifth iteration of the Handbook for Product Social Impact Assessment and an updated methodology was released. The companies invest [...]
Initiating an ISO standard for Social LCA?
On June 4th‑ a workshop was organised during the ISO meeting of the Technical committee 207 in Berlin. The purpose [...]
EU to develop criteria for social impacts
On April 5th a large meeting (70 people) was organized by DG Growth with the aim to discuss how and [...]