Updating data in a generic social LCA database

It has often been stated that Social LCA data is difficult to collect, to assess, and that it “decays” faster than natural-science based data which environmental LCA aims for. For a comprehensive, generic social LCA... [ view full abstract ]

It has often been stated that Social LCA data is difficult to collect, to assess, and that it “decays” faster than natural-science based data which environmental LCA aims for.
For a comprehensive, generic social LCA database, it is essential to update the information regularly. For an update, several cases can be distinguished; including:
- Availability of more recent or otherwise “better” information;
- Availability of additional information for data that exists already in the database; for example, information about a specific indicator in a country and sector, from a different source
- Availability of data on a different level than previously existing in the database, e.g. a more detailed sector, a product
Each of these cases has different implications; the 3rd being the most complicated. These implications and the effect of these updates will be presented for the PSILCA database.
In the second part of the presentation, the infrastructure for updating the database will be presented and discussed. This infrastructure consists of “data pipelines” established for the database, to capture major sources of social data which are increasingly available, but covers also input from social LCA projects and other sources. Various needs and specificities of these different sources will be presented and discussed, by help of examples.
The presentation ends with an invitation to join the database as data provider; making the point that probably social LCA databases should always be “interactive” to reflect the volatility and diversity of social information.