This Fifth International conference on Social LCA follows international seminars held in Copenhagen, Denmark (2010), Montpellier, France (2011), Montreal, Canada (2013) and Montpellier, France (2014). Being the first time that the meeting will take place in United States, it represents a unique opportunity to communicate, disseminate and discuss Social Life Cycle Assessment in this geography. The number of participants has grown steadily in each of the international seminars, and we are expecting this to hold true again in 2016, anticipating over 200 participants.

The seminar theme ‘Moving markets on social sustainability’ aims to foster a synergy between the worlds of research and business. It provides a forum to exchange and discuss advances in social life cycle assessment.

The International Seminar in Social LCA is the largest event in this field, and the only one that focuses specifically on quantitative and systemic assessment of social impacts and progress in supply chains and product life cycles. This means that attendees leave with an increased understanding of the full range of pertinent issues and an increased ability to be change agents in their industry.

Contributions on all main themes related to the advancement and application of Social LCA with a special accent on creating synergies between academia and businesses for moving markets on social sustainability are highly welcome.

Themes

• Supporting supply chain due diligence on human and labor rights with Social LCA
• Calculating product and organizational social footprints
• Knowing and growing social handprints (positive impacts)
• Evaluating and improving supply chain impacts on human health and human well-being
• Inventory databases and impact assessment methods
• Collaborating to standardize indicators and to work on root causes
• Identifying social impacts in a circular economy
• Considering social issues in design and innovations