Social Lifecycle Assessment (LCA) is a methodology that applies the principles of life cycle thinking to the social and socio-economic facets of a product or service, calculating potential impacts throughout its entire lifespan.
FS Engineering’s holistic approach to sustainability has guided the experimental application of Social LCA to the rail infrastructure sector, serving as a necessary and vital complement to traditional environmental LCA models.
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THE SOCIAL IMPACTS OF RAILWAY INFRASTRUCTURE
When assessing major infrastructure projects, FS Engineering develops and refines specific performance indicators that cut across all three pillars of sustainability. With regard to the social dimension, dedicated datasets and clear benchmarks have been established to standardise and systematise both contextual baseline information and expected project performance. These activities lay the crucial groundwork for raising social standards across the entire engineering design lifecycle. Furthermore, these frameworks are continuously validated through active participation in international research initiatives. For example, as part of the European Life Silent project, our Social LCA methodology is actively deployed to quantify the positive and negative impacts of innovative road surfacing and advanced noise barriers.