Dear Colleagues,

The urgency to address social issues is highlighted by governmental bodies in policy making and funding of innovative research and industrial projects. The European Union, United Nations (UN) and frontrunners corporations have acknowledged the importance of social sustainability in moving forward. Therefore, corporations have already developed tools to measure social value creation of their products, such as the SEEbalance® of BASF, or follow certification schemes to promote social responsibility within. In addition, intergovernmental organizations, such as the UN, have developed tools to investigate social risks and benefits of products, systems and services. One tool which has gained much attention the last decade globally is the Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA).

Due to marketing globalization nowadays, products can be produced in China and sold and used in Europe. As a result, global, national and regional supply chain management becomes crucial for corporations and supply chains may result in significant environmental, economic and social effects on a product’s footprint. Therefore, identifying relevant and important social risks and governance issues can assist constructive dialogue for policy and decision makers who aim to form policies to improve the social performance of environmentally friendly products, such as products based on recycled or zero-carbon material(s), automotive and jet biofuels, etc.

This Special Issue aims to explore the role of S-LCA and other social impact assessment methodologies in terms of:

1. methodological and applicative aspects with respect to supply chain management and environmentally friendly products;
2. certification schemes;
3. sustainability assessments.

This means that we are particularly interested in receiving submissions that investigate methodological developments by including scientific positioning, literature reviews, and lessons learned on main challenges and future trends, as well as practical applications with case studies.

Dr. Georgios Archimidis Tsalidis
Prof. Dr. Patricia Osseweijer
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• social sustainability
• Social Life Cycle Assessment
• methodological challenges
• case-studies
• literature reviews
• supply chain management
• corporate social responsibility
• certification schemes focusing on social and governance issues