A Revision of What Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment Should Entail: Towards Modeling the Net Impact on Human Well†Being

The main goal of a sustainability assessment is to evaluate the impact of systems (e.g., human or natural ones) on areas sought to be protected and maintained over time (e.g., human well†being, ecosystems, etc.). These are called areas of protection (AoPs). Life cycle sustainability assessment is a type of sustainability assessment that focuses on the impact of industrial production systems on AoPs. To further this field, three conceptual challenges should be tackled: (1) framing which areas should primarily be sustained and hence on which the impact should be assessed, that is, (re)defining of the AoPs; (2) accounting for the interconnectedness among AoPs (e.g., influence of ecosystems on human well†being); and (3) the assessment of both benefit and damage to the AoPs (e.g., benefit of industrial products and damage of their production). The aim of this study is to provide a first roadmap to address these three issues and to suggest potential solutions. Regarding the first issue, our conclusion is that human well†being, encompassing health and happiness, is the primary AoP. This is based on the argument that the sustainability concept is inherently anthropocentric. In this regard, other entities such as ecosystems as a whole are sustained in light of human well†being. The well†being adjusted life years, interpreted as years of perfect well†being, is pinpointed as the most promising holistic indicator. To conduct a respective sustainability assessment that tackles the remaining two issues—integrated system modeling of the earth and its support to well†being—is argued as the most suitable approach.