Life cycle sustainability management in policy frameworks - responsible sourcing

While acknowledging that there is not yet global consensus on the concept of responsible sourcing (RS), RS typically refers to companies’ accountability for impacts occurring in their upstream supply chain. In particular, it regards the provision of materials sourced in a socially and environmentally responsible way. Due to rising concerns about the supply security of raw materials and the lack of RS practices, both public and private actors are increasingly implementing due diligence procedures and policies. The Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) includes three techniques at different stages of development - namely, (environmental) Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Life Cycle Costing (LCC) and Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) - which allow assessing the environmental, economic and social implications of the whole supply chain of products. This chapter aims at exploring the links between RS and LCSA. It is argued that LCSA has the potential to provide a first macro-scale screening of important risks while further and more detailed analysis and prioritization needs to be conducted via corporate due diligence procedures.