PRé has initiated a roundtable on social metrics together with peers from different industries. The Round Table has initiated the first stage of the three-phased work plan. See below this lines an update of this groundbreaking project.

In the life cycle assessment (LCA) of products, the increasing scarcity of metal resources is currently addressed in a preliminary way. Here, we propose a new method on the basis of global ore grade information to assess the importance of the extraction of metal resources in the life cycle of products.

Committed to staying up-to-date on the latest advances in climate change, this week PRé is attending the Climate Leadership Conference in Washington, DC.

A robust 2012 has positioned science giant DSM to soar in 2013, thanks in part to their commitment to sustainability. According to the (just released) DSM annual report, the company had a very successful fourth quarter, with an EBITDA of €243 million.

A pioneer in the LCA field, PRé is now expanding into the exciting arena of social metrics. To that end, PRé has conceived of a Social Pioneers Roundtable, to encourage participation and discussion among businesses. We talked with Markus Laubscher, senior scientist and sustainable innovation expert at Philips, to find out about the company’s long-standing commitment to social issues, and their particular aspirations for the Social Pioneers Roundtable.

PRé has a long history of supporting product sustainability with a focus on environmental issues, from developing methods to making tools available to a wide range of organizations. One relatively new demand has emerged over the past few years was posed by frontrunners who want to help their companies to go beyond the norm by addressing social sustainability in a similar way.

Most companies limit social metrics to the upstream part of their value chains. The focus is usually on social audits of suppliers’ working conditions and human rights violations. So, what is really the typical scope of social sustainability metrics?

People, planet, and profit are considered the three pillars of sustainability. We can define economic and environmental sustainability, and metrics and indicators exist for both. But social sustainability relates to the quality of life... What is "quality of life"?