On the 5th and 6th of December 2024 Kveloce participated in the 5th Stakeholder workshop on“Safe and sustainable by design” (SSbD), held in Brussels. Conclusions and lessons learned in the last year were presented and discussed in this event that convened leading European organizations in the development and implementation of the SSbD framework.
The SSbD is a voluntary approach promoted by the European Commission to guide the process of innovation in chemicals and materials by increasing their safety and sustainability. The objective is to revolutionize how chemicals and materials are (re)designed to increase their sustainability from a holistic scope, caring for people and planet’s health in the context of competitive industries.
The main conclusions of the workshop have been the general sense of progress along the last two years, but also an agreement on the need for common standards and evaluation methods applied by the SSbD community. However, there is the need to simplify and mainstream the process to make the implementation of SSbD more efficient, especially in the presence of low TRLs (Technology Readiness Levels). It was also interesting to note that some countries (e.g. Spain) are already considering the adoption of the SSbD framework to some extent.
Kveloce presented the lastest advances of the social and economic sustainability assessments of the ViSS project. The presentation provided concrete examples on how to evaluate social aspects under the Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA) perspective. And, most importantly proposed social and economic design principles to guarantee that sustainability aspirations of the framework are comprehensive enough and go beyond environmental sustainability. As raised by Maite Ferrando (CEO of Kveloce) in her talk ‘Does it make sense to develop materials and products which are very safe and environmentally sustainable, while their contribution to social values, human rights or economic wealth is not clear, or even worst, detrimental?’. This contribution reflects Kveloce’s commitment to integrate social sciences and humanities (SSH) within and along the innovation circle.
Another interesting discussion arises when considering the advantages and disadvantages of the Social Life Cycle Assessment framework as the reference framework for evaluation within the SSbD approach. Several examples shown in the workshop reflected the need to address potential gaps, such as the demanding tasks of collecting primary data and the limitation of using secondary data in this field. The “scoring” procedure, when adopting this methodology, also brings difficulties, one of which is the lack of benchmarks for comparison.
As a conclusion, the SSbD approach is still in its early stages, but is quickly adavancing. Among the challenges, the consensus-based approaches including common methods, indicators and criteria (e.g. thresholds) for scoring, the consolidation of simplified evaluation approaches for low TRL stages, and of course the real integration of social and economic design principles and assessment indicators to guarantee sustainability aspirations from a holistic perspective when environmental, social and economic aspects are a must.
The years ahead will be decisive (or play a pivotal role) in shaping the development and standardization of the SSbD framework, with Kveloce at the forefront of (or with Kveloce poised to lead) these crucial advancements for our society.
