GRAPHERGIA Deliverable 6.3 Preliminary Social Assessment

The GRAPHEGIA project was launched on the 1st of October, 2023, for 3,5 years, and it is a research and innovation project co-funded by the European Union. It uses graphene-enabled technologies to develop novel, sustainable energy-harvesting and storage systems.  Deliverable 6.3 “Preliminary Social Assessment” was created by Next Technology Tecnotessile, project partners leading Work Package 6 ”Life cycle assessment, sustainability and ecodesign approach”. 

Abstract

This report presents the mid-term results of the Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) activities within GRAPHERGIA, establishing a robust methodological framework aligned with UNEP/SETAC guidelines and integrated in the project’s Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) approach. 

The work combines stakeholder-specific surveys (workers, researchers, value-chain actors, society) with secondary data from the Social Hotspot Database (SHDB), enabling both bottom-up insights and top-down risk screening. Preliminary findings highlight strengths such as contracts, social benefits, and safety training, but reveal critical areas for improvement: limited health surveillance, insufficient awareness of chemical-exposure protocols, and gaps in overtime compensation and contract stability. 

Research stakeholders emphasised healthcare applications, recyclability, and regulatory readiness as priorities for e-textile and energy-storage demonstrators. The deliverable outlines next steps, including expanded survey participation, integration of SHDB with final Life Cycle Costing (LCC) datasets, and eco-design recommendations targeting fair work practices, Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) reinforcement, and design-for-circularity.

NOTE: The deliverable has not yet been approved by the European Commission. The approved public version will be updated as soon as possible.