Embodied Environmental and Social Impacts: A Regionalised Sectoral Method for Low-Carbon Construction Materials in Italy

first_pagesettingsOrder Article Reprints Open AccessArticle Embodied Environmental and Social Impacts: A Regionalised Sectoral Method for Low-Carbon Construction Materials in Italy by Elisabetta Palumbo 1,* andFrancesco Pomponi 2ORCID 1 Department of Engineering and Applied Science (DISA), University of Bergamo, 24129 Bergamo, Italy 2 York School of Architecture, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Sustainability 2025, 17(21), 9797; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17219797 Submission received: 25 September 2025 / Revised: 26 October 2025 / Accepted: 28 October 2025 / Published: 3 November 2025 (This article belongs to the Topic Construction Project Management and Infrastructure Sustainability) Downloadkeyboard_arrow_down Browse Figures Versions Notes Abstract The decarbonisation of the built environment has increased reliance on Environmental Life Cycle Assessment (E-LCA) to evaluate the impacts of construction materials. However, social aspects—particularly those affecting workers—remain underexplored. This study presents a regionalised approach to support socially and environmentally informed decision-making in the Italian construction sector. For this purpose, we have integrated worker health and safety indicators into the E-LCA of two representative building products assessed across key life cycle stages. These indicators are incorporated into the evaluation of Global Warming Potential (GWP), thus serving as a decision-support tool during the design phase. From a design perspective, the aim is to promote a broader understanding of sustainability—encompassing both environmental and social dimensions—within building projects. Methodologically, the contribution is twofold. First, it addresses the current gap in context-specific data on the critical indicator of worker health and safety in the construction sector, an essential requirement for robust and scientifically recognised S-LCA studies. To this end, the study develops a regionalised scoring system based on publicly available occupational health and safety data from the Italian National Accident Database (INAIL), disaggregated by sector and region. Second, we propose a framework to combine these social indicators with LCA-based environmental impact metrics, which remain central to building-scale E-LCA. It is clear that no single region performs best, while a critical need for multi-criteria decision-making in sustainable design is evident.