2. Motivations for SA: conflicts

Conflicts are often motivated by multiples causes.

In sustainability assessment, discussions are not only on facts, but often also on values.

The most common types of conflicts are:

• Conflicts of interests,
• Conflicts of values,
• Relationship conflicts arising from a variety of causes (lack of trust, poor communication, etc.),
• Conflicts over data and its interpretation.

In many situations, there are a mixture of several sources and several types of conflict.

How to deal with conflicts within the framework of sustainability assessment is an issue of mediation method and practice, which is scrutinized by research on participation.