International conference on Life Cycle Assessment as reference methodology for assessing supply chains and supporting global sustainability challenges
LCA FOR “FEEDING THE PLANET AND ENERGY FOR LIFE” Stresa, 06-07thOctober 2015 - Milano, Expo 2015, 08thOctober 2015
Edited by Simona Scalbi, Arianna Dominici Loprieno, Paola Sposato
2015 ENEA
Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development
Lungotevere Thaon di Revel, 76 00196 Roma
3
Index
Introduction - Life cycle assessment for supporting the transition towards
eco-efficient agriculture and food systems ... 9
Conference program ... 11
Consumption trends and sustainability of future development ... 16
Tomorrow's healthy Society: research priorities for foods and diets ... 17
Environmental Impact of the European Food Basket using LCA ... 21
Environmental Implications of Dynamic Policies on Food Consumption and Waste Handling in the European Union ... 25
How much meat can we eat to sustain a healthy life and planet? The case of Swedish meat consumption ... 29
Carbon footprint of Italian eating habits: how consumer food choices might lead to a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions... 36
Product Environmental Footprint in the food sector ... 40
Developing Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules for Olive Oil ... 41
Pesticide emissions in the Environmental Product Footprint – Lessons learnt from refined sugar from sugar beet ... 45
Five crucial complicating issues for harmonising environmental footprints of food and beverages ……….49
Environmental impacts of different dairy farming systems in the Po Valley………..53
The Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules (PEFCR) Packed Water Pilot Testing ... 58
Identification of the most relevant impact categories with normalisation and equal weighting methods: inconsistencies found in raw milk case study ……….61
Inventories and dabase for LCA and footprint of food chains ... 65
Life Cycle Inventory database for seafood products ... 66
The World Food LCA Database: a global inventory database for the food sector ... 70
Creating coherent life cycle databases for ecodesign and product declaration of agro-industrial products: how to implement methodological choices ... 74
Wheat of today and tomorrow: an assessment of current LCI inventories ... 80
Food PEFCRs and the need for consistent secondary databases such as Agri-footprint® ... 84
LCA and footprints to asses food product chains ... 88
Energy Use in the EU Food Sector: State of Play and Opportunities for Improvement ... 89
Energy Flows and Greenhouses Gases of EU national breads using LCA approach... 94
Life Cycle Assessment for Enhancing Environmental Sustainability of Sugarcane Biorefinery in Thailand ... 98
Life Cycle Assessment of Biogas Production from Marine Macroalgal Feedstock: Substitution of Energy Crops with Algae ... 102
4 Protein quality as functional unit – a methodological framework for inclusion in
Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) ... 110
LCA as a decision support tool in policy making: the case study of Danish spring barley production in a changed climate ... 114
Mediterranean countries’ food supply and food sourcing profiles: ... 118
An Ecological Footprint viewpoint ... 118
Simplified modelling of environmental impacts of foods... 122
Life Cycle Assessment of Thai Organic Rice to Evaluate the Climate Change, Water Use and Biodiversity Impacts ... 126
Comparative LCA study on environmental impact of oil production from microalgae and terrestrial oilseed crops... 130
Liquid whey recycling within the traditional dairy chain, as a sustainable alternative for whey waste management ... 134
Quantification of life cycle energy use for a more efficient building design. ... 139
Resource footprint of Vietnamese Pangasius frozen fillets and export to the European market ... 143
Comparative LCA of bread baked in novel Low Energy Ovens and conventional ovens ... 147
Life Cycle Assessment of the production and import of Arabica Brazilian coffee ... 151
The link between CSR, EMS and LCA with coffee as an example ... 155
Sustainability and performance design of open loop recycling strategies in the production of innovative building materials ... 159
A tool for the sustainability assessment of transformation activities of buildings ... 163
LCA of clean technologies in food value chains of emerging economies ... 167
Life Cycle Assessment of Food Smoking Technologies ... 171
Low Emission Farming – a significant step forward to improve the environmental impacts of livestock production ... 175
Energy and water savings by exploiting nano-technological self cleaning textiles ... 182
Selecting an appropriate fuel mix in LCA of energy savings ... 186
Assessing the impacts of onshore wind energy by using a spatio-temporal LCA approach... 190
Life Cycle Assessment of Palm Biodiesel Production in Thailand: Impacts from Improvement Technologies, Land Use Changes and Modelling Choices ... 194
Energy recovery from garden waste in a LCA perspective... 198
Comparing Water Footprint impact methods: a case study on biogas production from energy crops ... 202
Environmental assessment of electricity generation from anaerobic digestion of agricultural waste… ..206
LCA and Water Footprint of biofuels used in transport sector: a review ... 210
Simplified LCA tools: selected approaches assessed for their implementation in the agri-food sector.... 214
“Vernaccia di San Gimignano DOCG”: towards a sustainable wine farming ... 218
Environmental impacts of the brewing sector: Life Cycle Assessment of Italian craft and industrial beer ... 222
LCA-LCC decision tool for energy generation technologies in a food processing plant... 226
5 Carbon footprint assessment of rapeseed in an intensive, conventional production system in the
Wielkopolska region (Poland)………...234
The ecological footprint of products of oil palm and rubber plantations in Thailand ... 238
Comparative LCA of sunflower, rapeseed and soybean oils ... 242
Life Cycle Assessment of organic apple supply chain in the North of Italy ... 246
Environmental assessment of rice cultivation: a case study of fertilisation with urban sewage ... 250
Life Cycle Assessment of Greenhouse-Grown Tomatoes in Thailand ... 254
The evolution of LCA in milk production ... 258
Dairy products: Energy use and the associated greenhouse gas emissions ... 262
Carbon footprint analysis of mozzarella and ricotta cheese production and influence of allocation procedure ... 266
Global warming potential of Lombardy cow milk production at farm ... 270
Life cycle assessment of sugar production in Hamadan sugar mill ... 274
Sustainability in breeding farms: the case of the Maremmana beef ... 278
Carbon Footprint of tropical Amazon fruit jam from agroforestry ... 282
Life-cycle assessment of chestnut produced in the north of Portugal ... 286
Life Cycle Impact Assessment: needs and challenges for assessing food supply chains ... 290
Pesticide Substitution: Combining Food Safety with Environmental Quality ... 291
Building consensus for assessing land use impacts on biodiversity: contribution of UNEP/SETAC’s Life Cycle Initiative 294
Coupling land use information with remotely sensed spectral heterogeneity: a new challenge for life cycle impact assessment of plant species diversity ... 298
Biodiversity impact: Case study beef production... 302
Pollinators in LCA: towards a framework for impact assessment ... 307
Evaluating use stage exposure to food contact materials in a LCA framework ... 311
Assessing freshwater biodiversity as endpoint modeling of impacts in LCIA: case of run-of-river hydropower ... 315
Spatial and temporal assessment of GHG emissions from cocoa farming in the region of San Martin, Peru ... 319
Land use in life cycle impact assessment: a review of models at midpoint level to incorporate impacts on soil state and functioning... 323
Marine eutrophication impacts from present and future production of spring barley ... 327
Integration of Land Use aspects in LCA: determination of land use types as a crucial factor influencing the result ... 331
Ecocentric Water Scarcity Index to address local and temporal climate variability: the case of a tomato sauce ... 335
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Eco-innovatiom and industrial symbiosis in the food sector ... 339
Environmental assessment of Ultra-High Pressure Homogenisation for milk and fresh cheese production... 340
Strategies for reducing food waste: Life Cycle Assessment of a pilot plant for insect-based feed products ... 344
Environmental Impact Assessment of caproic acid production from organic waste: A case study of a novel pilot-scale biorefinery in the Netherlands ... 348
Recovery of waste streams from agroindustry through industrial symbiosis in Sicilia ... 352
Environmental impact of using specialty feed ingredients in pig and broiler production: A life cycle assessment ... 356
Alternative scenarios of food-waste treatment: a comparative Life Cycle Assessment... 360
Sustainable Management of EU Food Waste with Life Cycle Assessment ... 364
How food loss is addressed in LCA ... 368
Challenges and opportunities in using Life Cycle Assessment and Cradle to Cradle® for biodegradable bio-based polymers: a review ... 372
The Hamlet dilemma for aluminium cans in the circular economy: to be or not to be in a closed loop? . 376 Sustainability assessment of food supply chains: socio-economics drivers and impacts ... 380
In food supply chain: social LCA, what to do?... 381
Food redistribution in the Helsinki Metropolitan and Turku Areas ... 385
Integrating LCA within MuSIASEM approach to evaluate feasibility, viability and desirability of second generation bioethanol from Arundo donax feedstock for transportation energy needs of Campania (Italy). ... 389
Combining frontier analysis and Exergetic Life Cycle Assessment towards identification of economic-environmental win-win situations on dairy farms ... 392
Life cycle social sustainability assessment convenience food: Ready-made meals ... 396
LCC, S-LCA and LCSA in food and energy sectors: lessons from scientific literature ... 401
Applying Social Life Cycle Assessment in the Thai Context: Challenges from the sugar industry... 405
Material Flow and Water Footprint Analysis of Cassava Starch Production Systems ... 409
Traditional cultivars, improved performance: reflections on the climate change intensity of traditional foods ... 413
Social LCA: a framework for social impacts assessment in Italian wine sector ... 417
Social Life Cycle Assessment in the honey industry ... 421
Environmental and social impact indicators of soil consumption ... 425
Tools to improve the energy efficiency of the institutional food system ... 430
246
Life Cycle Assessment of organic apple supply chain in the North of Italy Authors: Sonia Longo1, Marina Mistretta2, Maurizio Cellura1, Markus Kelderer3, Flavio Paoletti4
1Dipartimento di Energia, Ingegneria dell’Informazione e Modelli Matematici (DEIM) – Università degli Studi di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze Ed.9, 90128 Palermo (Italy)
2Dipartimento Patrimonio Architettonico e Urbanistico (PAU) –
Università degli Studi Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria, Salita Melissari, 89124 Reggio Calabria (Italy) 3Centro di Sperimentazione Agraria e Forestale Laimburg, Ora (Bz) (Italy)
4
Centro di Ricerca per gli Alimenti e la Nutrizione (NUT), Via Ardeatina 546, 00100 Roma (Italy) E-mail contact: mcellura@dream.unipa.it
1. Abstract
The goal of the study is the assessment of the energy and environmental impacts of 1 ton of organic apples cultivated in the North of Italy, by applying the Life Cycle Assessment methodology. The authors examined the supply chain of apples, by including the supply of raw materials and energy sources, and the farming step. In addition, an assessment of apple distribution to the final users was made.
The results show that a relevant share of the total impacts is caused by the transport to the final users, assuming that the product is distributed on local, national and international markets. A detailed analysis of the farming step shows that a significant share in the overall energy and environmental impacts is due to the use of insecticides and to the consumption of diesel for agricultural machines.
2. Introduction
Agriculture is one of the main sectors affecting the environment through its direct impacts on land use and ecosystems, and on global and regional cycles of carbon, nutrients and water. At global level, agriculture contributes to climate change through emission of greenhouse gases and reduction of carbon storage in vegetation and soil. Locally, agriculture reduces biodiversity and affects natural habitats through land conversion, eutrophication, chemical product inputs, irrigation, etc [1].
The environmental pressure from agriculture can be reduced with organic farming, which represents a key factor in the agricultural sector, due to the added value of its products, to the socio-economic benefits for the producers and to the positive effects on the environment and on the human health.
To calculate the burdens of the whole supply chain of organic products and to compare them with the impacts of conventional products becomes significant for assessing the effective energy and environmental advantages due to the cultivation of these products instead of non-organic ones.
3. Case study: LCA of organic apples in the North of Italy
The present study was developed within the project “BIOQUALIA – Nutritional and organoleptic quality and environmental impact of organic productions”, funded by the Italian Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry Policies.
3.1 Goal and scope definition
The goal of the study is the assessment of the energy use and environmental impacts of 1 ton of organic apples (selected as functional unit) cultivated in the North of Italy. The study was carried out applying the
247 Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology as regulated by the international standards of series ISO 14040
[2, 3].
The authors examined the supply chain of apples, which includes the supply of raw materials and energy sources, and the cultivation step. Particular attention was paid on key issues, such as energy consumption, water use and insecticide use in the farming activities. In detail, the following steps of the cultivation process of apples were examined: machine use, pruning, land management, fertilization, irrigation, thinning, antiparasitic treatment, replanting, harvest and transfer to cooperatives, and post-harvest defense. Further details on each step of the cultivation process can be found in [4]. In addition, an assessment of raw material transport and distribution of apples to the final users was made, assuming that the product is distributed on local (10%), national (40%) and international markets (50%).
3.2 Life Cycle Inventory and Life Cycle Impact Assessment
The inventory analysis was carried out to quantify the environmentally significant inputs and outputs of the examined system, by means of a mass and energy balance of the selected functional unit.
The main energy and material inputs and outputs of the apple supply chain were collected from local investigations. Eco-profiles of energy sources, materials and transports were from international environmental databases [5, 6].
The inventory data, in terms of resource consumption, air, water and soil emissions, and waste production, were elaborated and synthesized by using the following impact categories: global energy requirement (GER), global warming potential (GWP), ozone depletion potential (ODP), acidification potential (AP), eutrophication potential (EP), photochemical ozone creation potential (POCP).
The characterization factors for GER were from the Cumulative Energy Demand [6] method, that enables the estimation of the consumption of renewable (biomass, wind, solar, geothermal, water) and non-renewable (fossil, nuclear) energy sources. The other environmental characterization factors were from the EPD 2013 impact assessment method [7].
The obtained results are detailed in the following. GER was 6.9 GJ/ton, of which 98.5% is represented by non-renewble energy sources. The transport of apples to the final users is responsible of about 70.9% of the total energy impact, and the remaining 29.1% is due to the cultivation (28.9%) and the transport of raw materials (0.2%).
A detailed analysis of the cultivation step (Fig. 1) showed that the main impacts are caused during replanting (23.7%), harvest and transfer to cooperatives (20.2%), irrigation (19.4%), and antiparasitic treatment (18.2%). The other steps give a contribution variable from 1.1% to 6.7%.
The environmental impacts, referred to the functional unit, are the following: GWP 425.45 kg CO2eq, ODP 7.38E-05 kg CFC-11eq, AP 2.30 kg SO2eq, EP 0.76 kg PO43-eq, POCP 0.57 kg C2H4eq.
The percentage incidence of each examined step on the total impact, mainly caused by the transport of apples to the final users, is showed in Table 1.
Referring to the cultivation, GWP, POCP and AP are mainly caused by replanting step, which contributes to the above impacts for about 24.1%, 22.5% and 21.0%, respectively. The machine management is the main
248 responsible of the impact on ODP (52.6% of the total), while the fertilization step causes about 43.6% of the
impact on AP. 28,97 61,91 135,08 22,45 390,29 366,21 120,52 477,16 405,26 0,00 100,00 200,00 300,00 400,00 500,00 600,00 Machines management Pruning Land management
Fertilization Irrigation Antiparasitic
treatment
Thinning Replanting Harvest and
transfer to cooperatives
MJ
/t
on
Figure 1: GER of the cultivation step
Cultivation Transport of raw materials Transport of apples to final users Total
GWP (kg CO2eq) 133,42 0,81 291,22 425,45
ODP (kg CFC-11eq) 3,20E-05 1,03E-07 4,17E-05 7,38E-05
POCP (kg C2H4eq) 0,18 0,001 0,39 0,57
AP (kg SO2eq) 0,87 0,003 1,43 2,30
EP (kg PO43-eq) 0,38 0,00 0,38 0,76
Table 1: Environmental impacts: incidence of each examined step
A preliminary comparison between the obtained results and the impacts of conventional apples [8, 9, 10] was carried out, even if a reliable comparison should be made by using data coming from the same geographic area, considering that different climate and cultivation techniques can significantly influence the final results. The comparison showed that, generally, there are not significant differences between organic and conventional apples in terms of energy and environmental impacts. However, as demonstrated by the project BIOQUALIA of which this research is part, organic apples have superior nutritional and organoleptic characteristics than conventional ones.
4. Conclusion
The LCA methodology can support the development of studies that aim at reducing energy and environmental impacts throughout the supply chain of products and can contribute to the application of sustainable production and consumption strategies [11, 12].
249 The study focused on the analysis of impacts of organic apples. The application of LCA allowed assessing
the incidence of each life cycle step of apples supply chain on the overall impacts and selecting the “hot spots” of the examined system, by the identification of steps and processes responsible of the largest impacts. The results showed that a relevant share of the total impacts (variable from about 51% to about 71%) was caused by the transport of apples to the final users, and in particular to the distribution to international markets. A detailed analysis of the farming step was carried out, showing that a significant share in the overall energy and environmental impacts is due to the use of insecticides and to the consumption of diesel for agricultural machines.
5. References
[1] European Environment Agency, 'Agriculture and the green economy', (EEA, 2012).
[2] ISO 14040, 2006, 'Environmental management - Life cycle assessment - Principles and framework', 2006, International Organization for Standardization.
[3] ISO 14044, 2006, 'Environmental Management e Life Cycle Assessment e Requirements and Guidelines', 2006, International Organization for Standardization.
[4] Standardi, A., Famiani, F., Proietti, P., 'Manuale di corretta prassi per la produzione integrata del melo', 2000 (Ed. 3A Parco tecnologico Agroalimentare dell'Umbria, 2000).
[5] Ecoinvent Centre, 'Ecoinvent database', 2011, Swiss Centre for Life Cycle inventories. [6] PRè-Product Ecology Consultants, 2011, 'SimaPro environmental database'.
[7] The International EPD Cooperation, 2013, 'General Programme Instructions for Environmental Prouct Declarations'. [8] Milà i Canals, L., Burnip, G.M., Cowell, S.J., 'Evaluation of the environmental impacts of apple production using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA): Case study in New Zealand', Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 114 (2006) 226–238.
[9] Sessa, F., Marino, M., Montanaro, G., Dal Piaz, A., Zanotelli, D., Mazzetto, F., Tagliavini, M. 'Life Cycle
Assessment of apples at a country level: the case study of Italy', in Schenck, R., Huizenga, D. (Eds.), 2014. Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Life Cycle Assessment in the Agri-Food Sector (LCA Food 2014), 8-10 October 2014, San Francisco, USA. ACLCA, Vashon, WA, USA.
[10] Cerutti, A.K., Beccaro, G.L., Mellano, G.M., Canterino, S., Donno, D., Bounous G., 'Applicazione della
metodologia LCA ai sistemi di produzione frutticola: aspetti chiave e studi di caso', 09 novembre 2011, ECOMONDO, Rimini Fiera Atti del Convegno della Rete Italiana LCA.
[11] Ardente, F., Cellura, M., Longo, S., 'From LCA of food products to the environmental assessment of protected crops districts: a case study in the South of Italy', Journal of Environmental Management 93 (2012) 194-208. [12] Cellura, M., Longo, S., Mistretta, M., 'Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of protected crops: an Italian case study', Journal of Cleaner Production 28 (2012) 56-62.
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