Life Cycle Assessment in the agri-food sector: an overview of its key aspects, international initiatives, certification, labelling schemesand methodological issues

Abstract

Sustainable development and, above all, sustainable production and consumption in the agri-food sector have been key issues since the 2000s, stimulating the creation of many international initiatives and strategies aimed at reducing environmental impacts deriving from food production and consumption and at finding more sustainable ways of production. This first chapter is designed to provide the reader with an as exhaustive as possible overview of the key concerns, applications, and methodological issues of agri-food life cycle assessment (LCA). On this scale the major international initiatives (with a special focus on two relevant and recent European ones), eco-labels and declarations, and footprints (at product level, based on an LCA approach) developed so far are reported. Some of the most important LCA initiatives developed by agricultural and livestock operators, the industry sector, logistics sector, trade, and the end of life of packaging and/or food waste operators are also described in the chapter. Considering that one of the key issues within the agri-food sector is the lack of reliable and up-to-date inventory data on food products and processes, the state of the art of the major existing international LCI databases is reported, and the national and international initiatives currently under development highlighted. Finally, the chapter takes into account dietary issues in the sense that in the context of food sustainability the importance of consumer behaviour and, in particular, dietary behaviour is becoming increasingly recognised, together with the product and its production chain.

Conclusions

This first chapter was written as an introduction to the later ones, focussed on specific agri-food sectors, and as a reference basis for the readers of this book. Its aim is to provide an as exhaustive as possible overview of the key concerns, applications, and methodological issues of the LCA methodology applied to the agri-food sector.

The first part of the chapter was devoted to the description of the major international initiatives, eco-labels and declarations, and footprints developed at product level and based on an LCA approach. The significant hotspots which emerged in this context are:

• The relevant role and commitment of, above all, the European Commission and governments toward issues of sustainable production and consumption. The recent development of the “EU Environmental Footprint” (EF) initiative and the European Food Sustainable Consumption and Production Roundtable are proof of this.

• The huge number of eco-labelling and footprint systems developed may generate confusion and mistrust among consumers and all the involved stakeholders. It is evident that a step towards harmonisation among all the existing standards and methods is more than desirable. In this context, for example, the new EU Environmental Footprint system has the aim of “…establishing a common methodological approach …for assessing, displaying, and benchmarking the environmental performance of products/services/companies based on a comprehensive assessment of environmental impacts over the life-cycle”.

The section devoted to the role played by the different actors of the supply chain in the development and consolidation of the LCA methodology as an essential tool for the assessment of the environmental performance of food products highlighted that:

• Many initiatives (at national and international level) have been, and are still being, developed by agricultural and livestock operators, the industry sector, logistic and trading, and the end of life of packaging and/or food waste operators. Within the industry sector, in particular, the dairy sector is one of the most proactive sectors not only at international but also at national level: many national LCA studies have been carried out over the years. The commitment of the logistic and trading sector is also considerable, and many initiatives have been undertaken by the major retail chains. Finally, there is a growing interest regarding the environmental impact arising from food waste, given that about one- third of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year (1.3 billion tonnes) is lost or wasted. In this regard, it is important to be aware that such waste is relevant and impactful not only from an economic but also from an environmental perspective. The last consideration concerns the consumer side: greater commitment by NGOs and other consumer associations is desirable in the sense of making LCA’s applications, advantages, and opportunities more accessible and understandable for the consumer.

Impacts arising from the agri-food system tend to be different from the ones typically modelled in LCA (non-food based products). This necessitates a different methodological approach in the agri-food sector, related (for example) to the selection of the most suitable FU, system boundaries, allocation method, fertilisers, and pesticide dispersion models. Section  1.4 about the methodological issues focussed on the general issues arising from the development of an LCA study of a food product. Specific aspects related to the chosen sectors are analysed in the following chapters.

Accurate and consistent LCA studies require representative life cycle inventories acting as fundamental building blocks. Section  1.5 on LCI databases highlighted that:

• Albeit many LCI databases have been developed, most of them are characterised by a lack of transparency and are often incomplete because they take into account only a few input-output flows; this lack of information concerning the impact of food products can lead to ambiguous interpretations and conclusions; furthermore, these databases are often not up-to-date and not regionalised. Finally, the databases are frequently inconsistent with each other, because of different approaches and assumptions. There is a need for clear, well-documented, and consistent data to increase the accuracy and comparability of LCA in the food sector.

Finally, the main hotspots identified in the dietary issues section (1.6) are:

• the need to change the consumer’s dietary behaviour to reduce the environmental impact of foods;

• the need for action to increase efficiency in the production chain and reduce food waste;

• the need for dietary changes to reduce environmental impacts of the agri-food sector at the lowest economic cost.