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Inclusion of soil erosion impacts in life cycle assessment on a global scale: application to energy crops in Spain

  • LAND USE IN LCA
  • Published:
The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Despite the fundamental role of ecosystem goods and services in sustaining human activities, there is no harmonized and internationally agreed method for including them in life cycle assessment (LCA). The main goal of this study was to develop a globally applicable and spatially resolved method for assessing land use impacts on the erosion regulation ecosystem service.

Methods

Soil erosion depends much on location. Thus, unlike conventional LCA, the endpoint method was regionalized at the grid cell level (5 arcmin, approximately 10 × 10 km2) to reflect the spatial conditions of the site. Spatially explicit characterization factors were not further aggregated at broader spatial scales.

Results and discussion

Life cycle inventory data of topsoil and topsoil organic carbon (SOC) losses were interpreted at the endpoint level in terms of the ultimate damage to soil resources and ecosystem quality. Human health damages were excluded from the assessment. The method was tested on a case study of five 3-year agricultural rotations, two of them with energy crops, grown in several locations in Spain. A large variation in soil and SOC losses was recorded in the inventory step, depending on climatic and edaphic conditions. The importance of using a spatially explicit model and characterization factors is shown in the case study.

Conclusions

The regionalized assessment takes into account the differences in soil erosion-related environmental impacts caused by the great variability of soils. Taking this regionalized framework as the starting point, further research should focus on testing the applicability of the method through the complete life cycle of a product and on determining an appropriate spatial scale at which to aggregate characterization factors in order to deal with data gaps on the location of processes, especially in the background system. Additional research should also focus on improving the reliability of the method by quantifying and, insofar as it is possible, reducing uncertainty.

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Acknowledgments

This work was carried out within the framework of the national and strategic On Cultivos Project, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and the European Regional Development Fund, and the LC-IMPACT project—Improved Life Cycle Impact Assessment Methods (LCIA) for Better Sustainability Assessment of Technologies (grant agreement no. 243827), funded by the European Commission under the 7th Framework Programme on the Environment, ENV.2009.3.3.2.1. We would like to thank the staff at IRTA-Experimental Station Mas Badia Foundation (Spain) and Dr. Asunción Usón for their help with the case study.

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Author notes

  1. Montserrat Núñez

    Present address: INRA, UR050, Laboratoire de Biotechnologie de l’Environnement, Avenue des Etangs, Narbonne, F-11100, France

Authors and Affiliations

  1. IRTA, Sostenipra, Ctra. de Cabrils, Km 2, 08348, Cabrils, Barcelona, Spain

    Montserrat Núñez, Assumpció Antón & Pere Muñoz

  2. Departament d’Enginyeria Química, Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), 43003, Tarragona, Spain

    Assumpció Antón

  3. ICTA, Sostenipra, Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), 08193, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain

    Joan Rieradevall

  4. Chemical Engineering Department, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), 08193, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain

    Joan Rieradevall

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  1. Montserrat Núñez
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Correspondence to Montserrat Núñez.

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Responsible editor: Llorenc Milà i Canals

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Further method descriptions, inventory and impact assessment data, characterization factors, and results of the case study are available in the electronic version of the article.

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Núñez, M., Antón, A., Muñoz, P. et al. Inclusion of soil erosion impacts in life cycle assessment on a global scale: application to energy crops in Spain. Int J Life Cycle Assess 18, 755–767 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-012-0525-5

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