LCA Food 2012 in Saint Malo, France! - Manifestations et colloques ...

PARALLEL SESSION 3A: LAND USE CHANGE 8 th Int. Conference on LCA in the
Agri-Food Sector, 1-4 Oct 2012
LC GHG balance
(kg CO 2eq/kg soybean oil)
1,2
1,0
0,8
0,6
0,4
0,2
0,0
-0,2
-0,4
-0,6
0,51
0,91
0,98
Figure 2. LC GHG emissions of soybean oil (no LUC, no-tillage): different methods for handling coproducts.
Fig. 3 presents soybean oil life-cycle GHG emissions (energy allocation) from soybean produced in 2
climate regions in Brazil. The results for the alternative LUC scenarios are comparatively assessed. The contribution
of each LC phase (LUC, cultivation, transport and oil extraction) is also shown. The results show a
huge variation in GHG emissions: between 0.9 kg CO2eq/kg (no LUC) and 12.9 kg CO2eq/kg (previous improved
management savannah, tropical moist region). LUC dominates the results. GHG emissions due to
LUC represent more than 69% in all scenarios, except for the scenarios where soybean is cultivated in previous
severely degraded grassland in warm temperate region. The GHG emissions of soybean oil associated
with cultivation, transport and oil extraction are also compared in Fig. 3. Concerning the scenarios with no
LUC, process contributions to the GHG balance are as follows: cultivation (3-44%), transport (3-44%) and
oil extraction (1-14%).
Figure 3. LC GHG emissions of soybean oil (energy allocation): LUC scenarios and phase contribution.
4. Conclusions
The main goal of this paper is to assess and discuss the implications of adopting different allocation
methods (mass, energy and marked price based allocation) and different scenarios of system expansion on
the LC GHG emissions of soybean oil. The sensitivity analysis conducted to illustrate the consequences of
different multifunctionality approaches shows that results are very sensitive to the approach adopted. The
1,12
Mass Energy Economic
1,05
ISM: Imported soybean meal
IS: Imported soybean
-0,36
Min Max Av ISM IS
Allocation Substitution method
LC GHG balance
(kg CO 2eq/kg soybean oil) Transport
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
NT T NT T NT T NT T NT T NT T NT T NT T NT T NT T
Managed forest Improved Moderatly degraded
management savannah savannah
Severely degraded
savannah
Managed forest Perennial crop
(reduced-tillage)
Improved Moderatly degraded
management grassland grassland
No LUC Tropical, moist (Brazil, Central-West) Warm temperate, moist (Brazil, South)
0,51
Oil extraction
Cultivation
LUC
NT: No-tillage
T: Tillage
Severely degraded
grassland
265