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

PARALLEL SESSION 5A: FOOD LABELLING 8 th Int. Conference on LCA in the
Agri-Food Sector, 1-4 Oct 2012
bon footprint as well as the national carbon footprint labelling scheme which was launched officially in December,
2009. Interestingly, food companies such as chicken, tuna, pineapple, rice, pet food, and animal feed
joined the project because of their awareness on global warming issues and also because they would like to
prepare themselves for reporting, reducing GHG emissions, and labelling the carbon footprint information.
More studies were conducted in 2011 by KU and JGSEE, covering shrimp, asparagus, baby corn, sweet corn,
sweet chili sauce, and coconut milk including the development of “FOODprint” as a tool to facilitate the
industry collecting the data and calculating the carbon footprint value based on the collaboration from 40
food companies: fruits and vegetables (i.e. rice, tapioca starch, pineapple, fruit cocktail, etc.), livestock (i.e.
chicken, pork, milk, etc.), fisheries (i.e. tuna, mackerel, etc.), aquaculture (i.e. shrimp, tilapia, etc.), food
ingredients (i.e. sugar, palm oil, etc.), drinks (i.e. coffee, aloe vera juice, etc.) and ready-to-eat meals (i.e.
cereal, instant fried rice, etc.) (Gheewala and Mungkung, 2012).
The national guideline of product carbon footprint (Available at
http://www.tgo.or.th/english/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=194:the-national-guidelinecarbon-footprinting-of-product&catid=51:publication&Itemid=68,
in English) was developed from the practical
experiences gained from 24 pilot companies, which included: food, packaging, textile, electrical and
electronic equipment, automobile, and building materials. The key references were: ISO 14040/44, PAS
2050:2008 (Publicly Available Specification: Specification for the assessment of life cycle greenhouse gas
emissions of goods and services) and TS Q0010 (Japanese Technical Specification: General principles for
the assessment of carbon footprint of product). The principles of carbon footprint assessment are rooted in
the life cycle approach and the main methodological issues are applicable for all kinds of products. The carbon
footprint labelling is based on the methodology described in the national guideline on product carbon
footprint and expressed as carbon score, XXX g or kg CO2e (three significant digits). To date (March 2012),
there are more than 480 products being labelled from 117 companies; food products are more than half of the
total products [Available at http://thaicarbonlabel.tgo.or.th/carbonfootprint/index.php?page=2].
1.3. Development of PCRs for agri-food products
Different characteristics of products have been recognised thus leading to the need for development of
“Product Category Rules” (PCRs) as additional requirements for carbon footprint implementation. The practices
of PCR development in Thailand are at two levels: (i) by the first company who calculated the carbon
footprint and applied for verification for the carbon footprint label approved by the national technical committee
on product carbon footprint (PCR, company level), (ii) by TGO with the stakeholder consultation
meeting and approved by the national technical committee on product carbon footprint (PCR, national level).
Until now, there are 74 PCRs, at the company level (40 of these are concerning food products) and 3 PCRs at
the national level (textiles divided into yarn and fabric, clothing, non-clothing; food which are milled rice
and chicken meat). It was discussed if PCRs should be developed for each sector or specific product; this had
led to the analysis of the related issues of PCR development and contents in this study.
2. Methods
To identify the issues related to the PCR development and contents for agri-food products, the practical
experiences in applying both PAS 2050 and implementing the national guideline on product carbon footprint
were gathered. The analysis is then used to provide a set of recommendations for further development of
PCRs in agri-food products.
3. Results and Discussion
The results from the analysis of issues that should be taken into account and proposed solutions are discussed
in the sections below.
3.1. Approach in developing PCRs
There are two approaches in developing PCRs: sector-based or individual product-based. We started from
the development of PCR based on each specific product (individual product), which was drafted and proposed
by the pioneering companies conducting the carbon footprinting and applying for the carbon footprint
label. However, the local experts were concerned that the development of PCR at individual level would be
time-consuming and will not be able to respond to the business operations and decisions. On the other hand,
some experts felt that some key products should be developed individually as there are some very specific
issues such as rice from different rice farming systems in each region having different emission factors. It
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