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

GROUP 3, SESSION A: LABELLING, CONSUMERS, DIET 8 th Int. Conference on LCA in the
Agri-Food Sector, 1-4 Oct 2012
774
80. Life cycle assessment as a basis for eco-labelling of fish food
products
Erwin M. Schau 1,2,* , Annik M. Fet 2 , Harald Ellingsen 3 , Matthias Finkbeiner 1
1 Department of Environmental Technology, Technische Universitaet Berlin, Berlin, Germany, 2 Department
of Industrial Economics and Technology Management, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
(NTNU), Trondheim, Norway, 3 Department of Marine Technology, NTNU, Trondheim, Norway, Corresponding
author. E-mail: erwin.schau@tu-berlin.de
Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a valuable tool for documenting environmental performance of food products.
This is also true for fish food products – a commodity providing income for millions and food for billions
of people worldwide (FAO Fisheries Department, 2010) – even though most effort has been invested in
the sustainable harvesting of fish resources. The life cycle management in the food industry is mainly driven
by policy makers, consumers and the industry itself on the emerging problem of climate change. In the fish
industry, there is an urgent need for strategies, tools and communication with the market that emphasise the
whole life cycle of the fish food product from catch to consumption. Taking this into account, carbon footprint
declaration (after the planned ISO14067 (ISO/DIS 14067, 2012)), the coming European environmental
footprint of products (European Commission, 2012), and the Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) -
following the ISO14025 standard (ISO 14025, 2006) - are all suitable for communicating results from food
products LCAs. The EPD, mainly developed for business to business communication, can also be used for
communication to the other important stakeholders, like environmental organisations and consumers. However,
the special challenges with declining fish resources need to be taken into account. This contribution
presents results from a PhD-project on life cycle assessment of the fish food product with emphasis of the
fishing phase (Schau, 2012). The results from the LCA of Atlantic herring landed in Norway and consumed
in Germany, shows that the fishing vessel, and especially the diesel use is the main contributor to most impact
categories investigated. Besides from presenting the LCA results, the EPD also gives information on the
status of the fish stock the product comes from. In addition, this contribution investigates how life cycle environmental
impacts from fish food products can be presented in the carbon footprint declarations and in the
coming European environmental footprint of products.
References
European Commission, 2012. Environmental footprint of products. Retrieved 24 Jan 2012 from
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/eussd/product_footprint.htm.
FAO Fisheries Department, 2010. The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture - 2010. Rome, Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
ISO 14025, 2006. Environmental labelling and declarations - Type III environmental declarations - Principles
and procedures (ISO 14025:2006). Geneva, ISO.
ISO/DIS 14067, 2012. Carbon footprint of products - Requirements and guidelines for quantification and
communication. Berlin, Secretariat DIN: 52.
Schau, E.A.M., 2012. Environmental life cycle assessments of fish food products with emphasis on the fish
catch process. Trondheim, Norway, NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology.