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
83. How to measure sustainable agriculture? The GLOBAL 2000
adaptive sustainability assessment approach for agricultural products
Martin Wildenberg * , Tanja Altaparmakova, Kewin Comploi, Dominik Frieling, Lydia Matiasch, Helmut
Burtscher
Umweltforschungsinstitut GLOBAL 2000 / Friends of the Earth Austria, Neustiftgasse 36, 1070 Vienna,
Austria, * Corresponding author. E-mail: martin.wildenberg@global2000.at
Eco-labelling has been suggested as an approach to manage towards a more sustainable world by several
authors and organisations (e.g. de Snoo 2006, Bruce & Laroiya 2006, Rigby et al 2001, UNDP (CSD) 1996).
Although approaches to “measure” sustainability have often been criticised we follow the opinion of Gomez-
Limon & Sanchez-Fernandez (2010) that the “design and use of such indicators can be extremely useful in
that they force those involved in the discussion of sustainability to identify the key aspects of sustainable
agriculture and to assign weights to them.” In such a context the often very general and theoretic discussions
about sustainability are confronted with real world practices and problems and are requested to come up with
workable solutions and improvements.
This poster presents the GLOBAL 2000 adaptive sustainability assessment approach (ASAP), with which the
environmental performance of agricultural products is measured from field to shelf. Also first product specific
results and lessons learned during the implementation phase will be presented.
The aim of the approach is to arrive at a comprehensive understanding of the environmental impacts of a
certain agricultural product and the connected life cycle. Furthermore, it strives to set incentives for farmers
to adopt a more sustainable production mode and to help consumers make deliberative consumption choices,
by informing them about the environmental impacts of products.
Five field-level based indicators (N-balance, P-balance, humus-balance, pesticide use and energy intensity)
and five based on “material input per service unit” (MIPS) indicators (carbon-footprint, biotic and abiotic
material input, water input and area used) are used. We calculate the indicators based on date provided by
each producer and company along the production chain. The approach uses a stepwise process that explicitly
involves stakeholders in the refinement and adaptation of monitoring and benchmarking and serves as a discussion
and knowledge transfer arena.
Our method is applied in the context of the REWE International AG, GLOBAL 2000 and Caritas Sustainability
Program for Fruits Vegetables and Eggs and is used for the REWE label Pro Planet (www.proplanet.at)
in Austria. This program provided the necessary frame and infrastructure to further develop the
methodology and tools in an applied context.
References
Bruce C. and A. Laroiya, 2007. The Production of Eco-Labels. Environmental and resource Dynamics, 36:
275-293.
de Snoo, G. R., 2006. Benchmarking the Environmental Performances of Farms. The International Journal of
Life Cycle Assessment, 11:22-25.
Gomez-Limon, J.A., G. Sanchez-Fernandez, Empirical evaluation of agricultural sustainability using composite
indicators, Ecological Economics, 69: 1062-1075.
Rigby D., P. Woodhouse, T. Young, M. Burton, 2001. Constructing a farm level indicator of sustainable
agricultural practice. Ecological Economicsm 39: 463-478.
UNDP (CSD), 1996, Eco-labeling United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development. Available at:
http://www.un.org/documents/ecosoc/cn17/1996/background/ecn171996-bp8.htm
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