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

GROUP 6, SESSION B: METHODS, TOOLS, DATABASES 8 th Int. Conference on LCA in the
Agri-Food Sector, 1-4 Oct 2012
155. The LCA world food database project: towards more accurate
LCAs on agricultural and food products
Laura Peano 1,* , Yves Loerincik 1 , Sebastien Humbert 1 , Gérard Gaillard 2 , Thomas Nemecek 2
1 Quantis, Parc scientifique EPFL, Bât. D, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland, 2 Agroscope Reckenholz-Tänikon
Research Station ART, Reckenholzstrasse 191, 8046 Zürich, Switzerland, Corresponding author. E-mail:
laura.peano@quantis-intl.com
The food and beverage sector is moving rapidly regarding sustainability issues (such as labelling purposes or
“food eco-design”). This concerns both institutional and private organisations; consumers and environmental
organisations also claim for more transparency on the environmental performance of food and beverage
products. Life cycle assessment (LCA) has proven to be an effective method to assess the environmental
impact of a product or service throughout its life cycle. However, currently, major limitations in doing such
analyses are the lack of inventory data on food products and processes and a lack of consistency between
existing food datasets. Therefore, there is a need to develop detailed, transparent, well documented and reliable
data in order to increase accuracy of food LCA.
In this context, Quantis, the Agroscope Reckenholz-Tänikon Research Station ART and some leading companies
in the food sector have decided to launch in 2012 the LCA world food database project.
The database will include datasets concerning agricultural raw materials (including, when possible and relevant,
differences between production systems such as organic or non organic, intensive or extensive), inputs
(such as pesticides and fertilisers), infrastructures (agricultural buildings, equipment and machinery), processes,
processed food products, food storage, food transportation and food packaging. A consistent, but
transparent, consideration of deforestation will also be included giving the possibility to assess it using different
allocation rules. The data will come from existing LCAs on food products (partners’ LCA, ART and
Quantis existing databases), literature review on LCA of food products, statistical databases of governments
and international organisations (such as FAO), environmental reports from companies, technical reports on
food and agriculture, partners’ information on food processes as well as collected primary data. Background
datasets from the ecoinvent database will be used and new datasets will be compatible with ecoinvent.
To guarantee its transparency, the database will be fully documented, unit processes will be visible (except
for confidential data provided by the companies) and information sources identified. The user will be able to
differentiate among different stages of the process (e.g. agricultural production vs. food product manufacturing)
and to identify the main contributors of a specific dataset (e.g. irrigation, fertiliser use, etc.).
The food database will be updated each year and will be compliant with quality requirements from major
standards (ILCD Handbook, Sustainability Consortium, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP),
etc.) as well as with ecoinvent.
The project will start in March 2012 and will be completed in March 2015. The presentation will present the
project (results of the literature review of the existing food datasets, involved companies, time schedule) as
well as current state of the results (existing and new datasets, influence of consistent incorporation of deforestation,
results and challenges associated with organic and non organic as well as extensive and intensive
agricultural and animal systems).
References
Ecoinvent, 2010. ecoinvent database v 2.2. Available at www.ecoinvent.ch
Jolliet, O., Margni, M., Charles, R., Humbert, S., Payet, J., Rebitzer, G., 2003. IMPACT 2002+: a new life
cycle impact assessment method. International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 8 (6), 324–30. Version
adapted by Quantis (http://www.quantis-intl.com).
European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Institute for Environment and Sustainability, 2010. International
Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) Handbook, General guide for Life Cycle Assessment,
Detailed guidance. Publications Office of the European Union.
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