A step toward regionalized scale‐consistent agricultural life cycle assessment inventories

Abstract

Life cycle inventory (LCI) regionalization (i.e., the determination of input and output flows from production processes at a subcountry scale) is a priority in life cycle assessment (LCA) studies, particularly in the agri-food sector. Many regionalized LCAs fail to ensure that microlevel inventories are consistent with country-level aggregated data-or "scale consistent." They also fail to construct LCIs using international reference guidelines and trustworthy standardized data sources. This failure generates inaccuracies and biases in inventories and can compromise comparability among international LCA studies. Our study introduces scale consistency as a principle for regionalized agri-food LCIs. We present a generic procedure that defines how scale-dependent LCI flows should be regionalized, depending on data availability. We then present a list of inventory flows that require regionalization and their suggested calculation procedures (methods and models) from 2 methodological guides developed by projects Agribalyse and World Food LCA Database. As proof of concept, we apply the procedure to Portugal and assess whether the methods and models proposed for each type of inventory flow in both guides can potentially be applied consistently with the data available. For 17 inventory flows, we apply calculated scale-consistent inventory flows for Portuguese agriculture, covering 260 products that can be used in future LCA studies. Comparing results with international databases, we show that this procedure can improve country-level estimates significantly. Our study is the first step in introducing scale consistency as a guiding principle for regionalized LCIs for agri-food LCA studies. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2017;13:939-951. © 2017 SETAC.

Carbon Footprint of Milk from Pasture-Based Dairy Farms in Azores, Portugal

“…Activity data used to build the life cycle inventory (LCI) were mainly obtained from the farm survey. The inventory for on-farm emissions from forage cultivation, pastures, manure management and enteric fermentation by cattle was adapted as recommended in the method set up for regionalized inventories by Morais et al [41]. Considering the best available estimates applicable for the region of Azores, we used national-level data corresponding to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Tier 2 approach [42] applied in the Portuguese GHG National Inventory Report (NIR) [43] instead of using Tier 1 defaults.…”

The Effects on Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Ecological Intensification of Meat Production with Rainfed Sown Biodiverse Pastures

“…There is evidence that SBP reduce nitrogen leaching when compared with SNP [60], but not in a life cycle assessment approach. Besides placing more emphasis on the regionalization of the inventories and activity data, these additional impact categories should also be assessed using regionalized life cycle impact assessment methods [31]. There are now multiple highly regionalized methods available, mainly focusing on land use [61,62] and biodiversity impacts [63,64].…”

“…In recent years, LCA regionalization has been one of the main trends within the LCA community [30], as it is of crucial importance for accuracy in results. There are now regionalized agricultural inventories in Portugal, and Alentejo in particular, that enable LCA analyses based on scale-consistent local data [31]. While in the past, the absence of data and models limited the analyses, there are now resources for using a specific inventory for SBP and SNP in Alentejo [31].…”

“…There are now regionalized agricultural inventories in Portugal, and Alentejo in particular, that enable LCA analyses based on scale-consistent local data [31]. While in the past, the absence of data and models limited the analyses, there are now resources for using a specific inventory for SBP and SNP in Alentejo [31].…”

A Practical Comparison of Regionalized Land Use and Biodiversity Life Cycle Impact Assessment Models Using Livestock Production as a Case Study

“…Inventory flows for feed ingredients were also obtained from ecoinvent [54]. In this study, the inventories for the main ingredients of the feed (maize silage and grain, wheat and barley) were regionalized for Portugal using the approach of Morais et al [56], which is based on a regionalized adaptation of inventory guidelines produced by the Agribalyse [57] and the World Food LCA Database [58]. The inventory flows adapted for Portugal were the yield, land use, land transformation, fertilizer and pesticide use.…”