Eco-efficiency as a sustainability measure for kiwifruit production in New Zealand

Müller, Karin; Holmes, Allister; Deurer, M.; Clothier, Brent

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.07.049

Cited by 70 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…This situation reflects the outcome of numerous life cycle assessment (LCA) studies in fruit and vegetable species where the greenhouse structure is considered [26,48]. This protection is essential for Actinidia in order to guarantee high-quality production and to protect the plant against stress in case of hailstorms according to Muller et al (2015) [46] chain (field and warehouse systems). The results of the impact of the entire production phase (field + warehouse) are recorded in Table 3.…”

Section: Lcia Field Production Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The last column lists the impacts associated with a full orchard cycle. [46] in a study performed in New Zealand. Another input from our study that has a consistent impact is water, accounting for about 20-25% for both species and for all impact categories.…”

Section: Swot and Tows Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Compared to the non-PSA growing seasons of the Actinidia variety in Italy, there has been a need in field management, to increase the use of pesticides to cope with increasingly critical situations with the consequent reduction of the system's environmental and economic sustainability [46].…”

Section: Threatsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Integrated Methodologies (SWOT, TOWS, LCA) for Improving Production Chains and Environmental Sustainability of Kiwifruit and Baby Kiwi in Italy

et al. 2017

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Abstract:Italy's kiwifruit growers are considered to be world-leading players of the past 20 years. However, with this success come its challenges. In the last five years, a bacterial canker of kiwifruit known as Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae (Psa) has caused a dramatic reduction in the size of the areas cultivated, leading to several experienced Piedmontese Actinidia deliciosa growers beginning to cultivate the A. arguta. To better understand the potential for replacing the common kiwifruit in Italy's Piedmont region with plantations of A. arguta and to attain a systematic approach and support for decision situations; we assessed the environmental impact of the two production chains (field and storage) from a technical-operational perspective. The assessment was conducted through interviews with producers, field and warehouse technicians and sales managers in order to reveal the strengths and weaknesses of the two systems. The work presented below considers the application of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method for the field system (two different phases of the plantation) and the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis for the entire supply chain (field and warehouse management). Finally, a TOWS analysis (Threats, Opportunities, Weakness, Strengths) integrated the results of both LCA and SWOT analyses and permitted to highlight the development strategies for A. arguta in Piedmont. The total orchard cycle for A. arguta presents an impact of 0.14 kg CO 2 eq (GWP) and for A. deliciosa an impact of 0.11 kg CO 2 eq (GWP). Based on the synthesis of results from our TOWS analysis, we identified the following development strategies to help to shape the future A. arguta supply chain in Piedmont: Large-scale oriented; Berry fruits oriented; Export and organic oriented and Niche oriented.

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Section: Lcia Field Production Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Swot and Tows Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Integrated Methodologies (SWOT, TOWS, LCA) for Improving Production Chains and Environmental Sustainability of Kiwifruit and Baby Kiwi in Italy

et al. 2017

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“…The higher the ratio value, the higher the economic performance per unit of environmental impact. According to [36], the environmental and economic data should be come from the same data set. In fact, information based on the both annual budgets and internal data of the two firms have been collected.…”

Section: The Ecoefficiency Ratio Of the Agro-energetic Chainmentioning

confidence: 99%

Circular Economy Model: Insights from a Case Study in South Italy

Palmieri¹,

Suardi²,

Alfano³

et al. 2020

Sustainability

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This study aims to analyze the economic and environmental sustainability of a case study of an energy power plant that produces electricity from pruning residues of olive groves from nine municipalities in southern Italy. To assess the economic sustainability of the agro-energetic chain, the profitability and efficiency ratios are calculated. Moreover, the GHG emissions of the agro-energetic pruning supply chain due to both the pruning collection at the field level, and their combustion for energy production at the power plant, are calculated. To put together the environmental and economic evaluations, the ecoefficiency ratio was calculated to measure the value added per 1Mg of GHG emitted into the atmosphere. The findings show the whole agro-energetic chain, namely the power plant and the collection company have both a good return on owner’s equity (ROE) ratio (15.89% and 31.48%, respectively) and ROI ratio (4.34% and 6.14% respectively). Moreover, the power plant’s ecoefficiency ratio (2.64€ per 1Mg of GHG) is slightly lower than harvest firm one (2.91€ per 1Mg of GHG). The findings could be useful to develop new business models based on the circular economy concept. In fact, the business model proposed could push entrepreneurs towards new income opportunities, at the same time, helping local farms and reducing the environmental impacts.

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“…The efforts of eco-efficiency indicators have been used for comparative studies and decision-making, providing better financial, environmental, and social performance [8,9]. However, Ehrenfeld asserted, "if eco-efficiency is to become a useful indicator for determining choice, it must be coupled with other indicators and tools" [33].…”

Section: The Mediating Role Of Eco-efficiency Knowledgementioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of Sustainability Balanced Scorecard Types on Environmental Investment Decision-Making

2018

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Investment decision-making based on aspects of sustainability is gaining importance among organizations around the globe. In this context, there is a need for quality investment decisions, which require sufficient knowledge among organizational managers about managing sustainability information to achieve environmental objectives that meet stakeholder expectations. This has led to the emergence of organizational performance measuring tools such as the Sustainability Balanced Scorecard, which integrates the environmental perspective into the traditional Balanced Scorecard. Using experimental research method, the objective of this study is to investigate the indirect effect of Eco-efficiency knowledge and Sustainability Balanced Scorecard knowledge as mediators influencing the relationship between Sustainability Balanced Scorecard types and their impact on environmental investment decision-making. Findings of the current research are based on 60 respondents who were randomly assigned to one of the following two types of Sustainability Balanced Scorecard architecture: (1) environmental data embedded within the traditional Balanced Scorecard perspectives; and (2) standalone environmental data as an additional fifth perspective along with the traditional Balanced Scorecard architecture. The traditional Balanced Scorecard without any information on environmental perspective is included in the experiment as the control condition. The findings indicate that the combined effect of eco-efficiency knowledge and Sustainability Balanced Scorecard knowledge has a significant positive influence on the relationship between the Balanced Scorecard type versus Sustainability Balanced Scorecard type and environmental investment decision-making.

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Eco-efficiency as a sustainability measure for kiwifruit production in New Zealand

Cited by 70 publications

References 23 publications

Integrated Methodologies (SWOT, TOWS, LCA) for Improving Production Chains and Environmental Sustainability of Kiwifruit and Baby Kiwi in Italy

Integrated Methodologies (SWOT, TOWS, LCA) for Improving Production Chains and Environmental Sustainability of Kiwifruit and Baby Kiwi in Italy

Circular Economy Model: Insights from a Case Study in South Italy

Impact of Sustainability Balanced Scorecard Types on Environmental Investment Decision-Making

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