The objective of this study was to quantify the climate change (CC) impact of the honey supply chain in different beekeeping systems and farms, over two consecutive years. The CC impact category is quantified as kg CO2 equivalent and it evaluates the GHG emissions, mainly CO2, N2O, and CH4. The results ranged from 0.44 to 3.18 (p = 0.039) kg CO2e/kg honey with higher values in 2021 than 2020. The main contributors to climate change of the honey supply chain are represented by transport and supplemental feeding inputs. The beekeeping system (migratory or stationary) influenced CC: the contribution to CC for stationary farms was estimated at 0.58 kg CO2e/kg honey and 2.48 for migratory ones (p < 0.001). Given the close connection between honey yield and LCA results due to the unit of measurement of impact, i.e., kg of honey produced, an index was developed (wildflower honey climate index) as a simple benchmark tool for prediction of honey yield in the survey context. Using the data from the present study, we found that the index is positively related to honey yield (r = 0.504; p < 0.05) but negatively related to supplemental feeding (r = −0.918; p < 0.01) and overall carbon footprint (r = −0.657; p < 0.05). Further studies are needed to better explain the effects of weather on honey production, as well as environmental impact.

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has been increasingly used for the improvement of the environmental performance of products and services, including agro-food chains. Pollination by honeybees can be regarded as one of the functions of an apicultural system and is of utmost importance for both natural ecosystems and agriculture. Furthermore, the beekeeping chain can represent an instrument for the protection and conservation of honeybee diversity when local subspecies are used. The Carbon Footprint of honey evaluates greenhouse gas emissions throughout the Life Cycle Assessment—more specifically, emissions of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane. To this aim, data from beekeeping farms were collected, including data on annual honey production, other hive products, the geographical locations of the apiaries, processing plants, technologies used, and fuel and energy consumption. Based on the ISO 14040 method for the use of Life Cycle Assessment, the Carbon Footprints that were calculated for honey ranged from 1.40 to 2.20 kg CO2e/kg of honey for migratory beekeeping and from 0.380 to 0.48 kg CO2e/kg of honey for non-migratory beekeeping. The movements for the management of migratory beehives (on average, 44 km/hive for farm 1, 32 km/hive for farm 2, and 13 km/hive for farm 3) represented the main impact in migratory beekeeping systems, and they were quantified as 1.234, 1.113, and 0.68 CO2e/kg of honey. However, electricity represented the main impact of systems without migratory practices.