Carbon footprint of food – approaches from national input–output statistics and a LCA of a food portion

Virtanen, Yrjö; Kurppa, Sirpa; Saarinen, Merja; Katajajuuri, Juha‐Matti; Usva, Kirsi; Mäenpää, Ilmo; Mäkelä, Johanna; Grönroos, Juha; Nissinen, Ari

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2011.07.001

Cited by 161 publications

(81 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Concerning the methods used to evaluate the various impacts, the analysis clearly shows that LCA is by far the dominant approach (49 articles). Variations of LCA, such as EIO-LCA, have only been used in two papers (Virtanen et al, 2011, Meisterling et al, 2009. Other methods proposed include MIPS for assessing the environmental sustainability of food production and consumption of various foodstuffs (wheat-, rice-and orange-based products); however, calculations were based on the use of existing LCA and literature data and not on primary data (Mancini et al, 2012).…”

Section: Methods Applied To Assess Resource Usage and Its Impactmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resource-efficient supply chains: a research framework, literature review and research agenda

Matopoulos

Barros

Vorst

2015

Supply Chain Management: An International Journal

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If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation.*Related content and download information correct at time of download. J.G.A.J. (Jack) van der VorstOperations Research and Logistics Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands Abstract Purpose -The study aims to define a research agenda for creating resource-efficient supply chains (RESCs) by identifying and analysing their key characteristics as well as future research opportunities. Design/methodology/approach -We follow a systematic review method to analyse the literature and to understand RESC, taking a substantive theory approach. Our approach is grounded in a specific domain, the agri-food sector, because it is an intensive user of an extensive range of resources.Findings -The review shows that works of literature has looked at the use of resources primarily from the environmental impact perspective. There is a need to explore whether or not and how logistics/supply chain decisions will affect the overall configuration of future food supply chains in an era of resource scarcity and depletion and what the trade-offs will be.Research limitations/implications -The paper proposes an agenda for future research in the area of RESC. The framework proposed along with the key characteristics identified for RESC can be applied to other sectors. Practical implications -Our research should facilitate further understanding of the implications and trade-offs of supply chain decisions taken on the use of resources by supply chain managers. Originality/value -The paper explores the interaction between supply chains and natural resources and defines the key characteristics of RESC.

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Section: Methods Applied To Assess Resource Usage and Its Impactmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resource-efficient supply chains: a research framework, literature review and research agenda

Matopoulos

Barros

Vorst

2015

Supply Chain Management: An International Journal

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“…Reducing the carbon footprint is one of the key strategies toward more sustainable food supply chains [5,6]. Nevertheless, the processing, packaging, storage and distribution of food and beverage products are still deeply fossil fuel dependent and contribute significantly to the global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Glass vs. Plastic: Life Cycle Assessment of Extra-Virgin Olive Oil Bottles across Global Supply Chains

2015

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Abstract:The environmental impacts of global food supply chains are growing with the need for their measurement and management. This paper explores the operations of a global supply chain for extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) according to a life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. The LCA assessment methodology is applied to determine the environmental impact categories associated with the bottled EVOO life cycle, focusing on packaging decisions. The proposed analysis identifies the greatest environmental stressors of the EVOO supply chain, thereby supporting strategic and operative decisions toward more efficient and environmentally-friendly operations management and packaging choices. This paper quantifies the environmental categories of the impacts of global warming potential, ozone layer depletion, non-renewable energy use, acidification, eutrophication and photochemical smog, for the observed EVOO supply chain, given alternative packaging configurations, i.e., a glass bottle vs. a plastic bottle. The observed system includes the supply of EVOO, the EVOO processing and bottling, the supply of packaging, the distribution of final products to customers, the end-of-life (EOL) treatments regarding the management, recycling and the disposal of waste across a global supply chain. The findings from the LCA highlight the potential of PET bottles in reducing the environmental impact of EVOO supply chains and identifies hotspots of discussion for policy-makers, EVOO producers and consumers.

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“…LCA has advantages over IOA in the embodied carbon evaluation of single products because it collects production information from the technical details [23][24][25][26][27][28][29], but it shows shortcomings in the carbon calculation of an area, which needs massive data support and truncation errors [30]. So recent studies that focus on all sectoral products mostly use IOA to calculate the regional and national carbon footprints.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbon Footprints and Embodied Carbon Flows Analysis for China’s Eight Regions: A New Perspective for Mitigation Solutions

Xie

Cai

Jiang³

et al. 2015

Sustainability

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Carbon footprints have been widely employed as an indicator for total carbon dioxide released by human activities. In this paper, we implemented a multi-regional input-output framework to evaluate the carbon footprints and embodied carbon flows for the eight regions of China from consumption-based perspective. It is found that the construction, electricity/stream supply, and machine manufacturing rank as the top sectors with the largest total carbon emissions. The construction sector alone accounts for 20%-50% of the national emissions. Besides the sectoral carbon footprints, regional footprints and their differences in carbon emissions were also observed. The middle region had the largest total carbon footprints, 1188 million ton, while the capital region ranked the first for its per capita carbon footprint, 7.77 ton/person. In regard to the embodied carbon flows within China, the study detected that the embodied carbon flows take up about 41% of the total carbon footprints of the nation. The northwest region and the eastern coast region are found to be the largest net embodied carbon exporter and importer, respectively. Further investigation revealed significant differences between production-based and consumption-based carbon emissions, both at sectoral and total amounts. Results of this paper can provide specific information to policies on sectoral and regional carbon emission reduction. OPEN ACCESSSustainability 2015, 7 10099

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Carbon footprint of food – approaches from national input–output statistics and a LCA of a food portion

Cited by 161 publications

References 23 publications

Resource-efficient supply chains: a research framework, literature review and research agenda

Resource-efficient supply chains: a research framework, literature review and research agenda

Glass vs. Plastic: Life Cycle Assessment of Extra-Virgin Olive Oil Bottles across Global Supply Chains

Carbon Footprints and Embodied Carbon Flows Analysis for China’s Eight Regions: A New Perspective for Mitigation Solutions

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