Life cycle assessment of agre-food systems : : an operational guide dedicated to developing and emerging economies / / Claudine Basset-Mens.

• VerfasserIn: Basset-Mens, Claudine,
• Place / Publishing House: [Place of publication not identified] : : Quae,, [2021]; ©2021
• Year of Publication: 2021
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (210 pages)

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is the internationally recognized method to assess the environmental impacts of products and services. Its application to agri-food systems in developing or emerging contexts is recent and represents many challenges of scientific, partnerial and operational nature. With more than 10 years of scientific and field experience, the CIRAD LCA team has synthesized, with other internationally recognized experts, the best knowledge and approaches available to apply LCA under these conditions. This operational guide is a useful tool for LCA practitioners; it provides best practice recommendations to carry out LCA studies on agri-food products in developing and emerging contexts.

Table of Contents

Preface7 -- Part 1 Introduction -- 1. LCA within developing and emerging economies11 -- Land tenure issues11 -- Environmental vs. economic development concerns 13 -- Most developing and emerging countries are located in the tropical zone13 -- Inadequate input issues14 -- Research and development priorities and capacities 15 -- 2. The purpose of this operational guide 17 -- 3. Standards, guidelines and tools19 -- 4. Preparation process and intended audience25 -- Part 2 Agri-food LCA in developing and emerging contexts -- 5. State of the art of agri-food LCA29 -- 6. Specific challenges for agri-food LCA in developing -- and emerging contexts 35 -- Diversity of agri-food systems due to specific natural conditions -- and combined socio-economic constraints35 -- Data gaps on the systems to be characterized36 -- Varying awareness and capacities of stakeholders 39 -- 7. Established and emerging initiatives43 -- Part 3 Overcoming the challenges for robust agri-food LCA in developing -- and emerging economies -- 8. Co-designing the study with stakeholders49 -- Overview of the approach49 -- Critical analysis of the demand, constraints and avoidance strategies 51 -- The community of the study54 -- Working as a team in the field 61 -- Management of ethics and rights for stakeholders65 -- System boundaries, typologies and sampling strategies71 -- 9. Building life cycle inventories79 -- Foreground data collection79 -- Direct field emissions87 -- Background data collection94 -- Quality management and critical review (CR)95 -- 10. Performing impact assessment97 -- Overview of available and recommended sets of LCIA methods 97 -- Impact categories 102 -- 11. Interpreting the results for each stakeholder category 103 -- Accounting for uncertainty in LCA studies103 -- Comparing results with previous studies111 -- Sharing and communicating results to support decisions112 -- Part 4 Conclusions and moving forward -- Part 5 Appendices -- A. Guidelines / ISO Norms: a brief overview121 -- ISO, 2006. ISO - 14040:2006 - Environmental management - Life cycle -- assessment - Principles and framework, Environmental Management.121 -- ISO, 2006. ISO - 14044:2006 - Environmental management - Life cycle -- assessment - Requirements and guidelines. Geneva.121 -- B. Commonly used direct field emission models122 -- C. LCA resources126 -- Networks and platforms126 -- Databases and software131 -- Research and universities133 -- D. Data collection and confidentiality: check list and points -- of vigilance 135 -- Data collection and confidentiality 135 -- Points of vigilance135 -- Tools and best practices for data management 136 -- E. Recommendations for designing a sampling protocol according -- to PAS 2050-1 137 -- F. Best practices for agri-food LCAs, at the system level 138 -- G. Free tools to model field emissions for LCI 143 -- Emission models online143 -- GHG calculators143 -- H. Detailed guidance on impact categories 144 -- Global Warming or Climate Change impact144 -- Soil quality impact152 -- Human toxicity and ecotoxicity 158 -- Biodiversity due to LULUC166 -- Water scarcity footprint 170 -- I. LCIA methods recommended by the Life Cycle Initiative -- and EF 3.0 176 -- J. Detailed guidance on the use of the qualitative assessment of data -- in LCA according to the European PEFCR Guidance (EC 2018)178 -- Qualitative diagnosis178 -- Uncertainty approximation 180 -- K. How to display LCA results while avoiding bias due to -- visualization choices? 181 -- Refer to "useful ink" concept 181 -- Which type of graph is the most effective for most LCIA results? -- (histograms)181 -- References183 -- Glossary 201 -- Abbreviations204 -- List of authors 207.