The methodology behind the Arla Foods FarmAhead™ check documented in the current report is created for a cradle-to-farm gate life cycle assessment (LCA) of milk. This is done for five countries: Denmark, Germany, Sweden, the UK and Finland. National baseline data for Denmark, Germany, Sweden and the UK was collected and described in a previous report (Schmidt and Dalgaard, 2016), whereas the data for Finland can be found in the appendix of the current report. In addition to providing national-level data and results, the methodology of the current study is also applicable to the thousands of Arla farms that use the FarmAhead™ check every year.
Two different modelling approaches are applied in the LCA and described in the current report. A consequential LCA is performed according to the standards ISO 14040 (2006a) and ISO 14044 (2006b). The consequential approach models the consequences of a change in demand for milk and dairy ingredients within scope. A second modelling approach, attributional modelling, is also performed. The modelling complies with the International Dairy Federation (IDF) global carbon footprint (CF) standard for the dairy sector (IDF, 2022) in this approach.
