More than 10% of global GHG emissions are related to land use changes (LUC). This is almost the same as global GHG emissions from transport and around half of global GHG emissions from electricity produced from coal. The magnitude of LUC emissions clearly indicates that excluding this from LCA is highly problematic. In addition, several LCIA methods suggest that land use related impacts are much more important than GHG emissions (Weidema 2015). This makes the exclusion of LUC from LCA even more problematic.
Often, the impacts from indirect land use change (iLUC) are lacking in LCA studies – or at the best, it is modelled without reasonable considerations on cause-effect relationships between the use of land and the induced effects. If iLUC impacts are not included properly in the LCA results, there is a great risk of producing misleading results. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a good generic way of modelling iLUC. This should not be limited to biofuels or some certain crops in a certain region. There is a need for a generic model that can be applied to all kinds of land using LCA processes (cultivation of crops, cattle grassland, forestry, and land for buildings and infrastructure).
In order to make such a model available, we established the iLUC Club in 2011, which now has more than 20 universities and companies as members. We are currently working on the fifth version of the model which makes use of global land use change matrices and satellite data. The model framework is documented in a peer reviewed scientic article: A framework for modelling indirect land use changes in life cycle assessment. The model has been compared with other iLUC models in a scientific paper, where it was ranked as the best performing with regard to several criteria. Further, we actively contribute to the ongoing scientific debate on iLUC.
The model strives towards establishing a cause-effect relationship between, on the one side:
and on the other side:
The model has been tested and applied in several studies:
Subscription to the iLUC Club gives access to:
An important open source output from the project is a file with the needed information for obtaining iLUC GHG emission data for any land use (arable, forest, grassland) in any country in the world (download file).
The current members include:
On occasion of the 10th anniversary of our engagement with iLUC (15th Nov. 2017) we held a free webinar - the recording from this webinar can be seen here (youtube video) and the slides here (pdf).
For subscription (or questions), please contact us. To go to the club click here.
The Novo Nordisk Environmental Profit and Loss Account (E P&L) is a response to PUMA’s call for contributions to the E P&L methodology and the expert review of PUMA’s E P&L.
The Novo Nordisk E P&L is reported in two parts; the main report, which focuses on the results and the application of these in a Novo Nordisk context, and the methodology report which focuses on the methodology applied for establishing the E P&L results.
The following methodology report:
Not all of the points from the review have been addressed in this E P&L, but those that have are listed in section 1.1. These are the main conclusions and contributions to the E P&L methodology from this analysis.
The results of the Novo Nordisk E P&L reveal that Novo Nordisk’s most material impacts on nature occur within the first and third tiers of the supply chain. If environmental costs relating to water consumption, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and air pollution were to be internalised, Novo Nordisk would have to pay 29 million EUR in 2011 for operational activities (core activities) alone. Looking further down the value chain, the costs increase substantially. Environmental costs across tiers 1, 2 and 3 amount to 194 million EUR or 87% of the total cost. Impacts in tiers 1, 2, and 3 are generated by suppliers and their respective supply chains in different geographical regions throughout the world.
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This report is a comparative life cycle assessment of a conventional steel ferry and a carbon fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) composite ferry.
As such, the objective of this report is to evaluate the environmental impacts of the current Tun Island Ferry and the proposed alternative Eco Island Ferry according to ISO 14040 standards for life cycle assessment. The functional unit is defined as servicing the Tunø ferry route in one year. This includes:
This report studies the environmental performance of the two ferry alternatives, including the emissions related to the production of construction materials and engine size, energy savings related to change in the weight of the ferry, and the waste handling at the end-of-life of the ferry.
In this report input parameters used for the calculation of carbon footprints of Danish and Swedish milk are presented. It should be noticed that all results and interpretations for the carbon footprints of Danish and Swedish milk are presented in Schmidt and Dalgaard (2012). Further, the used terms, definitions and methodological framework is also described in Schmidt and Dalgaard (2012).
In Chapter 1 general activities and data (e.g. electricity, fertilisers, capital goods etc.) are presented. In Chapter 0 the Danish and Swedish milk and beef systems and the Brazilian beef system are presented. The plant cultivation system, which includes 12 different crops from various countries, is presented in Chapter 4. Finally, the food industry system is presented in Chapter 1.
Arla Foods wants to estimate and track the development in greenhouse gas (GHG) emission per kg raw milk - both at farm level, national level as well as corporate level which include emissions in several countries. The current report concerns a CF model for raw milk from cradle to farm gate.
The modelling of life cycle emissions for agricultural products is associated with several challenges. The production systems are most often characterised by having several co-products, and the most significant emissions are related to biological processing, such as enteric fermentation and altering of nutrient balances as opposed to LCAs in other sectors where most emissions are related to the combustion of fuels (Schmidt 2010a). The modelling of co-products is one of the major challenges in the modelling of life cycle emissions. The modelling of emissions in agricultural production systems involves a large number of activity and product parameters and the models (IPCC models for GHG-emissions) are often related to significant uncertainties.
A key challenge for Arla is that different methods for calculating the carbon footprint (CF) are often used in the countries where Arla operates. The following relevant modelling approaches have been identified:
Arla Foods therefore needs a flexible tool that enables different types of modelling depending on the context. It should be possible to calculate the CF at farm level and national level according to the used practises in the given country, but it should also be possible to compare results between countries and to calculate the aggregated CF at corporate level. The latter requires that the same model is used in all countries. The model developed in the present project, therefore have built-in switches that enables to use the same data, but to get the CF results according to the different modelling approaches. Hence, the model makes it possible for Arla to compare results across markets as well as within markets. The purpose of the present project is to:
Compared to a ‘normal’ CF model, the current model is generically described with input parameters and formulas. Then the same model can be used for calculating the CF baseline for different countries as well as farm specific CF. The generic model and country baseline results are described in the current report. All input parameters are described in an inventory report (Dalgaard and Schmidt 2012).
The special features and the generic nature of the Arla model require that the framework for the life cycle inventory is defined consistently. Therefore, before the actual CF model is described in chapter 4 to 9, the inventory framework is described in chapter 3.
The overall environmental impacts from consumption of meat and dairy products in EU-27 have been assessed by the use of hybrid life cycle assessment (input-output data supplemented by specific process data). For the impact assessment, we applied a flexible model that allows results to be presented both in the 14 traditional environmental midpoint indicators (global warming potentials, photochemical ozone creation potential, etc.) and in monetary units (Euro). Specifically for this project, a damage model for aquatic eutrophication was developed. We identified and quantified the improvement options for all processes contributing more than 10% to each of the midpoint impact categories. Rebound effects, synergies and dysergies of the different options were taken into account and we show the importance of rebound effects and interrelationships of the improvement options, as well as market constraints. The environmental impacts were monetarised and a separate socio-economic assessment performed, thus allowing a cost-benefit assessment of the improvements. We also analysed the significance of discounting. Uncertainties and limitations of the study are discussed.
The rest of the proceedings can be found here: http://edepot.wur.nl/8243
The present report is a detailed study of the environmental impacts, seen in a life cycle perspective, of an aluminium smelter with an annual capacity of 360,000 tonnes planned for instalment in West Greenland. The study is initiated by Alcoa and the Government of Greenland. The smelter is still in the planning phase, and will not be operating before 2014, at the earliest.
The objective of the LCA is to provide life cycle-based environmental information on the planned aluminium smelter in relation to the strategic environmental assessment (SEA) process, which is ongoing from 2007 to 2009 (Greenland Home Rule 2007).
This summary is divided into three parts. The first part is the background section that describes the context and purpose of the LCA, while the second part explains the scope of study as well as important methodological considerations and choices. The third part presents the main results of the study. These include the estimated GHG emissions of the planned aluminium smelter in Greenland, and GHG emissions related to an alternative aluminium production. The alternative is assumed to be implemented if the Greenland smelter is not established, or to be avoided if the project continues as planned. Finally, part three comprises a sensitivity analysis highlighting the uncertainties of the LCA results.
The lack of reliable communication tools is anticipated to become an important barrier to design and sell products with improved environmental performance. In this paper, environmental product declarations, EPDs, and in particular a Stepwise EPD approach is investigated as a means to overcome the communication barrier. The experiences of ten European SMEs who have tried to use Stepwise EPDs for market communication and as a basis for eco-design are described and discussed. The experiences suggest that Stepwise EPDs based on life cycle assessment can be a cost-efficient tool to improve the environmental performance of products. For normal marketing activities the Stepwise EPDs were disappointing. Using the underlying LCA as a platform for in-depth communication with selected parties in the supply chain showed more promise.
The purpose of this projects is amongst others to evaluate and compare the environmental performance of different vegetable oils, including the relevant market responses induced by the oils’ by-products. The project resulted in a proprietary report.
The study was also presented to the audience at the 11th Annual Roundtable Meeting on Sustainable Palm Oil, 11-14th November 2013, Medan - see the presentation.
Some of the projects results were furthermore presented in a publication in Journal of Cleaner Production, Life cycle assessment of five vegetable oils, where you see and read more about the below figure:
