Sustainability LCA and agriculture a quick overview Claudine

Sustainability, LCA and agriculture: a quick overview Claudine Basset-Mens Adapted from a paper accepted in IJPLM in collaboration with Bruce Small, Upananda Paragahawewa, Brigitte Langevin, Paula Blackett

Outline 1) Introduction 2) Sustainability and LCA: conceptual frameworks 3) LCA applied to agri-food systems ü Specific challenges and state of the art ü Illustration: LCA of pig production in France 4) General conclusions SDCC

The global ecosystem and the economic system (Daly, 1996)

We stand at a crossroad both for humanity and our fellow species… • We must understand/quantify the relationships between our activities and the natural and social worlds • BUT first, we must decide: what are things in our natural and social worlds that we value and wish to sustain?

Outline 1) Introduction 2) Sustainability and LCA: conceptual frameworks 3) LCA applied to agri-food systems ü Specific challenges and state of the art ü Illustration: LCA of pig production in France 4) General conclusions SDCC

Sustainability definitions • • Definitions and representations still under social construction Most definitions are strongly anthropocentric Dimensions of environment, economy and society central to most definitions Debate around the weight of each dimension Economic Environment Social Three pillars sustainability The egg of sustainability

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) • An international consensus via the ISO norm 14044 • In 4 steps. LCA framework Goal and scope definition Applications: üComparaison of different production practices Environnemental inventory Interpretation üIdentification of hot-spots üStrategic decisions for politics, industrials, scientists üMarketing differenciation. . . Impact assessment

LCA framework System definition Steps before Inventory Impact assessment Resources Emissions Energy use Human toxicity Climate change Ecotoxicity Eutrophication Acidification ………………. . Biodiversity Farm Adapted from Geier (1999) Interpretation Expressed per functional unit Areas of protection Abiotic Resources Human society health Ecosystem quality

The need for a simple model… Mais Feeds T Pig Machines production Extraction matériaux T Wheat Machines production T T Soya T Fertilisers Crude oil Resources used and emissions T Sugar cane Cassava

The need for a simple model… • LCA model: accounting for all impacts attached to a function, at any time and in any place over its whole life cycle • First generation of scientific work – Implementation through indicators defined further up the cause and effect chain: “midpoint” – Assess the capacity of a function to cause harmful effects rather than their actual occurrence – Temporal dynamics of emissions and sensitivity of ecosystems ignored

Cause and effect chain and indicators System Impact = E x FC Emission Midpoint indicator Fate Target Ecosystem Endpoint Impact = E x FD x FE indicator Feasibility Environmental relevance

Comparison of frameworks and models LCA assessment Sustainability assessment • Measure of eco-efficiency • Absolute assessment to fulfill a function including all activities • Impacts/Functional Unit • Real scale • Need for a simple model • Critical to reach a global picture loads/sensitivity of ecosystems • Evolving values frameworks but also converging: social and natural worlds as value objects • LCA science in constant evolution with specific challenges for its application to agri-food systems

Outline 1) Introduction 2) Sustainability and LCA: conceptual frameworks 3) LCA applied to agri-food systems ü Specific challenges and state of the art ü Illustration: LCA of pig production in France 4) General conclusions SDCC

Applying LCA to agricultural production? Farming system , Inserted in a land LCA, a global method , Soil being part of the production system and the environment , Huge variability of emissions , Regional and local impacts are paramount: land use, water quality and use A challenge for LCA applied to agricultural systems: « be global and reliable »

State of the art of LCA applied to agri-food systems and products • Completeness of impact categories compared to the sustainability framework? • Reliability and accurarcy in relation to the complexity of natural phenomena

Completeness: environment: land use • UNEP-SETAC recommendations: Qualitative aspects of land use other than eutrophication, acidification, toxicity: • Biodiversity • Life support function • m 2. a not sufficient (less always better) • Current research on elaborating pathways between intervention and impacts • Which indicators attached to available data? • Vascular plant species; free net biomass production, soil organic matter… • Biogeographically differentiated characterisation factors needed è Further research warranted

Completeness: environment: water as a resource LCA and Virtual Water concepts merging Virtual Water (VW) concepts BLUE water GREEN water GREY water LCA perspectives for assessing freshwater use impacts These VW concepts can be incorporated to the LCA framework. For that, two new Specific LCIA impacts categories should be created: FEI (Freshwater Ecosystem Impact) and FD (Freshwater Depletion) Mainly evaporative uses to be taken into account in LCIA Distinction and specific pathways for “blue water” and “Fossil blue water” Mainly taken into account through land use occupation and transformation Grey water concept better addressed within LCA framework through several impacts categories (eutrophication, ecotoxicity freshwater, human toxicity (exposure route via water), etc. Adapted by Cemagref from Mila i Canals et al (2009)

Completeness: social aspects • Framework under construction (UNEP-SETAC initiative) following LCA norm and steps. • Debate on • areas of protection (“human dignity and well-being”) • scope definition: whole life cycle versus main focus on conduct of companies • Main lack related to the definition of a relevant and unique set of social LCA indicators • Characterisation phase should include two entries: impact categories and impacted stakeholders • Almost no LCA studies including social dimension • Lack of data è Further research warranted

Uncertainty and reliability • LCA studies on food products • However, comparability of independent studies questionable • Uncertainty analysis lacking • Creation of international working groups per product category would be necessary: – Minimum requirements for reporting – Harmonisation of assumptions – Exploring use of models for variable emissions – Produce uncertainty data and analyses

Sophistication of regional impacts • Over last 10 years: importance of defining indicators nearer to the endpoint and Indicatorinspatial Spatial assessment differentiation Geographical è Sophistication line Cause with sustainability requirements including differentiation and effect coverage proved possible for certain impact categories modelling è Still a Accumulated lot of research to doand great Acidification Fate Yes difficulties to overcome Europe exceedance effect (endpoint) Toxicity Risk PEC > PNEC (subendpoint) Eutrophication Potential biomass (midpoint) Fate and effect No (generic environment) Global Attempts incl. Fate and effect Attempt (pb: catchment scale; wetlands, sensitivity of receptors) Finland, Europe

Perspectives for LCA and sustainability 1) What to sustain? What function to fulfil? How to build up a consensus across cultures? 2) Make all sustainability aspects visible: Relevant and feasible indicators needed for: 1) land use quality aspects 2) Water usage and 3) social dimension 3) Uncertainty and harmonisation 4) Exploring territorial LCA (all functions) and coupling with other methodologies (e. g. industrial ecology)

Environmental assessment of contrasting pig farming systems Claudine Basset-Mens and Hayo van der Werf 22

World pig production in 2003: a concentration trend… 22% 47% 11% millions of tonnes 45 millions 9 millions 2 millions 1 million World production 2003: 98, 5 millions of tce 11% Source : FAO - Base FAOSTAT in OFIVAL Production percent

Context • In Brittany, over the last forty years : change from a traditional to an intensive industrial production system Huge increase in production and animal densities Increased pollution of water, soil and air The current pig production model is in crisis • Pig producers : – are facing a social demand for a better respect of the environment – and have to cope with a very competitive pig world market

Objectives • To produce an assessment of the environmental performance of contrasting pig farming systems: – Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) (conventional) – Agriculture Biologique (AB) (organic) – Label Rouge (LR) ( « Porc fermier Label Rouge » quality label) • To identify « hot-spots » for each system • To propose an evaluation of the robustness of the main results

Studied system T Manure management : transport Productiondelivery of crop inputs T Production-delivery of primary materials for buildings T Transformation of crop products into feed ingredients T Crop production T Feed production Buildings Production of building materials Piglet production T T Weaning to slaughtering production T Porker sow

Characteristics of GAP, LR and AB pig farming systems

Environmental impacts for GAP, LR and AB per kg of pig and ha

Contribution of life cycle stages to five impact categories, expressed per ha 29

Conclusions on the pig case study • LR appeared as an interesting alternative • Influence of the choice of functional unit: kg of pig / ha of land use • Identification of hot-spots and margins for improvement for each system • Not an exhaustive study: biodiveristy, soil quality… • Proper uncertainty analysis missing…

Outline 1) Introduction 2) Sustainability and LCA: conceptual frameworks 3) LCA applied to agri-food systems ü Specific challenges and state of the art ü Illustration: LCA of pig production in France 4) General conclusions SDCC

General conclusions • LCA is a powerful conceptual framework, • result of an international consensus • with important databases available • Its application to agri-food systems and functions is not new • but still facing important challenges to increase its completeness and reliability • Need for international scientific collaborations for common sets of values and harmonised methods

Thank you for your attention. . .