How to navigate agri-food LCA and footprinting
Unlock the power of LCA
The global food system is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for up to 37% of global emissions. It also places significant pressure on natural resources, including land, water, and biodiversity. As sustainability becomes a growing priority, businesses, governments, and organizations are striving to make food production more environmentally friendly, but where to start? Conducting a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) or Footprinting study is a good starting point, as it provides a structured approach to measuring environmental impact across the entire supply chain. However, it can be rather complex, requiring a deep understanding of methodologies, data collection, and interpretation.
The role of LCA
Measuring emissions and environmental impacts from agricultural systems can be complex. Instead, we rely on internationally recognized methodologies, such as LCA, that evaluates the entire supply chain of food products, from food to fork. LCA provides a comprehensive view of environmental impacts, enabling informed decision-making and sustainable improvements.
As global sustainability reporting requirements increase, businesses must provide transparent, reliable data on their environmental footprint. Regulations such as the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and rising consumer expectations are driving companies toward credible, science-based reporting.
LCA plays a crucial role in this shift, offering data-driven insights that support you:
Identify environmental hotspots
Pinpoint the most impactful stages of your supply chain beyond just carbon emissions, including land use, water consumption, biodiversity impacts, and fossil fuel depletion.
Meet regulations and standards
Ensure compliance with frameworks such as CSRD, EU Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules (PEFCRs), and other international reporting and certification requirements.
Support strategic decision-making
Use LCA insights to inform product design, supply chain choices, and long-term sustainability strategies that align with corporate goals and stakeholder expectations.
Complexities of agri-food LCAs
LCAs of agricultural and food products and systems come with unique challenges. Factors such as land use change (LUC), allocation methods, and data variability can significantly influence results. To ensure credibility and accuracy, it’s essential to master global standards and methodologies while making informed modelling choices.
Key considerations include:
Effective functional unit selection
Defining a meaninful basis for comparison
Setting system boundaries
Determining where teh LCA starts and stops for accute results.
Choosing the right allocation method
Handling multi-output systems effictively.
Navigating international standards
Understanding international frameworks, such as EU PEFCRs to align with best practices.
Addressing agri-food-specific complexities
Including Land Use Change (LUC) reporting, biodiversity impacts, and soil carbon sequestration.
Choosing the right allocation method
Handling multi-output systems effictively.
Unlock the power of LCA
Learn from our footprinting experts
Are you a sustainability professional in the agri-food sector looking to be well-oriented in agri-food LCA and footprinting? Our footprinting exerts provide your with guidance and tools to translate your LCA insights into meaningful sustainability improvements.
LCA and Footprinting studies
Full spectrum of LCA and footprinting services, from quick internal Screening LCAs to fully Critically Reviewed, externally verified studies
Footprint methodology and standard development
Development of harmonized, sector‑level environmental calculation rules and guidelines (e.g. EU PEFCRs) to help industries standardize credible sustainability assessments.
Interim LCA support
Expert LCA services to temporarily replace or support in-house teams, covering product and corporate footprinting, data management, and sustainability reporting.
In-company LCA & Footprinting training
Tailored onsite or online training to build practical LCA and footprinting skills for agri-food teams.
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Reach out
Jeroen Straver
Get in touch with Jeroene to discover how we can support your team with expert LCA and footprinting services.