Hemicell is a feed additive whose activity reduces feed-induced immune responses and improves nutrient absorption, allowing for a reduction in dietary calorie content without compromising animal growth performance. Mérieux NutriSciences | Blonk used the LCA methodology to calculate the potential reduction in broiler and swine feeds when reformulated with Hemicell. The study found the reduction ranges from 2.5% to 3.4% for broilers and from 1.2% to 4.2%, for swine feeds. The study was ISO reviewed according to the ISO14040/44 standards.

In the LCA calculation of a CO₂ footprint, allocation is a significant step. Using a so-called allocation key, the total environmental impact of a company and its supply chains is distributed over the products it produces. Within the PPS Klimaatperspectief (Climate Perspective Dutch Agro Production), the impact of allocation has been studied for various production systems in the Dutch agro sector, including animal feed, dairy, veal, and pork. This report shows that the choice of a specific allocation key has a significant impact on the final environmental footprint of these products, which can also affect defining the best reduction strategy.

The study compares the environmental performance of Oatly Barista (an oat-based drink designed for, but not limited to, use in coffee and tea) to cow’s milk in five sales markets: Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Italy and Spain.

The study compares the environmental performance of Oatly Unsweetened and Super Basic Oatmilks to cow’s milk in the United States (US), considering different sourcing scenarios.

The study compares the environmental performance of chilled Oatly Oat Drink Semi (an oat-based drink with a fat content of 1.5%) to cow’s milk in the Swedish and Finnish markets.

The study compares the environmental performance of Oatly Creamy Oats (oat-based product for cooking and baking) to dairy cooking cream in the German, Dutch, United Kingdom, Danish and Norwegian markets. 

The study compares the environmental performance of Oatly Barista (an oat-based drink designed for, but not limited to, use in coffee and tea) to cow’s milk in three sales markets: Poland, Ireland and France.

A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has been performed to compare the environmental performance of Oatly Creamy Oat to dairy cooking cream in Finland. This study is an addendum to the report “LCA of Oatly Creamy Oat and comparison with dairy cooking cream”, which was published by Blonk Consultants on February 19th 2024 (Blonk Consultants, 2024) and went through a critical review according to ISO 14040/14044/14071 standards (ISO, 2006b, 2006a, 2014).

This addendum should be read in conjunction with the main report.

The methodology, data use, and assumptions made, are described in detail in the main report, and have remained unchanged for this report. The changes that apply to the products in scope for this addendum concern the distribution of the Oatly product, the source, fat content and packaging size of the dairy cooking cream, and the storage at retailer and packaging end of life of both products in the aforementioned market. The main conclusions from the Oatly Creamy Oat study therefore also apply to this addendum.

Too Good to Go is the company behind the app which enables surplus food to be sold before its expiration date in 15 European countries, the US and Canada. By saving the food, food waste is avoided to a certain extent and food resources are applied more efficiently. Hereby, environmental impacts associated with food waste treatment and food production are decreased, leading to a potential reduction in environmental impacts like greenhouse gas emissions (e.g. CO2), water use and land use. 

We investigated the environmental impact of Too Good to Go’s activities to save food from being disposed. Our team developed a robust environmental impact framework, measuring the avoided CO2-eq emissions, land use, and water use of the food saved from going to waste by Too Good To Go. The developed methodology was critically reviewed by WRAP and University of Oxford, ensuring its accuracy and credibility. 

For WWF Central and Eastern Europe we modelled diets, using diet optimization methods, to simultaneously reduce carbon footprint and meet nutritional requirements of adults in Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia, while ensuring diet costs did not increase and staying as close as possible to national dietary patterns.

Our findings show that increasing consumption of vegetables, legumes and nuts, moderating meat consumption, and reducing consumption of foods rich in added sugar, salt and saturated fats are needed to achieve healthy and sustainable diets.

This study builds on the foundations of the previous LCA study for Oatly, “LCA of Oatly Barista and comparison with cow's
milk”, investigating Oatly Barista produced and sold in multiple countries. 

We have performed an Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to compare the environmental performance of Oatly Barista (an oat-based drink), to cow’s milk in China. I In addition, the study has analysed the drivers and opportunities linked to the environmental impact of Oatly Barista as produced in Singapore and China and sold in China.

A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has been performed to compare the environmental performance of Oatly Creamy Oat to dairy cooking cream, starting with the Swedish market. In addition, the study has analysed the drivers and opportunities linked to the environmental impact of Oatly Creamy Oat. The functional unit considered for this study is 1 liter of Oatly Creamy Oat/dairy cooking cream at the point of sale, including packaging manufacturing and packaging end of life. For dairy cooking cream, a reference product has been defined based on market research data, that considered the fat content and the most common heat treatment type and packaging format in Sweden. The foreground data for Oatly Creamy Oat is based on company-specific data from Oatly and refers to production from Oatly’s End-to-End (E2E) factory in Landskrona1. For the dairy cooking cream, data and statistics at a national level were used.

The study was performed and critically reviewed according to ISO 14040/14044 and ISO/TS 14071:2014 standards for comparative assertions that may be disclosed to the public and is in line with LCA guidelines including the European Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules (PEFCR). The analysis was done for 10 key impact categories from the ReCiPe 2016 impact assessment method.

For Oatly, a Swedish company that produces oat-based food products, Blonk Consultants has performed a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to compare the environmental performance of their Oatly Barista product to cow’s milk. The study covers six sales markets: Germany, Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In addition, the study has analysed the main drivers behind the environmental impact of Oatly Barista, and has identified potential opportunities for improvement.

Addendum: LCA of Oatly “No” Sugars and Oatly Oat Drink (Whole/Semi/Light), and comparison with cow’s milk

This addendum to the above study compares the environmental performance of Oatly “No” Sugars and Oatly Oat Drink (Whole, Semi and Light) to cow’s milk in five key sales markets in Europe: Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Finland.

This project was commissioned by World Animal Protection in order to quantify through life cycle assessment (LCA)
modelling the environmental impacts of chicken and pork meat produced through conventional, large-scale farming methods and predominant international feed supply chains in four major market regions, and to compare with animal production using higher animal welfare conditions. The future climate change implications of these production differences are considered using projected future populations and meat consumption rates, alongside directed future reductions in meat consumption. Thus, the goal of this project is to assess the net changes in environmental impact associated with reductions in pork and chicken meat consumption within the consumer markets of the European Union (with production data from the Netherlands used as proxy), China, Brazil and the
United States combined with a transition to increased animal welfare production systems. The study is the first to consider within an LCA framework the potential differences in environmental impact between conventional and higher welfare chicken and pork production in four main production markets, while also considering the effects of reduced meat consumption at the population level. 

The Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (GRSB) recently launched the GRSB Carbon Footprint Guideline, which will help sector-wide and global consistency in carbon footprint calculations for beef cattle production. Blonk advised on and developed the methodological approach and drafted the guideline in close collaboration with the GRSB Climate Science Committee. The aim of The Guideline is to enable the international beef industry to report and monitor greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions consistently, identify mitigation actions and ensure a global approach to sustainable beef production. 

A food system transformation is essential to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Food systems are significant
drivers of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, as well as to land occupation and degradation, biodiversity
loss, natural resource depletion, and nutrient flow disruption. Further, current food consumption patterns are
contributing to increases in diet-related chronic diseases. Numerous studies have shown that a shift toward healthier,
more sustainable diets is essential to mitigate global warming, restore nature, and improve public health outcomes. 

Cosun Beet Company is interested in the role of added sugars in this context of nutritionally adequate and
sustainable diets. Cosun Beet Company is interested in understanding the environmental impact of diets with
various amounts of free and added sugars, considering dietary reference values for nutrition. To obtain insight in
this topic, this study applies (quadratic) optimization of diets. 

To get more insight in the environmental performance of the Suiker Unie beet sugar, we performed a comparative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study on beet sugar, cane sugar and glucose syrup. 

In 2019 the Dutch National Postcode Lottery, Albert Heijn supermarket chain and Unilever organized the sixth ‘Doe Maar Lekker …’ campaign. In this campaign the public were encouraged to replace meat with a meat substitute or other vegetarian option. At the end of October all the participants of the National Postcode Lottery received a gift voucher worth €12.50 to exchange for the ingredients to make a meal for four. Replacing meat with a meat substitute or other vegetarian alternative has a positive climate impact. Blonk Consultants have calculated the reduction in CO₂ emissions resulting from the campaign using the life cycle assessment (LCA) method. 

In 2019 hebben we in opdracht van RIVM (Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu) de milieubelasting van voedingsmiddelen, zoals geconsumeerd in Nederland, berekend. Het resultaat is een consistente database met milieugegevens van diverse voedingsmiddelen. Deze gegevens worden gebruikt voor onderzoek op gebied van gezonde en duurzame voedingspatronen en informatie daarover. RIVM stelt deze gegevens beschikbaar om verschillende geïnteresseerden een consistente set milieugegevens aan te bieden om mee te werken. 

Al enkele jaren organiseren de Nationale Postcode Loterij, Albert Heijn en Unilever de campagne ‘Doe maar lekker duurzaam’. Dit jaar lag de focus op vegetarisch eten. Het publiek werd gestimuleerd om vlees een keer te vervangen door een vleesvervanger of een ander vegetarisch alternatief. Voor deze campagne hebben wij de milieu-impact meetbaar en zichtbaar gemaakt, door na afloop de CO₂-reductie die deze campagne heeft opgeleverd te berekenen. 

De organisatie van de Nationale Week Zonder Vlees heeft Blonk Consultants gevraagd om de milieu-impact van minder vlees eten te kwantificeren, om zo hun campagne cijfermatig te onderbouwen. Aan de hand van de onderzoeksmethode ‘LevensCyclusAnalyse’ (LCA) hebben we de milieu-impact en besparing van minder vlees eten in Nederland berekend. 

Voor de Provincie Zuid-Holland hebben we onderzocht wat circulaire landbouw kan betekenen voor de provincie. In het onderzoek is gekeken naar de huidige milieubelasting van de grondgebonden landbouw. Ook zijn kansen en maatregelen beschreven om tot meer circulaire landbouw te komen. De verkenning is een bouwsteen voor de Strategie Circulair Zuid-Holland. Ook kan de verkenning gebruikt worden bij de gebiedsgerichte aanpak rondom stikstof. 

Our food system is a driving force for climate change, deforestation and biodiversity loss. We helped WWF UK to update the WWF Livewell guidelines. These guidelines show how our diets can relieve the pressure on nature and keep global warming below 2 degrees.

Recently the environmental impact of HumVi (a product of Vitens) has been evaluated. The results are presented in an ‘Agri-footprint® Performance Report’. This report shows why a product is a front runner in the field of sustainability. Furthermore, the Agri-footprint® Performance Report presents the environmental performance of a specific product in a visual, clear and attractive format. So, it is ready to be used as a communication tool on sustainability of a specific product.

This document describes the methodology and data sources applied for deriving the EC feed LCI dataset (full name "feed" process-based product environmental footprint-compliant life cycle inventory datasets). It merges the methodological requirements from the EC tender specifications [ENV.A.1/SER/2016/0035VL], the most recent guidelines document (European Commission, 2017) and the latest version of the draft feed PEFCR (Technical Secretatiat for the Feed pilot, 2015). 

In opdracht van de Consumentenbond hebben we de milieu-impact van verschillende vleesvervangers vergeleken met vlees.

De Consumentenbond wil met dit onderzoek consumenten informeren over de duurzaamheid van vleesvervangers.
In het onderzoek zijn aan de hand van een 'LevensCyclusAnalyse' (LCA) verschillende vleesvervangers vergeleken met vleesproducten. Hierbij zijn klimaatverandering, watergebruik en landgebruik in kaart gebracht.

Voor het transitatieteam biomassa en voedsel van het Ministerie van Economische Zaken hebben we de klimaatimpact van de Nederlandse eiwitproductie en -consumptie onderzocht. Hierbij zijn twee vragen beantwoord:

• Hoe verhoudt de ambitie '30% reductie van de voetafdruk van eiwitproductie en -consumptie in Nederland binnen 30 jaar' zich tot de gestelde klimaatdoelstellingen van ons kabinet?
• Hoe groot zou die impact zijn wanneer de ambitie wordt opgeschroefd naar bijvoorbeeld 50% reductie of nog hoger?

Wageningen UR Livestock Research and Blonk Consultants have investigated if soybean products from South American can be replaced by protein sources produced in Europe in a sustainable way. Based on data from literature, and based on the systematics of the FeedPrint programme, the nutritional value and the Carbon footprint (CFP) of these protein sources is determined. These protein sources are used in feed optimizations of a starter diet for pigs, thereby maintaining the nutritional value of the diet. Subsequently, the Carbon footprint of the grower diet is calculated.

The Dutch Product Board for Animal Feeds (PDV) and the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture commissioned Blonk Consultants and WUR for the project “Carbon Footprint of Animal Nutrition”. The primary goal of this project was that stakeholders gain insight in the greenhouse gas emissions of the animal feed production chain.
Blonk Consultants gathered the primary and secondary data about cultivation and industrial processing. The results are described in separate reports. 

There is also a methodology document for quantification of the greenhouse gas emissions of the production and utilization of animal feeds, as has been used in the tool: Feedprint. 

Throughout Europe diets are changing, and they’re impacting people and planet: this is, in a nutshell, the conclusion of the first report produced for the LiveWell for LIFE project. The report, prepared by The Dutch Nutrition Centre (Voedingscentrum) and Blonk Consultants, investigates the eating behaviours in Spain, France and Sweden – the project’s pilot countries. It then compares these findings to what the people in these countries should be eating, according to their national dietary guidelines and answers the following questions:

• What are the characteristics of the current diets and how does it compare to the traditional diets?
• What are the health issues connected to the present diet and their associated costs?
• What will happen in the future if business as usual continues?

Results from this report show that current dietary habits in Spain, France and Sweden have progressed from traditional food patterns towards more average Western diets, with too little wholegrain cereals, legumes, fruit and vegetables. Intake of red meat and high-calorie processed foods has increased.

In the next stage of the LiveWell for LIFE project we will be using this information along with greenhouse gas emission data to develop the LiveWell Plate – a tool that can demonstrate what sustainable diets could look like for different European countries. 

Between 2004 and 2010 TransForum participated in more than thirty projects to improve the sustainability of agro-production. As this period draws to an end, TransForum wants to review and assess the sustainability performance of the projects they were involved in. Blonk Consultants evaluated the sustainability performances of 9 initiatives. In order to do so, we have developed a unique methodology. This methodology is presented in a methodology report.The method is based on a consistent framework that builds on several important existing methodologies and standards, such as life cycle assessment (LCA), environmental impact assessment (EIA) and global reporting of sustainability (GRI). It consists of an extensive set of indicators and a method for scoring these indicators. We are confident that the chosen approach gives accurate results for the most important indicators in our method. For some indicators, the approach needs to be developed further. 

In 2008 and 2009 Blonk Consultants, Agro Information Partners and LEI-WUR (Agricultural Economic Research Institute) developed a methodology, a protocol and a calculation tool for assessing carbon footprints of horticultural products. The project was commissioned by Productschap Tuinbouw (Dutch Product Board for Horticulture) and Ministerie van LNV (Dutch Ministry of Agriculture). This resulted in a report including analysis and recommendations of state of the art methodologies, which was published in early 2009. However, international accessibility of the report was limited, because it was written in Dutch. Many requests to translate the report into English resulted in the present translated report. 

Blonk Consultants and the Nederlandse Vegetariërsbond (Dutch Vegetarian Association) have studied the consequences of substituting vegetable proteins for animal proteins in the Dutch diet of protein-rich food products. Our research focused on the environmental impacts: the greenhouse effect and land use activities, with possible biodiversity impacts. With regard to the animal welfare issue we quantified the animals kept according to different substitution scenarios. 

Gezamenlijk met de sector en de Raad voor Ondernemend Nederland heeft Blonk Consultants in 2013/2014 vier studies uitgevoerd die de ontwikkeling in milieuperformance van de Nederlandse dierlijke productie monitoren.

In opdracht van het ministerie van IenM hebben we samen met RIVM een methode ontwikkeld om de belasting van de Nederlandse voedselconsumptie op een zestal milieuaspecten (klimaatverandering, landgebruik, waterverbruik, verzuring, vermesting, bodemuitputting) kwantitatief te kunnen bepalen en in de toekomst te kunnen monitoren. Daarnaast is deze methode toegepast in een meting naar de milieubelasting van het huidige Nederlandse voedselconsumptiepatroon op die zes milieuaspecten. 

In dit verkennend onderzoek is aan de hand van 6 voedselpatronen verkend hoe milieueffecten, dierenwelzijn en gezondheid van voeding zich tot elkaar verhouden. Het doel van het onderzoek was om dilemma’s en potenties aan het licht te brengen ter ondersteuning van de Gezondheidsraad die verzocht is advies uit te brengen over richtlijnen Duurzame Voeding.

Blonk Consultants heeft voor Cono Kaasmakers een duurzaamhiedsanalyse gedaan rond de mengvoeders van melkvee. De dierlijke productiesector en verwerkende industrie krijgen steeds meer te maken met maatschappelijke aandacht voor de duurzaamheid van hun productie en producten. Belangrijke thema’s die spelen zijn klimaatverandering, druk op biodiversiteit, dierenwelzijn etc. CONO Kaasmakers wil op deze ontwikkeling anticiperen door de mogelijkheden te onderzoeken van een klimaatneutrale kaas.

Blonk Consultants heeft, in opdracht van het Productschap Tuinbouw, een methodiek ontwikkelt waarmee broeikasgasemissies van allerlei tuinbouwproducten kunnen worden berekend voor de gehele keten (cradle to gate). Voor vele typische teelttoepassingen van de tuinbouw wordt aanbevolen op welke wijze de broeikasgasemissie moet worden berekend.

In 2008 heeft Blonk Milieu Advies in samenwerking met de vegetariërsbond en het LEI een onderzoek uitgevoerd naar de milieueffecten van een verschuiving van consumptie van dierlijke naar plantaardige eiwitten in de Nederlandse voeding. Daarbij is vooral de focus gelegd op het broeikaseffect en het ruimtebeslag en de mogelijke biodiversiteitseffecten daarvan. Daarnaast is er meer kwalitatief aandacht besteed aan andere effecten zoals dierenwelzijn en de effecten van een consumptiestop van dierlijke producten op de productiekolom van dierlijke producten in Nederland.