Life cycle assessment for sustainable food systems: integrating nutritional and environmental assessment

FAO

Life cycle assessment for sustainable food systems: integrating nutritional and environmental assessment

Zoom webinar – concept note

Year of publication 2021

Place of publication Rome, Italy ;

Pages 2p.

Author FAO

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Brochure, flyer, fact-sheet

Edition 1

Full item page

Synopsis (short abstract) Agri-food systems are major contributors to environmental degradation. At the same time obesity and diet related diseases is on the rise due to over consumption of ultra-processed food which is high in saturated fat, salt and sugar. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method provide insights into environmental impact of foods, meals, and diets from production to consumption. However, to date there is no agreed approach for integrating the assessment of nutritional value into the LCA methodology. Instead, a diverse range of approaches has emerged that provide different perspectives on nutritional value in the context of LCA of food systems. It can therefore be difficult to identify where trade-offs exist between different life cycle-based environmental impacts (e.g. greenhouse gas emissions and water use), and the contribution of different foods to human nutrition. To address this challenge, FAO embarked on an action-research project in May 2021. The project brought together an international team of thirty LCA and nutrition researchers who developed a state-of-the-art review to improve the environmental and nutritional Life Cycle Assessment (nLCA) methodology. The group identified the key LCA methodology limitations that are impeding the ability of food system actors to capture and compare the environmental and nutritional impacts of food items. They developed best practice recommendations for an integrated nLCA to measure and compare these impacts, and defined future research needs.

Language English

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This report is the outcome of a consensus-building project to agree on best practices for environmental and nutritional Life Cycle Assessment (nLCA) methodology, and identify future research needs. The project involved 30 nutritional and environmental LCA researchers from 18 countries. It focused on the assessment of food items (as opposed to meals or diets). Best practice recommendations were developed to address the intended purpose of an LCA study and related modeling approach, choice of an appropriate functional unit, assessment of nutritional value, and reporting nLCA results. An nLCA study should report the quantities of as many essential nutrients as possible and aim to provide information on the nutritional quality and/or health impacts in addition to nutrient quantities. Outstanding issues requiring further research attention include: defining a minimum number of nutrients to be considered in an nLCA study; treatment of nutrients to limit; use of nutrient indexes; further development of Impact Assessment methods; representation of nutritional changes that may occur during subsequent distribution and food preparation in cradle-to-gate nLCA studies; and communication of data uncertainty and variability. More data are required for different regions (particularly developing countries); for the processing, distribution, retail, and consumption life cycle stages; and for food loss and waste. Finally, there is a need to extend nLCA methodology for the assessment of meals and diets, to consider further how to account for the multi-functionality of food in a sustainability framework, and to set nLCA studies within the context of environmental limits. These results provide a robust basis for improving nLCA methodology and applying it to identify solutions that minimize the trade-offs between nourishing populations and safeguarding the environment.
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Life cycle assessment for sustainable food systems: integrating nutritional and environmental assessment
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2021

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