Consumer Footprint. Basket of Products indicator on Food

The EU Consumer Footprint aims at assessing the potential environmental impacts due to consumption. The calculation of the Consumer footprint is based on the life cycle assessment (LCA) of representative products (or services) purchased and used in one year by an EU citizen. This report is about the subset indicator of the basket of product (BoP) on food. The BoP food is built to assess the impact associated to food consumption in Europe from raw material extraction to end of life. The reference flow is the amount of food consumed by an average citizen in a reference year. It consists of a process-based life cycle inventory model for a basket of products that represent the most relevant food product groups, selected by importance in mass and economic value. The 19 products in the basket are: pork, beef and poultry meat, milk, cheese, butter, bread, sugar, sunflower oil, olive oil, potatoes, oranges, apples, mineral water, roasted coffee, beer, pre-prepared meals, wine, and pasta. The consumer footprint for the BoP food is assessed using 15 environmental impact categories as for the ILCD LCIA method and running a sensitivity for a number of impact categories with updated models. Results show that agriculture is the life cycle stage of the food system with the larger contribution to most of the impact categories. The product groups that emerge as hotspots in most of the impact categories are meat products, dairy products, and beverages. The main impact for the life cycle of meat products comes from the emissions due to agricultural activities for the production of feed. Direct emissions from animal husbandry (methane, dinitrogen oxide, ammonia, etc.) contribute as well. Normalized results show that the BoP food contributes significantly to several impact categories, with a different ranking depending upon the adopted normalisation reference (European or global). Ecotoxicity, human toxicity, eutrophication, acidification, water depletion and climate change are among the leading impacts. Since many LCA study on food are limited to the assessment of climate change related emissions, the BoP food baseline aims at helping to understand the wider array of impacts associated to the food system of production and consumption. Moreover, the Consumer Footprint BoP food baseline has been assessed against 5 scenarios, referring to improvement options related to the main drivers of impact. In fact, the scenarios act on the hotspots identified within the baseline and refer to the most relevant eco-innovations and behavioural changes identified through a review of the scientific literature. Scenario 1 and Scenario 4 act on the nutrients cycle, with the aim of recovering nutrients either at the production stage or the end of life stage. Scenario 2 acts at the end of life stage as well, by assuming an improvement of the efficiency of the waste water treatment in Europe. Scenario 3 is a first attempt to address the benefits of behavioural changes, with an example of reduced amount of meat consumed. Scenario 5 regards the topic of food waste prevention, and entails a number of prevention measures, acting at different stages of the food supply chain, including the use phase. The scenarios tested on the baseline of the BoP food provided insights on the potential for reducing environmental impacts of food consumption in Europe. Each scenario acts on a different component of the BoP (in term of either products, life cycle stages or composition of the basket). As the scenarios are different in type it was found out that the was a large difference on the different scores and savings among the investigated impact categories. In general, among the scenarios assessed, the options that allow for a higher reduction of impacts are the ones acting on the drivers of freshwater eutrophication, such as recovery of nutrients from urine or improvement of the wastewater treatment. It is important to highlight that results of scenarios shall be analysed considering a certain “uptake factor” across EU (it is not realistic to assume 100% change across EU27). It is also recommended to consider the combination of improvement actions, to cover a wider range of impacts and to maximize the potential of impact reduction, both at the scale of the single citizen and of the whole Europe. An example has been provided in the case of combined actions for the scenario on food waste prevention.JRC.D.1-Bio-econom

Consumer's behaviour in assessing environmental impact of consumption - State of the art and challenges for modelling consumer's behaviour in life cycle-based indicators

The European Commission (EC) has been developing an assessment framework to monitor the evolution of environmental impact associated to the European Union (EU) consumption. The assessment framework should help to support a wide array of policies, such as those related to resource efficiency, eco-innovation and circular economy. The environmental impact of EU consumption is assessed adopting two sets of life cycle-based indicators: the Consumption footprint and the Consumer footprint, which have a complementary role in assessing those impacts. The EU Consumer Footprint is the measurement of the environmental impacts based on the life cycle assessment (LCA) of products (or services) purchased and used in one year by an EU citizen. This is based on the results of LCAs of representative consumed products (and services, where relevant). Within the framework of this project, a dedicated area of research focused on the “Product use phase and consumption scenarios”, aiming at the examination of consumer behaviour types in view of further refinement of product use phase modelling and in support to the definition of scenarios on improved environmental behaviours. Whereas the production-based perspective helps in identifying domestic sectors, product groups and products responsible for emissions and resource use, the consumption-based perspective looks at the overall environmental impact induced by the domestic consumption. Each of the two perspectives on environmental impact has its use for policy-makers. This report is addressing variability in the use phase grounded on consumers' actual behaviour patterns, with reference to the aims presented before. After a brief review of theories and models explaining consumer behaviours, this report discusses the main approaches for measuring the environmental impacts of consumption and the key drivers that influence consumers’ shift towards more envrionmentally friendly consumption choices and behaviours. Moreover, the possible link between behavioural sciences and Life Cycle Assessment, through the development of scenarios on consumer behaviour applied to the Basket of Products (BoPs) is discussed, together with the possibility to capture the rebound effects in these scenarios. Current knowledge gaps and related research needs are illustrated in the concluding section, highlighting possible future paths of research for the integration of behavioural economics into environmental assessment (e.g. to capture the rebound effects induced by household expenditure structure shifting, based on Engel’s curve), and to complement and further improve the approaches discussed herein.JRC.D.1-Bio-econom

Research findings and decision making: the case of renewable energy

Energy policies from local to global scale are increasingly questioned in terms of sustainability. Evidence-based and science-based decision making in this field need a robust and transparent integrated assessment of policy options. Nevertheless, scientific findings do not lead straight to political conclusions, and the relationship between science and decision making is a debated issue. The article discusses the main barriers to effective interaction and communication between scientific enquiry and decision making and proposes some effective ways to overcome these barriers, starting from experiences in the biomass energy sector. The article discusses the case of wood fuel, focusing on one of the European hot spots for air pollution, namely the Po valley in Northern Italy. It proves to be an interesting case, especially because of the ambiguity between the positive and the negative aspects of wood burning, which, if not adequately integrated by information about the specific conditions that influence pollution levels, can lead to opposite political decisions about the use of wood in local energy plans. Starting from scientific findings it is possible to derive guidelines about the best practices to adopt in order to reduce environmental impacts along the whole wood fuel chain. In this, associations of producers and of consumers and other existing networks (e.g. forestry consortia) can be very useful, either as a source of information not published in the scientific literature and as intermediaries for translating the knowledge into a more usable format and to convey information to the final targets identified (e.g. policy makers, firms and final users).JRC.H.8-Sustainability Assessmen

Extra virgin olive oil and cardiovascular diseases: benefits for human health

The cardioprotective properties of Mediterranean Diet were demonstrated for the first time from the Seven Country Study. In the last few decades, numerous epidemiological studies, as well as intervention trial, confirmed this observation, pointing out the close relationship between the Mediterranean diet and cardiovascular diseases. In this context, extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), the most representative component of this diet, seems to be relevant in lowering the incidence of cardiovascular events, including myocardial infarction and stroke. From a chemical point of view, 98-99% of the total weight of EVOO is represented by fatty acids, especially monounsaturated fatty acids such as oleic acid. Tocopherols, polyphenols and other minor constituents represent the remaining 1-2%. All these components may potentially contribute to "health maintenance" with their beneficial effects by EVOOO

Consumer Footprint. Basket of Products indicator on Housing

The EU Consumer Footprint aims at assessing the potential environmental impacts due to consumption. The calculation of the Consumer footprint is based on the life cycle assessment (LCA) of representative products (or services) purchased and used in one year by an EU citizen. This report is about the consumer footprint indicators of the basket of product (BoP) on housing. In order to assess the environmental impact of EU housing consumption, a LCA-based methodology has been applied to twenty-four representative dwellings (basket of products), modelled on the basis of the type of building (single or multifamily houses), the year of construction (four timeframes), and the climate zone (three zones) in which they are located. One of the main novelty of this work is the definition of twenty-four archetypes of buildings, changing the construction materials and the building specific features affecting the inventory for each archetype. The resulting baseline inventory model, referring to the year 2010, was assessed for 15 different impact categories, using the ILCD LCIA method. A sensitivity analysis has been run for some impact categories, with a selection of recent impact assessment models and factors. Results allows a wide array of considerations, as this study reports overall impact in Europe, average impact per citizen, share of impact due to dwelling typology and climate areas, as well as impact of each dwelling type per climate zone per year of construction. Single-family houses are responsible for the highest share of impacts. The same type of building has different impacts in different climatic zones, especially because cold climate requires higher input of resources for space heating. The overall results reveal that the use phase (energy and water consumption) dominates the impacts, followed by the production of construction materials. In general, electricity use and space heating are the activities that contribute the most to the overall impacts. Depending on the normalisation reference used (European or global) the most important impact category present a different relative share. However, human toxicity, respiratory inorganics, resource depletion (metals, fossils, and water), climate change and ionising radiations show the highest impacts for all the normalization references. Since many LCA study on housing are limited to the assessment of climate change related emissions, the BoP housing baseline aims at helping understanding the wider array of impacts associated to the housing system and the potential areas of ecoinnovation improvement for reducing the burden. To assess potential benefits stemming from selected ecoinnovation, the Consumer Footprint BoP housing baseline has been assessed against nine scenarios, referring to improvement options related to the main drivers of impact. The nine scenarios covers both technological improvements and changes in consumers behaviour, entailing: 1. night attenuation of setting temperature for space heating; 2. external wall insulation with an increased thickness; 3. external wall insulation comparing conventional or bio-based materials; 4. use of a solar collector to heat sanitary water; 5. floor finishing with timber instead of ceramic tiles; 6. a building structure in timber compared with concrete frame; 7. implementation of smart windows for improved energy efficiency; 8. a combination of selected above mentioned energy-related scenarios; 9. production of electricity through a photovoltaic system installed on the roof. The assessment of the selected scenarios, acting on energy efficiency, resource efficiency, renewable energy and bio-based material (scenarios 1 to 7) revealed that the potential reduction in impact for each of the eco-innovation assessed is relatively limited and that a combination of actions is needed to achieve significant improvements. Moreover, in the case of scenarios acting on the substitution of specific components of the building, the potential improvement is proportional to the relative importance of the substituted component in the baseline scenario. However, a preliminary modelling of combination of energy-related measures (scenario 8) proved to be a good way to enlarge the potential benefits coming from the selected improvements of the building stock. The results highlight as well that LCA is fundamental for unveiling trade-off between benefits associated to eco-innovation and burden arising from their implementation.JRC.D.1-Bio-econom

Consumer Footprint. Basket of Products indicator on Mobility

The EU Consumer Footprint aims at assessing the environmental impacts of consumption. The methodology for assessing the impacts is based on the life cycle assessment (LCA) of products (or services) purchased and used in one year by an EU citizen. This report is about the subset indicator of the consumer footprint of the basket of product (BoP) on mobility. The baseline model of the BoP mobility is built using statistics about European fleet composition and intensity of use of transport means by European citizens, i.e. the number of kilometers travelled by road, rail and air transport. These data are then allocated to 27 representative products, including 16 types of passenger cars, 3 types of 2-wheelers, 3 types of bus transport, 2 types of rail transport and 3 types of air transport. The resulting baseline inventory model, referring to the year 2010, has been assessed for 15 different impact categories, using the ILCD life cycle impact assessment method. A sensitivity analysis has been run for some impact categories, with a selection of recent impact assessment models and factors. Results allows a wide array of considerations, as this study reports overall impact in Europe due to mobility, average impact per citizen, share of impact due to each transport mode and type of vehicle. The results highlight that road transport is by far the mode of transport contributing the most to the impact of EU citizens’ mobility. Within this macro-category, the product groups that can be considered hotspots for the European mobility are passenger cars, and especially diesel cars. In terms of impact categories, resource depletion is the most important one, especially for road transport (due to the materials used to build the vehicles and the fossil fuels used in the use stage). The contribution of life cycle stages to the overall impact of the BoP mobility varies among impact categories: vehicle usage, fuel production and vehicle production are the most relevant stages for almost all the impact categories considered. To assess potential benefits stemming from selected ecoinnovations applied to the mobility sector, the Consumer Footprint BoP mobility baseline has been assessed against five scenarios. The scenarios developed for the BoP mobility regard the use of eco-driving measures (including technical and behavioural changes), an increased use of biofuels in substitution of the current blend of diesel, and the evolution of hybrid and electric mobility (as the share of hybrid and electric vehicles in the European fleet and of the expected increase in efficiency of the batteries). In addition, one scenario is directly related to changes in the lifestyle of European citizens, namely the shift of a portion of their mobility habits from private cars to public transport, for what concern the mobility in urban areas. The amount of km travelled yearly by European citizens plays a relevant role in the assessment of the scenarios representing possible improvement options for the sector. Indeed, the number of person*km (pkm) travelled yearly by an average European citizen is constantly growing over time. This is reflected in the larger impact (over all the impact categories considered) of the baseline for the reference year 2015 over the baseline 2010 and of scenario 1 (expected situation in 2030) over the baselines 2015 and 2010. The increase of the pkm travelled offsets the reduction of the impact per km travelled achieved through the introduction of cars compliant to the new emission standards (Euro 6) and through the increase of electric and hybrid vehicles. The expected improvements related to electric and hybrid cars, and especially on the batteries, could lead to a reduction of the impact of these type of vehicles up to 40% (e.g. impact of improved electrical vehicle on freshwater eutrophication, compared to the current performance of electrical vehicle). However, the relevance of these improvements on the overall impact of the BoP (i.e. of the mobility of EU citizens) is strongly dependent on the share of vehicles in the fleet. In general, the impact reduction expected from the single solutions tested in the scenarios has a limited effect on the overall impact of the BoP (i.e. of the consumption area of mobility) if they are considered one by one and it is the combination of several measures that may help to maximize the benefits. Specifically for the mobility sector, a reduction of the total kms travelled by road, rail or air means of transport (e.g. by increasing the kms travelled by bicycle or by walking, when possible), is needed, to avoid that the reduction of impact achieved through technological improvements is offset by the continuous increase in the amount of pkm over time.JRC.D.1-Bio-econom

Environmental impacts of food consumption in Europe

AbstractFood consumption is amongst the main drivers of environmental impacts. On one hand, there is the need to fulfil a fundamental human need for nutrition, and on the other hand this poses critical threats to the environment. In order to assess the environmental impact of food consumption, a lifecycle assessment (LCA)-based approach has been applied to a basket of products, selected as being representative of EU consumption. A basket of food products was identified as representative of the average food and beverage consumption in Europe, reflecting the relative importance of the products in terms of mass and economic value. The products in the basket are: pork, beef, poultry, milk, cheese, butter, bread, sugar, sunflower oil, olive oil, potatoes, oranges, apples, mineral water, roasted coffee, beer and pre-prepared meals. For each product in the basket, a highly disaggregated inventory model was developed based on a modular approach, and built using statistical data. The environmental impact of the average food consumption of European citizens was assessed using the International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) methodology. The overall results indicate that, for most of the impact categories, the consumed foods with the highest environmental burden are meat products (beef, pork and poultry) and dairy products (cheese, milk and butter). The agricultural phase is the lifecycle stage that has the highest impact of all the foods in the basket, due to the contribution of agronomic and zootechnical activities. Food processing and logistics are the next most important phases in terms of environmental impacts, due to their energy intensity and the related emissions to the atmosphere that occur through the production of heat, steam and electricity and during transport. Regarding the end-of-life phase, human excretion and wastewater treatments pose environmental burdens related to eutrophying substances whose environmental impacts are greater than those of the agriculture, transports and processing phases. Moreover, food losses which occur throughout the whole lifecycle, in terms of agricultural/industrial and domestic food waste, have also to be taken into consideration, since they can amount to up to 60% of the initial weight of the food products. The results of the study go beyond the mere assessment of the potential impacts associated with food consumption, as the overall approach may serve as a baseline for testing eco-innovation scenarios for impact reduction as well as for setting targets

Energy simulation and LCA for macro-scale analysis of eco-innovations in the housing stock

Purpose: Energy consumption of buildings is one of the major drivers of environmental impacts. Life cycle assessment (LCA) may support the assessment of burdens and benefits associated to eco-innovations aiming at reducing these environmental impacts. Energy efficiency policies however typically focus on the meso- or macro-scale, while interventions are typically taken at the micro-scale. This paper presents an approach that bridges this gap by using the results of energy simulations and LCA studies at the building level to estimate the effect of micro-scale eco-innovations on the macro-scale, i.e. the housing stock in Europe. Methods: LCA and dynamic energy simulations are integrated to accurately assess the life cycle environmental burdens and benefits of eco-innovation measures at the building level. This allows quantitatively assessing the effectiveness of these measures to lower the energy use and environmental impact of buildings. The analysis at this micro-scale focuses on 24 representative residential buildings within the EU. For the upscaling to the EU housing stock, a hybrid approach is used. The results of the micro-scale analysis are upscaled to the EU housing stock scale by adopting the eco-innovation measures to (part of) the EU building stock (bottom–up approach) and extrapolating the relative impact reduction obtained for the reference buildings to the baseline stock model. The reference buildings in the baseline stock model have been developed by European Commission-Joint Research Centre based on a statistical analysis (top–down approach) of the European housing stock. The method is used to evaluate five scenarios covering various aspects: building components (building envelope insulation), technical installations (renewable energy), user behaviour (night setback of the setpoint temperature), and a combined scenario. Results and discussion: Results show that the proposed combination of bottom–up and top–down approaches allow accurately assessing the impact of eco-innovation measures at the macro-scale. The results indicate that a combination of policy measures is necessary to lower the environmental impacts of the building stock to a significative extent. Conclusions: Interventions addressing energy efficiency at building level may lead to the need of a trade-off between resource efficiency and environmental impacts. LCA integrated with dynamic energy simulation may help unveiling the potential improvements and burdens associated to eco-innovations. ispartof: International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment vol:24 issue:6 pages:1-20 status: Published onlin