"Green" methodology: An overview and basic principles.

Breastfeeding is one of the foundations of child health, development and survival. Breastmilk substitutes (BMS) are associated with negative influences on breastfeeding practices and subsequent health concerns and, as with all foods, production and consumption of BMS comes with an environmental cost. The carbon footprint (CFP) of production and consumption of BMS was estimated in this study. To illustrate regional differences among the largest producers and consumers, the CFP of BMS production in New Zealand, United States (USA), Brazil and France and the CFP of BMS consumption in United Kingdom (UK), China, Brazil and Vietnam were assessed. The CFP values were then compared with the CFP of breastfeeding arising from production of the additional food needed for breastfeeding mothers to maintain energy balance (approximately 500 kcal per day). The CFP of production was estimated to be 9.2 ± 1.4, 7.0 ± 1.0, 11 ± 2 and 8.4 ± 1.3 kg CO2e per kg BMS in New Zealand, USA, Brazil and France, respectively, with the largest contribution (68–82% of the total) coming from production of raw milk. The CFP of consumption, which included BMS production, emissions from transport, production and in-home sterilisation of bottles, and preparation of BMS, was estimated to be 11 ± 1, 14 ± 2, 14 ± 2 and 11 ± 1 kg CO2e per kg BMS in UK, China, Brazil and Vietnam, respectively. Comparison of breastfeeding with feeding BMS showed a lower CFP from breastfeeding in all countries studied. However, the results were sensitive to the method used to allocate emissions from raw milk production on different dairy processing co-products (i.e. BMS, cream, cheese and lactose). Using alternative allocation methods still resulted in lower CFP from breastfeeding, but only slightly for UK, Brazil and Vietnam. Care is also needed when interpreting findings about products that are functionally different as regards child health and development.

A methodology for calculating the carbon footprint of electricity production has been developed, which meets the requirements of the ISO 14067 standard and the methods of inventorying greenhouse gas emissions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Calculations of the carbon footprint of electricity production using hard coal and natural gas, as well as its components, were performed for all stages of electricity production: during the construction of power plants, fuel extraction and fuel transportation, production and transportation of electricity, and waste management of its production. A comparison of the calculation results with literature data showed a significant excess of the carbon footprint of electricity production, which is produced using hard coal and natural gas at power stations in Ukraine. The reasons for exceeding the carbon footprint of electricity production in Ukraine relative to values in other countries are explained. It was determined that the reasons for such an excess are not only due to different levels of technical condition of power plant equipment, but also depend on calculation methods, in particular, the use of different limits of the life cycle of electricity production. Also (in the case of using natural gas) using different methods of destribution of fuel costs for the production of heat and electricity in the case of combined production of heat and electricity. Expected that the results of the work will be used in the calculations of the products carbon footprint for which uses electricity. Bibl. 18, Tab. 5.

Milk production is responsible for emitting a range of greenhouse gases (GHGs), mainly carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4). In Life Cycle Assessments (LCA), the Global Warming Potential with a time horizon of 100 years (GWP100) is used almost universally to aggregate emissions of individual gases into so-called CO2-equivalent emissions that are used to calculate the overall carbon footprint of milk production. However, there is growing awareness that, depending on the purpose of the LCA, metrics other than GWP100 could be justified and some would give a very different weighting for the short-lived gas CH4 relative to the long-lived gases CO2 and N2O when calculating the carbon footprint. Pastoral dairy production systems at different levels of intensification differ in the balance of short- and long-lived GHGs associated with on- and off-farm emissions. Differences in the carbon footprint of different production systems could therefore be highly sensitive to the choice of GHG metric. Here we explore the extent to which alternative GHG metric choices would alter the carbon footprint of New Zealand milk production at different levels of intensification at national, regional and individual farm scales and compared to the carbon footprint of milk of selected European countries. We find that the ranking of different production systems and individual farms in terms of their carbon footprint is relatively robust against the choice of GHG metric, despite significant differences in their utilisation of pastures versus supplementary off-farm feed, fertiliser use and energy consumption at various stages of farm operations. However, there are instances where alternative GHG metric choices would fundamentally change the conclusions of LCA of different production systems, including whether a move towards higher or lower input systems would increase or decrease the average carbon footprint of milk production in New Zealand. Greater transparency about the implications of alternative GHG metrics for LCA, and the often inadvertent and implicit value judgements embedded in these metrics, would help ensure that policy decisions and consumer choices based on LCA indeed deliver the climate outcomes intended by end-users.

Carbon footprint of sawn timber products of Castanea sativa Mill. in the north of Spain

In recent years, the concept of life cycle assessment (LCA) has proven to be useful because of its potential to assess the integral environmental impacts of agricultural products. Developing countries such as India are good candidates for LCA research because of the large contribution of smallholder dairy system to the production of agricultural products such as milk. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to explore the carbon footprint of milk production under the multi-functional smallholder dairy system in Anand district of Gujarat state, western India. A cradle-to-farm gate LCA was performed by covering 60 smallholder dairy farms within 12 geographically distinct villages of the district. The average farm size was 4.0 animals per farm, and the average number of each category of animal was 2.5 lactating cows, 1.4 lactating buffaloes, 1.8 replacement cows, 1.6 replacement buffaloes, 2.0 retired cows, 1.3 retired buffaloes and 1.0 ox per farm. The emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) on CO2-equivalent (CO2-eq) basis from feed production, enteric fermentation and manure management were allocated to fat- and protein-corrected milk (FPCM) on the basis of mass balance, price and digestibility. Emissions of CO2, CH4 and N2O from cattle contributed 11.0%, 75.4% and 13.6%, respectively, to the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The contribution of CO2, CH4 and N2O from buffalo was 8.2%, 80.5% and 11.3%, respectively, to the total GHG emissions of farms. The average carbon footprint (CF) of cow milk was 2.3, 1.9 and 2.0 kg CO2-eq/kg FPCM on mass, economic and digestibility basis, respectively, whereas for buffalo, milk CF was 3.0, 2.5 and 2.7 kg CO2-eq/kg FPCM, respectively. On the basis of digestibility allocation, emissions from retired (>10 years of age and incapable of or ceased producing milk) cows and buffaloes were 1571.3 and 2556.1 kg CO2-eq/retirement year, respectively. Overall, the CF of milk production under the smallholder dairy system in Anand district was 2.2 kg CO2-eq/kg FPCM, which reduced to 1.7 kg CO2-eq/kg FPCM when milk, manure, finance and insurance were considered as economic functions of the smallholder system. The CF was lower by 65% and 22% for cow and buffalo milk, respectively, than were the estimates of FAO for southern Asia, and this was mainly attributed to difference in the sources of GHG emissions, manure management systems, feed digestibility and milk production data used by FAO.

Adaptive multi-paddock grazing increases soil carbon stocks and decreases the carbon footprint of beef production in Ontario, Canada

Coupling life-cycle assessment and the RothC model to estimate the carbon footprint of green manure-based wheat production in China

Dairy and livestock sector is a significant contributor of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon footprint (CF) is commonly used to indicate the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (CO2 equivalent) at various life cycle stages of a product. Studies undertaken globally on CF of dairy products were reviewed, reported CF values for various products are summarized and important contributing factors are discussed. In various studies undertaken globally, CF of dairy products has been calculated by using different international standards and methodologies like ISO 14040, 14044 and 14067, publicly available specification (PAS 2050). Most of the studies have used functional units such as kilogram greenhouse gas emissions per kilogram of fat-and-protein-corrected-milk (FPCM) and energy correlated milk (ECM). Direct emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) from on-farm livestock production and indirect CO2 and N2O emissions related to inputs on the farm have generally been considered in various studies. Enteric methane (CH4) has been reported as the major source of dairy farm emissions, followed by manure management, fertilizer production and its application. Processed milk products were found to have higher CF value as compared to the unprocessed milk. Various mitigation strategies have been suggested for emission reduction from dairy farms for example balanced feed rations and concentrates according to animal body requirements during lactation period, reducing use of nitrogen based fertilizers and increasing efficiency in application during crop production, use of biogas in place of cow dung, anaerobic digestion (AD) and efficient manure management.

Landscape trees sequester carbon during their growth processes, but they emit carbon through production in nurseries, which may offset carbon uptake. This study quantified the carbon footprint of landscape tree production. After determining the scope of life cycle for landscape tree production, the energy and material used to produce trees of a target size were analyzed by conducting a field survey of 35 nurseries. This energy consumption and input material were converted to an estimate of carbon emitted using data on carbon emission coefficients. The net carbon uptake was 4.6, 12.2, and 24.3 kg/tree for trees with a DBH of 7, 10, and 13 cm, respectively. Thus, even though carbon is emitted during the production process, landscape trees can act as a source of carbon uptake in cities that have high energy consumption levels. This study broke new ground for quantifying the carbon footprint of landscape tree production by overcoming limitations of the past studies that only considered carbon uptake due to absence of data on energy consumption and difficulty of field survey. These study results are expected to provide information on the carbon footprint of landscape trees and to be useful in determining optimal greenhouse gas emissions reduction goal through urban greenspaces.

Salt-affected arable land is distributed widely in China, especially in the North China Plain. Crop residue management under appropriate tillage is critical to improving salt-affected soil organic carbon and reducing the carbon footprint. This study conducted four-year field experiments including two treatments (residue incorporated into soil with plough tillage (CT+); residue mulching with no-till (NT+)) in two sites (non-saline soil and salt-affected soil); the carbon footprint of wheat production was analyzed by life cycle assessment. The results showed that the carbon footprint of wheat production in the salt-affected soil was significantly larger than that in the non-saline soil, because the salt-affected soil exhibited higher N2O emission than the non-saline soil. CT+ has lower carbon footprint than the NT+, mainly due to the lower N2O emission and higher carbon sequestration in the CT+ compared to NT+. As for the salt-affected soil, the largest contributor of the carbon footprint per unit area was soil N2O emission, with a relative contribution of 40%; the largest contributor of the carbon footprint per unit yield was carbon sequestration, with a relative importance of 47–50%. Our results indicated that wheat production in salt-affected land has a high carbon footprint, while it can be decreased by incorporating crop residue into the soil under the plough tillage.

A key source of wood for Ghana's timber sector is rubberwood. The characteristics and economic sustainability of rubberwood for the production of wood products with added value have been the subject of numerous studies. However, rubberwood and its environmental performance, as well as green labelling, which measures carbon footprint, are not well documented in Ghana. This study assessed the carbon footprint of timber production from rubberwood using the life-cycle approach. The cradle-to-gate method was applied where the study's key findings show that Ghana's production of rubberwood lumber has a carbon footprint of 158 kg/m3CO2-eq. This resulted from the adoption of processing technologies that were inefficient and produced significant waste and emissions both at the harvesting and in the milling stages. As a result, this study demonstrated that rubberwood timber has a significant carbon footprint, and efforts must be made to advance technology and reduce waste and emissions by considering rubberwood as a green material.

ObjectivesMitigating carbon footprint of products used in resource-intensive areas such as surgical operating rooms will be important in achieving net zero carbon healthcare. The aim of this study was to evaluate the carbon footprint of products used within five common operations, and to identify the biggest contributors (hotspots).DesignA predominantly process-based carbon footprint analysis was conducted for products used in the five highest volume surgical operations performed in the National Health System in England.SettingThe carbon footprint inventory was based on direct observation of 6–10 operations/type, conducted across three sites within one NHS Foundation Trust in England.ParticipantsPatients undergoing primary elective carpal tunnel decompression, inguinal hernia repair, knee arthroplasty, laparoscopic cholecystectomy, tonsillectomy (March 2019 – January 2020).Main outcome measuresWe determined the carbon footprint of the products used in each of the five operations, alongside greatest contributors through analysis of individual products and of underpinning processes.ResultsThe mean average carbon footprint of products used for carpal tunnel decompression was 12.0 kg CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalents); 11.7 kg CO2e for inguinal hernia repair; 85.5 kg CO2e for knee arthroplasty; 20.3 kg CO2e for laparoscopic cholecystectomy; and 7.5 kg CO2e for tonsillectomy. Across the five operations, 23% of product types were responsible for ≥80% of the operation carbon footprint. Products with greatest carbon contribution for each operation type were the single-use hand drape (carpal tunnel decompression), single-use surgical gown (inguinal hernia repair), bone cement mix (knee arthroplasty), single-use clip applier (laparoscopic cholecystectomy) and single-use table drape (tonsillectomy). Mean average contribution from production of single-use items was 54%, decontamination of reusables 20%, waste disposal of single-use items 8%, production of packaging for single-use items 6% and linen laundering 6%.ConclusionsChange in practice and policy should be targeted towards those products making greatest contribution, and should include reducing single-use items and switching to reusables, alongside optimising processes for decontamination and waste disposal, modelled to reduce carbon footprint of these operations by 23%–42%.

Carbon footprints, mitigation effects and economic performance of dairy farm systems in Inner Mongolia

Assessment of carbon footprint of potable water production: A case from Bangladesh

Determination of the carbon footprint of all Galician production and consumption activities: Lessons learnt and guidelines for policymakers