Transcript a carbon footprint of beef/sheep

A life-cycle approach to measuring
the sustainability of New Zealand’s
primary production: a carbon
footprint of beef/sheep
Amélie Goldberg, MEnvStud
School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences
Presentation Outline
 Purpose and Background
 Aims and Objectives
 Literature Review
 Methodology
 Next steps…
 Research Implications
Background
 Trade liberalisation and globalisation
 Lengthening supply chains & ‘big box’ retail
 ‘Food miles’ concerns in UK/ USA
 Internalising externalities through reducing
information asymmetries
 Threat or opportunity for New Zealand?
Purpose
 Consumer ability to make better
choices
 Encourage foresight in the agro-food
sector
 Producer knowledge and information
for responding to international
concerns
 Environmental quality
 Climate change mitigation
Short - term
outcomes
Long - term
outcomes
Aim
 How well are carbon emissions of the
beef/sheep sector managed, from production
through to consumption?
 What are the opportunities and threats that
arise from accounting for carbon in the agrofood sector?
Objectives
1. Create a carbon footprint of sheep or beef produced
and consumed in New Zealand
2. Compare footprints among farms and categories of
farms (e.g. conventional, organic and integrated)
3. Establish whether comparable profiles exist in the
UK, and if so, how they differ
4. Explore the perceptions of the agro-food sector and
the public service about the opportunities and threats
to NZ.
Literature Review 1: International
Policy
 CarbonUK and Carbon Trust
 Tesco carbon labelling of food
 GHG accounting worldwide
Literature Review 2: New Zealand
Context




Patterson 1984: top-down approach
Wells 2001: on-farm production
Saunders et al. 2006: UK focus (food miles)
Stancu & Smith 2007: sector’s environmental
knowledge
 Information gap in the literature: no complete
carbon footprint exists
Methodology
 Mixed methods: quantitative and qualitative
 Method A: construct a carbon footprint of
beef/sheep
 Method B: comparison with UK & NZ
studies
 Method C: perceptions of carbon footprints
through semi-structured interviews
Methodology: Method A (Objectives
1-2)
 Objectives 1 and 2: create a carbon footprint
of beef/sheep meat for comparison and
evaluation
 Method 1: a life cycle assessment (LCA)
focusing on energy and carbon emissions,
using a case study with a meat exporter and ~
35 farms (conventional, organic, and
‘integrated management practices’).
Method A: Carbon Footprint
 Energy and carbon focused life cycle assessment
(LCA)
 An extension of GHG inventory and accounting
systems
 Applying Wells’ (2001) methodology
 ISO 14040 & 14044: Framework and Guidelines
(internationally recognised)
ISO 14040 Life Cycle Assessment Framework
Goal and
scope
definition
Interpretation
Inventory
analysis
Impact
assessment
Direct applications:
 Product
development and
improvement
 Strategic planning
 Public policy
making
 Marketing
 Benchmarking
 Eco-labels and
product
declarations
Production
Key
Road/rail freight
energy
Energy in
shipping
Processing/
Packaging
Energy in process
Wholesale
Retail /Export
Household
International markets
LCA of a Food System
Adapted from Patterson (1984)
Method B:
Literature Review (Obj. 2-3)
 Review similar studies in t the UK and New
Zealand
 Establish whether comparable profiles have
been developed
 Analyse how these profiles differ
Methodology: Method C (Obj. 4)
Undertake semi-structured interviews with:
 key informants in the beef/sheep supply
chain, including freight operators and retail
associations
 government officials from different
ministries responsible for sustainable
agriculture and trade issues.
Next steps…
 Doing the Fieldwork!
 Interviewee recruitment
 Methodological issues
 Use of software? SimaPro, GaBI
 Combination of bottom-up and top-down data
sources?
 Difficulty in obtaining data: freight (tonne km
of product movements), retail and consumer
food shopping patterns
Research Implications
 Fills research gaps, especially once products have
left farm gate - to NZ consumer’s plate
 Although New Zealand production systems may be
more carbon efficient than the UK, there is a risk to
New Zealand exports if we do not account for
emissions (in part due to UK media)
 NZ agro-food sector needs to show leadership and
foresight in managing their environmental reputation
- such as through carbon footprints
Research Implications
 Stimulate discussion on NZ ‘food miles’ and how
supply chains, delivery patterns & shopping
behaviour can be modified to decarbonise our food
systems
 Creating footprints enables:
 NZ agro-food sector to respond to information requests
from international markets
 Consumers to vote with their $ and choose low-carbon
products - through carbon labelling
References
Barber, A., & Pellow, G. (2005). Energy use and efficiency measures for the New Zealand dairy farming industry:
Prepared by AgriLink New Zealand for the Climate Change Office.
Bolland, J., Weir, D., & Vincent, M. (2005). Development of a New Zealand national freight matrix (No. 283 Land
Transport New Zealand Research Report). Wellington: Booz Allen Hamilton (NZ) Ltd.
Cavana, R. Y., Harrison, I. G., Heffernan, F. E. B., & Kissling, C. C. (1997). Freight transport in New Zealand Working Paper 2/97. Wellington: Graduate School of Business and Government Management, Victoria University
of Wellington.
Fuels & Energy Management Group. (2000). Road transport sector energy demand and CO2 output - projections and
analysis of reduction strategies. Wellington: Ministry of Transport.
Lovell-Smith, J. E. R., & Baldwin, A. J. (1988). Energy trends in the New Zealand diary industry. New Zealand Journal
of Diary Science and Technology, 23, 239-255.
Patterson, M. G. (1984). Energy use in the New Zealand Food System. Energy in Agriculture, 3, 289-304.
Saunders, C., Barber, A., & Taylor, G. (2006). Food Miles- Comparative Energy/Emissions Performance of New
Zealand's Agriculture Industry: Lincoln University.
Smith, A., Watkiss, P., Tweedle, G., McKinnon, A., Hunt, A., Trevelen, C., et al. (2005). The Validity of Food Miles as
an Indicator of Sustainable Development: DEFRA.
Stancu, C., & Smith, A. (2007, Feb 21-23). Making sustainable links: the well-being of NZ exports in a changing climate.
Paper presented at the 2nd International Conference of Sustainability and Engineering Science, Auckland, NZ.
Wells, C. (2001). Total energy indicators of agricultural sustainability: dairy farming case study: University of Otago.
Questions?
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