title: Carbon and water footprint of pork supply chain in Catalonia: From feed to final products.
abstract: A systematic tool to assess the Carbon Footprint (CF) and Water Footprint (WF) of pork production companies was developed and applied to representative Catalan companies. To do so, a cradle-to-gate environmental assessment was carried out by means of the LCA methodology, taking into account all the stages involved in the pork chain, from feed production to the processing of final products, ready for distribution. In this approach, the environmental results are reported based on eight different functional units (FUs) according to the main pork products obtained. With the aim of ensuring the reliability of the results and facilitating the comparison with other available reports, the Product Category Rules (PCR) for Catalan pork sector were also defined as a basis for calculations. The characterization results show fodder production as the main contributor to the global environmental burdens, with contributions higher than 76% regardless the environmental indicator or the life cycle stage considered, which is in agreement with other published data. In contrast, the results in terms of CF and WF lay above the range of values reported elsewhere. However, major discrepancies are mainly due to the differences in the co-products allocation criteria. In this sense, economic/physical allocation and/or system expansion have been mostly considered in literature. In contrast, no allocation was considered appropriate in this study, according to the characteristics of the industries and products under assessment; thus, the major impacts fall on the main product, which derives on comparatively higher environmental burdens. Finally, due to the relevance of fodder production in the overall impact assessment results, strategies to reduce greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions as well as water use associated to this stage were proposed in the pork supply chain.
authors: Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Electronic address: isabel.noya@usc.es.
authors: Isabel
authors: I
authors: Noya
authors: Cetaqua, Centro Tecnológico Del Agua, Cornellà de Llobregat, 08940 Barcelona, Spain.
authors: Xavier
authors: X
authors: Aldea
authors: Inèdit Innovació SL, Research Park of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (PRUAB), Bellaterra (Cerdanyola Del Vallès), 08193 Barcelona, Spain; Sostenipra (ICTA-IRTA-Inèdit), Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA) & Department of Chemical Engineering, Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), Bellaterra (Cerdanyola Del Vallès) 08193 Barcelona, Spain.
authors: Carles M
authors: CM
authors: Gasol
authors: Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
authors: Sara
authors: S
authors: González-García
authors: Cetaqua, Centro Tecnológico Del Agua, Cornellà de Llobregat, 08940 Barcelona, Spain.
authors: Maria José
authors: MJ
authors: Amores
authors: BETA Technology Centre: "U Science Tech", University of Vic-Central University of Catalonia, 08500 Vic, Barcelona, Spain.
authors: Joan
authors: J
authors: Colón
authors: BETA Technology Centre: "U Science Tech", University of Vic-Central University of Catalonia, 08500 Vic, Barcelona, Spain.
authors: Sergio
authors: S
authors: Ponsá
authors: Lavola 1981 SA, 08560 Manlleu, Barcelona, Spain.
authors: Isabel
authors: I
authors: Roman
authors: Lavola 1981 SA, 08560 Manlleu, Barcelona, Spain.
authors: Miguel A
authors: MA
authors: Rubio
authors: INNOVACC - Associació Catalana D'innovació Del Sector Carni Porci (cluster of Catalan Pig Meat Sector), 17800, Olot, Girona, Spain.
authors: Eudald
authors: E
authors: Casas
authors: Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
authors: María Teresa
authors: MT
authors: Moreira
authors: Inèdit Innovació SL, Research Park of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (PRUAB), Bellaterra (Cerdanyola Del Vallès), 08193 Barcelona, Spain; Sostenipra (ICTA-IRTA-Inèdit), Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA) & Department of Chemical Engineering, Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), Bellaterra (Cerdanyola Del Vallès) 08193 Barcelona, Spain.
authors: Jesús
authors: J
authors: Boschmonart-Rives
mesh_terms: D000821:Animal Feed / Q000032:analysis*; D000822:Animal Husbandry / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000818:Animals; D058572:Carbon Footprint / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D005524:Food Technology / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017752:Greenhouse Effect / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008461:Meat Products / Q000032:analysis*; D015233:Models, Statistical; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013030:Spain; D013552:Swine / Q000254:growth & development*; D014876:Water Pollution / Q000032:analysis / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
keywords: Climate change; Environmental impacts; Global warming; Life Cycle Assessment (LCA); Pork value chain