ABSTRACT
Life cycle assessment and carbon footprint of banana cultivation Louis Bockel, Laure-Sophie Schiettecatte and Orane Debrune, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Italy
1 Introduction
2 Assessing the environmental impact of banana production
3 An integrated socio-economic carbon footprint banana value chain tool
4 Future trends and conclusion
5 Where to look for further information
6 Abbreviations
7 References
1.1 Increasing awareness of environmental issues in agriculture The 1980s and 1990s witnessed increasing public awareness of environmental issues. This development can be seen in the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, when governments recognized the importance of good stewardship of natural resources in achieving sustainable development. As consumers became more aware of environmental issues relating to the food they eat, intensive methods of agricultural production attracted growing attention (FAO, 2009a; FAO, 2011). Increasing environmental awareness among consumers in developed countries created a demand for food suppliers and retailers to measure the environmental impact of the production and distribution of their products. This has led to the introduction of environmental labelling of products; for example in France different groups of retailers have developed their own approaches (Lescot, 2012). In particular, consumer concern about reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions has led to the introduction of several standards designed to measure a product’s carbon footprint (CFP). These describe the quantity of GHG generated by an item or activity, generally expressed in CO2 equivalent (CO2-e), and are designed to inform consumers, when making choices, about what they purchase (Craig et al., 2012). Governments have now built on these labelling initiatives by developing a common methodology based on life cycle assessment (LCA) (Lescot, 2012).
