Life Cycle Assessment Perspective for Sectoral Adaptation to Climate Change: Environmental Impact Assessment of Pig Production

Growing demand for sustainably driven production systems, especially pork, requires a holistic or system thinking approach. Life Cycle Thinking (LCT) offers robust methodological background as one of the approaches to achieving analysis product along its lifecycle. On other hand, Assessment (LCA) can perform state-of-art characterising sustainability fronts compelling set tools. Pork, most consumed meat across Europe (circa 34 kg per capita year), compounded with sector’s contribution global greenhouse gases (GHG) doubling over past decade necessitated this research. Our objective was map hotspots value chain and recommend best available practices realising sectoral carbon neutrality climate change adaptation. To achieve objective, we compared organic conventional systems by basing our on Recipe midpoint 2016 (H) V1.13 implemented in OpenLCA 1.10.2 using AGRIBALYSE® 3.0 datasets eleven indicators. We found that producing 1 pig under an had almost double environmental impact land use, water consumption, acidification, ecotoxicity. Feed manure management are significant accounting 90% impacts associated Liveweight (LW) production. Similarly, efficient were less harmful environment unit use ones ten out evaluated. Implementing increased efficiency, reduced inputs feed production, innovative technological potential some research recommended realise minimal identified hotspots.