The International Conference on LCA in the Agri-Food sector was held in St Malo in France from 1 to 4 October 2012. This was the eighth conference in a series including Brussels (1996, 1998), Gothenburg (2001, 2007), Horsens (2003), Zürich (2008) and Bari (2010).
The conference saw increased focus on labelling in all forms (eco-, carbon and water footprint) and related issues around aggregation of environmental indicators and valuations. Several presentations explored ways for combining LCA with dietary and nutritional aspects of food consumption.
The conference reported on methodological advances in assessing land use change, soil carbon and biodiversity, but there is not yet a consensus in the LCA community on how to assess these impacts.
The next conference will be held in San Francisco in 2014 and the conference participants look forward to increased focus on how LCA can inform policy, weightings, consensus on land use metrics and advancement in assessing fisheries and aquaculture.
Edge Environment presented on our work together with Fundación Chile and the Sustainability Consortium for Walmart:
- Paper (PDF): LCA-based hotspot analysis of food products to inform a major Chilean retailer’s sustainability strategy
