What would it take to achieve widespread and reliable information on carbon footprints of agri-food products? This report argues that eight building blocks are essential. Reporting standards, science-based methods, farm-level calculation tools, and databases with secondary data are needed to calculate carbon footprints, but these must be complemented with ways to communicate carbon footprint data along the supply chain, ensure the integrity and quality of the data and calculations, scale up carbon footprint calculations while keeping costs low, and to update all these elements as scientific insights and technologies evolve. Although the magnitude of the challenge should not be underestimated, this report shows that many of the building blocks are falling into place and can be improved and aligned through collaboration between researchers, farmers, other supply chain actors, governments, and civil society, both at domestic and international levels.
Measuring Carbon Footprints of Agri-Food Products
Abstract
Executive Summary
What would it take to achieve reliable and widespread product carbon footprint information in agri-food supply chains?
This report argues that eight building blocks are essential:
Reporting standards and guidelines for carbon footprint measurement, to create a shared understanding of what to include in carbon footprint calculations.
Science-based methods for measuring or estimating emissions.
Farm level calculation tools, which allow farmers to use primary data on their activities and management practices as inputs to calculate their carbon footprint.
Databases with secondary data, to be used where primary data is not (yet) available.
A way of communicating carbon footprint data along the supply chain, so that detailed calculations by producers at one stage of the supply chain can be used as input at the next stage.
A way to ensure the integrity and quality of the data and calculations.
A way to scale up carbon footprint calculations while keeping costs low, to ensure widespread adoption by actors with limited capacity, notably farmers, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and producers in developing countries.
A way to update these elements as new scientific insights and techniques become available.
If these building blocks were in place, actors in the supply chain would be able to receive product carbon footprint information from suppliers, add their own emissions, and share the result with the next stage of the supply chain, all the way to the point where a consumer buys a food product.
Such a model of “cradle-to-gate” carbon footprints, built up step by step based on primary data, would have the potential to unlock three different levers to reduce emissions in food systems. First, it would allow shifting to products with a lower average carbon footprint (e.g. from animal-based products to plant-based products). Second, within each product category, it would allow shifting to suppliers with a lower carbon footprint (e.g. from higher-emitting dairy producers to lower-emitting ones). Third, it would incentivise producers everywhere to adopt techniques (e.g. farm management practices or technological solutions) to reduce their emissions.
In the absence of primary data, only the first lever is available, based on averages. This would leave important opportunities for emission reductions untapped, as the evidence shows that carbon footprints can vary considerably within the same product category (e.g. wheat) and are influenced by producers’ choices of techniques and practices.
This report explains how the eight building blocks are necessary to achieve a system of reliable and widespread carbon footprints in food systems. For each of the building blocks, the report explains its importance, followed by a first assessment of the current state and gaps or inconsistencies to be addressed.
Across the building blocks, many of the necessary elements are already in place. Some have emerged recently, such as digital solutions to communicate carbon footprints along supply chains. Others were historically developed with different purposes in mind, such as Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) guidance on science-based methods (originally addressed to governments for National Inventory Reporting) or farm level calculation tools (originally developed to help farmers evaluate total on-farm emissions rather than product carbon footprints). Many building blocks also developed independently of each other. This explains why adjustments will be needed to make all building blocks work well together.
The magnitude of the challenge should not be underestimated: achieving reliable and widespread measurement of carbon footprints in food systems is an ambitious goal. This report identifies many opportunities to improve existing building blocks and create greater alignment. Doing so will require collaboration among researchers, farmers, other supply chain actors, governments, and civil society, both at domestic and international levels.
Working towards product carbon footprint measurement and communication could also help with similar efforts related to other environmental impacts. For example, digital tools for exchanging carbon footprint data could be adjusted to communicate other environmental impacts. The concept of building blocks could therefore be a useful starting point for thinking about other environmental impacts.
