Life cycle analysis

The majority of the environmental impacts of a food product occur during the agricultural production phase.

For the Green-score, the Production score corresponds both to agricultural production ("leaving the farm") but also to the processing steps required for processed products ("leaving the factory").

Agribalyse v3

The LCA score is calculated from data from the AGRIBALYSE program, the reference environmental database on agricultural and food products: Discover the environmental impact of food according to LCA indicators

AGRIBALYSE is a French government program, supported by ADEME: the Ecological Transition Agency.

Agribalyse LCAs take into account all stages of the life cycle analysis (upstream agricultural, processing, transport, packaging, use, end of life) for the main categories of food products.

More than a hundred scientists have contributed to this program, which has been in existence since 2009 and whose latest version (v3) has been accessible to all since September 2019.

The Agribalyse methodology is detailed : Welcome to the AGRIBALYSE® program website.

As Agribalyse data is based on average information by product category, it does not currently allow comparison of products in the same category. Thus, two food products of the same category will have an equivalent LCA score even if their recipes, production methods, origin, packaging are noticeably different.

Indicators

16 indicators are taken into account for the calculation. They correspond to those recommended by the European Commission within the framework of work on the Product Environmental Footprint project.

Air	Climate change (CO2)	Corresponds to the modification of the climate, affecting the global ecosystem (expressed in CO2 equivalent)
Air	Fine particles	Fine particles enter organisms, especially through the lungs. They have an effect on human health.
Air	Ozone layer depletion	The ozone layer is located at high altitude in the atmosphere, it protects against solar ultraviolet rays. Its depletion increases the exposure of all living beings to these negative radiations (carcinogens in particular).
Air	Photochemical ozone formation	Corresponds to a degradation of air quality, mainly via the formation of low-level fog called "smog". It has harmful consequences on health.
Air	Acidification	Results from chemical emissions in the atmosphere which are redeposited in ecosystems. This problem is known in particular through the phenomenon of acid rain.
Air, Water, Soil	Ionizing radiation	Corresponds to the effects of radioactivity. This impact corresponds to the radioactive waste resulting from the production of nuclear electricity.
Water	Depletion of water resources	Corresponds to the consumption of water and its depletion in certain regions. This category takes into account the scarcity (it has more impact to consume a liter of water in Morocco than in Brittany).
Water	Marine eutrophication	Corresponds to an excessive enrichment of natural environments in nutrients, which leads to proliferation and asphyxiation (dead zone). It is this phenomenon which is at the origin of green algae.
Water	Freshwater eutrophication	Corresponds to an excessive enrichment of natural environments in nutrients, which leads to proliferation and asphyxiation (dead zone). It is this phenomenon which is at the origin of green algae. It can be found in rivers and lakes as well.
Ground	Terrestrial eutrophication	As in water, terrestrial eutrophication corresponds to an excessive enrichment of the environment, in nitrogen in particular, leading to an imbalance and impoverishment of the ecosystem. This mainly concerns agricultural soils.
Ground	Land use	Land is a finite resource, which is divided between "natural" (forest), productive (agriculture) and urban environments. Land use and habitats largely determine biodiversity. This category therefore reflects the impact of an activity on land degradation, with reference to the “natural state”.
Ground	Depletion of energy resources	Corresponds to the depletion of non-renewable energy resources: coal, gas, oil, uranium, etc.
Ground	Depletion of mineral resources	Corresponds to the depletion of non-renewable mineral resources: copper, potash, rare earths, sand, etc.
Air, Water, Soil	Toxicities (3 types)	Freshwater ecotoxicity, Carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic human toxicity. Indicators of toxicity via environmental contamination. These indicators are still not very robust at present.

Source: ADEME - https://doc.agribalyse.fr/documentation-en/agribalyse-data/life-cycle-assessment-method

Weighting

The 16 indicators are weighted according to the importance of the environmental issues they represent.

The weighting results from a broad consultation of 2 distinct groups:

• Population: 2,400 people across 6 European countries

• Scientific experts: 518 experts across 48 countries

Each group weighs the different indicators according to the importance of the associated environmental issues. The final weighting results from the aggregation of the 2 groups (at 50/50), as well as the taking into account of the level of robustness of each indicator.

Indicator	Weighting
Climate change (CO2)	21.06%
Fine particles	8.96%
Ozone layer depletion	6.31%
Photochemical ozone formation	4.78%
Ionizing radiation	5.01%
Depletion of water resources	8.51%
Marine eutrophication	2.96%
Freshwater eutrophication	2.80%
Acidification	6.20%
Terrestrial eutrophication	3.71%
Land use	7.94%
Depletion of energy resources	8.32%
Depletion of mineral resources	7.55%
Freshwater ecotoxicity	1.92%
Carcinogenic human toxicity	2.13%
Non-carcinogenic human toxicity	1.84%

This methodology corresponds to that proposed by the European Commission in order to arrive at a single score ("Single Score") :

https://eplca.jrc.ec.europa.eu/EnvironmentalFootprint.html

Standardization

Single Score

For each product category, a single score ("Single Score") is calculated from the 16 impact indicators. It is expressed in points (Pts) per 100g of finished product. The higher this score, the greater the impact on the environment. 1 point corresponds to the average environmental impact of a European citizen over 1 year (in 2010). For a food product, this score is generally between ~ 0 (no impact) and 0.004 point (very significant impacts) per kilo of finished products as consumed.

Score /100

As part of the Green-score, this score is converted to a scale from 0 to 100 in order to make it easier to read.

The 100-point normalization follows the following formula:

General Case

Drinks

For beverages, because of their greater volume, the standardisation formula has been adapted to improve the consistency of the classification:

$score = -36*\ln(100x+1)+150$

Milk and vegetable drinks are considered to be beverages.

Special case: water and soft drinks are not covered by the Green-score. The methodology is not adapted to these product categories and could lead to misunderstandings.

Fresh fruits and vegetables

Fresh fruit and vegetables are a special case when it comes to calculating the Green-score. The specific issues of seasonality and the need to differentiate between scores (seasonality, origin, labels, air transport) mean that an adapted approach is required. The rules for fresh fruit and vegetables are as follows:

• Standardisation: the standardisation formula is as follows

$score = 100-20*(ln(10x+1)/ln(2+1/100x4))-16$

• Seasonality: some fruit and vegetables are produced all year round in Europe in heated greenhouses, usually using gas or oil. A tomato produced out of season generates 4 times more greenhouse gases than a full-season tomato.(https://mesfruitsetlegumesdesaison.fr/#informations). In order to differentiate between in-season and out-of-season products, the latter are subject to a penalty of -20 points.

• Tropical products: tropical fruit and vegetables (not traditionally produced in Europe - see list) automatically have a -7 point penalty to take account of their remoteness.

• Products imported by plane: certain fruits (mango, pineapple) or vegetables (green beans) can be imported by plane. These products automatically receive an Green-score of F.

The list of fruit and vegetables affected by seasonality, the list of tropical products and the seasonal calendar are available in the file below.

29KB

Season_dashboard_F&V_v1-en.xlsx

$x$ is the Single Score of the product concerned, expressed in milipoints (mPt) per 1kg

• The score is bounded in the interval [0, 100].

The formula follows a logarithmic, nonlinear curve. A logarithmic scale is particularly suitable for accounting for orders of magnitude in applications. It shows a wide range of values in a small space. It is thus possible to compare vegetables with each other, as well as red meats, on a single scale of 100 points.

Sources

ADEME. (2020). Agribalyse. https://www.agribalyse.fr/

ADEME, Datagir, Est-ce bien la saison ?

Asselin-Balençon A., Broekema R., Teulon H., Gastaldi G., Houssier J., Moutia A., Rousseau, V., Wermeille A., Colomb V. (2020). AGRIBALYSE 3.0 : la base de données française d’ICV sur l’Agriculture et l’Alimentation - Rapport méthodologique pour les produits alimentaires. ADEME.

Z.L.P.R. (2019). JRC Technical Reports - Suggestions for updating the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) method.

Joint Research Centre, JRC. (2018). Development of a weighting approach for the Environmental Footprint. https://eplca.jrc.ec.europa.eu/permalink/PEF_method.pdf