Best Practice LCA:

Land Use Change Emissions

Thursday 29th January 2015

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Your hosts

Jim Craig

Product Marketing

Product Sustainability

Alex Liedke

Consultant

Content Team

Best Practice LCA:

Land Use Change

Emissions

Agenda

1. Introduction Land Use Change

2. Standards & Methods

3. Direct Land Use Change in GaBi

4. Example in GaBi

5. Summary

6. Questions & Answers

5

Introduction

Land Use

Change

6

7

Challenges of the future… (examples)

… ongoing urbanization of an

increasing amount of people

… environmental problems

… increasing demand for food,

feed and biofuels… loss of biodiversity

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Challenges of the future…

… affect land use

9

Land Use

The total of arrangements, activities,

and inputs undertaken in a certain land

cover type (a set of human actions).

Change in the use or management of

land by humans, which may lead to a

change in land cover. (IPCC)

Source: WWF

BEFORE AFTER

Land Use Change

Seite 10

LANCA® Method

Occupation indicator values = (Q(t4)-Q(t2))*area*time of occupation

Transformation indicator values = (Q(t4)-Q(t1))*area

Occupation and Transformation

m2 * year

m2

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What is Land Use Change (LUC)?

The difference between direct and indirect LUC

CO2

CO2

dLUC iLUCdLUC

12

What is Land Use Change (LUC)?

Direct Land Use Change (dLUC)

ISO 14067: change in human use or

management of land within the product

system being assessed

Indirect Land Use Change (iLUC)

ISO 14067: change in the use or

management of land which is a

consequence of direct land use change but

which occurs outside the production

system

CO2

CO2

dLUC iLUCdLUC

Standards &

Methods

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Not required according to LCA standards

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Indirect LUC (iLUC)

PEF “No widely accepted provisions exist for the calculation of emissions

resulting from indirect land use change, (..). These shall not be assessed

in the PEF study.”

ISO 14067 „iLUC should be considered once an internationally agreed procedure

exists“

ILCD “Indirect land use changes are an aspect under consequential modelling”

PAS 2050:2011 “While GHG emissions also arise from iLUC, the methods and data

requirements for calculating these emissions are not fully developed.

Therefore, the assessment of emissions arising from indirect land use

change is not included in this PAS. The inclusion of indirect land use

change will be considered in future revisions of this PAS.”

GHG protocol “(..) This displacement is a result of market factors and calculated using

data consistent with a consequential approach. Therefore, the inclusion

of indirect land-use change is not a requirement of this standard.”

Comparison of carbon stocks

• Before land use change

• After land use change

In a nut shell…

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Direct LUC

Difference is a release/ uptake of

carbon emissons

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Emissions from Land Use Change

Major carbon pools (IPCC 2006)

Aboveground Biomass

Belowground Biomass

Soil organic matter

Dead organic matter

(wood and litter)

For the calculation of carbon stock

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Land categories (IPCC)

Forest land;

Crop land;

Grassland; Other land;

Settlements

Wetland

Time frame of analysis

Important aspects

18

Direct land use change

Allocation of emissions to product

Assessment of land area /land cover

type where the land use is changed

Data sources

Assumptions on carbon stocks

Standard Method

PEF handbook “Greenhouse gas emissions that occur as a result of direct land use change shall

be allocated to goods/services for 20 years after the land use change occurs using the IPCC

default values table.”

Further specification: Calculations are based on ENVIFOOD protocol (BSI PAS 2050:2011 / PAS

2050-1:2012) For the release and uptake of CO2 caused by direct land use change, the use of the

most recent IPCC CO2 emission factors shall be used, unless more accurate, specific data

are available.

ISO 14067 in accordance with internationally recognized methods such as IPCC guidelines for National GHG

inventories

WRI GHG Protocol Calculation method provided, data sources suggested

PAS 2050 Specific calculation method provided, data sources are defined (see below)

EC ILCD handbook Calculation method provided, data sources suggested

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Requirements

Direct LUC

PAS 2050:2011 PAS 2050-1:2012

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Methodology – PAS 2050

„Very simplified approach“ „Simplified, feasible approach“

Production country Previous use

Unknown Unknown

Known Unknown

Known known

3 different scenarios

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PAS 2050-1

Production country Previous use

Unknown Unknown

Known Unknown

Known known

3 different scenarios

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PAS 2050-1

• 20 years prior to assessment shall be considered

• Reduced amount of land categories

• 2 calculations shall be done

• Average

• weighted

• Average

Forest

Grasland

Cropland *

Calculations

23

PAS 2050-1

Cropland *

* Perennial or annual

• Average

Forest

Grasland

Cropland *

Calculations

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PAS 2050-1

• Weighted

Specific share of different types of land use change are calculated (formulas given)

Examples

Cropland *

* Perennial or annual

Situation 1 Situation 3Situation 2 Cropland *

• Average

Forest

Grasland

Cropland *

Estimations

25

PAS 2050-1

• Weighted

Specific share of different types of land use change are calculated (formulas given)

Examples

Cropland *

* Perennial or annual

Situation 1 Situation 3Situation 2 Cropland *

ENVIFOOD Protocol

• Average

Forest

Grasland

Cropland *

Estimations

26

PAS 2050-1

• Weighted

Specific share of different types of land use change are calculated (formulas given)

Examples

Cropland *

* Perennial or annual

Situation 1 Situation 3Situation 2 Cropland *

ENVIFOOD Protocol

Direct Land Use

Change in GaBi

27

Extension database XX: Food & Feed

> 350 datasets

Cradle-to-gate and gate-to-gate LCIs

Available 2014

Ongoing data development

Annual upgrades

Different allocations

Land Use Change emissions

Production & consumption mixes

28

Extension database XX: Food & Feed

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Cereals, leguminous crops, oil seeds

Growing of perennial crops

Growing of annual crops

Animal production

Crops and animals

Cocoa, chocolate and sugar

Dairy products

Grain mill products

Processing and preserving of meat

Starches and starch products

Vegetable and animal oils and fats

Manufacturing

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In GaBi 2013 only for selected datasets…

Direct Land Use Change in GaBi

AR Soybean

with LUC

without LUC

BR Soybean

with LUC

without LUC

Sugar cane etc.

• Products with high

impact from LUC

• Methodology (e.g. WRI

GHG protocol) and

specific data sources

(e.g. literature) are used

(described in process

documentation)

• 2 datasets – naming

with and without LUC

31

Direct Land Use Change in GaBi

Challenge

Some users/approaches need / some do not want CO2 effects due to land use

change

Solution

• CO2 effects due to land use change now introduced as separate flow

• Land use change can therefore be included or excluded by the user

Introduction of a new flow

32

Direct Land Use Change in GaBi

Introduction of new quantities - example

Solution for existing datasets “with LUC”

• renamed into: “(incl. LUC as fossil CO2)”

• no double counting of fossil LUC emissions

Example in

GaBi

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Example in GaBi

Create balance of a

plan / process

35

Example in GaBi

Have a look at

the balance tab

in the balance

36

Example in GaBi

Unfold the category „emissions to air“

37

Example in GaBi

Select the

quantities

38

Example in GaBi

You made it

Summary

39

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Direct Land Use Change in GaBi

• Direct Land Use Change (LUC) emissions in all agricultural datasets

• Consistent methodology (ENVIFOOD protocol based on PAS

2050:2012-1)

• Consistent data sources (FAOSTAT, IPCC, FAO, EC JRC)

• Additional flow “Carbon dioxide (Land use change)“

• Additional flow is included in all datasets

• Impact assessment possible with or without LUC emissions

Source: WWF

z

Questions & Answers

41

Thank you

!?

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