THE IMPACT OF LAND USE ON BIODIVERSITY IN LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT · BIODIVERSITY IN LIFE CYCLE...

THE IMPACT OF LAND USE ON

BIODIVERSITY IN LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT

Elena Egorova, Heather Perry, Louisa Smythe, Runsheng Song, Sarah Sorensen

Final Presentation

Bren School of Environmental Science & Management

Faculty Advisor: Roland Geyer

April 11, 2014

Introduction

Land Use Impacts on Biodiversity

2

Significance of Biodiversity


3

Biodiversity is Declining


4

Biodiversity declined 28% between 1970 and 2008

Land Use and Species Loss


5

Impact on Biodiversity Land Use Product System

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)

Primary

Materials

Product Inputs

Impacts

Life Cycle

Global Warming

Acidification

Terrestrial &

Aquatic Toxicity

Eutrophication

Biodiversity Loss

Raw Material

Acquisition

Material

Processing

Manufacturing

Use

Disposal


6

Objectives


7

Select a methodology for incorporating land

use impacts on biodiversity into LCA

Quantify potential land use impacts on

biodiversity of four textiles

Assess potential of model for use by Patagonia

and apparel industry

Characterization Factors


8

Land Occupation Characterization Factor Regional Extinction

Land Use Types


9

Characterization Factor

Ecoregion

Agriculture

Pasture

Managed Forest

Urban

Mammals

Birds

Plants

Amphibians

Reptiles

Spatial Unit Land Use Type Taxonomic Group

10

Wool Lyocell

Cotton

Assessed Products


11

Wool Polyester

Cotton T-Shirt:

12

Calculating Land Occupation


Raw Cotton

Production

(Agriculture)

Fiber

Processing

(Ginning)

Yarn

Manufacturing

(Spinning)

Fabric

Manufacturing

(Knitting)

T-Shirt

Production

(Cut/Sew)

1 Million Cotton T-shirts

Case Study

Life Cycle

Raw Material

Acquisition

(Cotton Agriculture)

Material Processing

(Cotton Ginning)

Manufacturing

(Spinning, Knitting, Cutting

& Sewing)

Use

Land

Disposal

Biodiversity Impact

Impacts Product Inputs


13

Calculating Impact Assessment


Land Occupation X Characterization Factor =

Biodiversity Impact

15

* Potentially lost non-endemic species/million wool t-shirts

Wool Primary Impact

Process Raw Material Fiber Production Spinning Knitting/Finish Cutting/Sewing Total

Land Use Type Pasture Urban Urban Urban Urban

Land Occupation ( sq.m*years/f.u.) 1.77x109 2.85x103 1.09x103 4.39x105 1.55x103 1.77x109

CF (median, aggregated) 2.66x10-11 2.38x10-11 1.13x10-10 1.04x10-9 1.67x10-10

Biodiversity Impact* 4.71x10-2 6.77x10-8 1.23E-07 4.58x10-4 2.59x10-7 4.75x10-2

Results


16

1. Wide range of biodiversity impacts

2. Largest unit process impact

3. Influence of characterization factor

4. High level of uncertainty

1. High Biodiversity Impact: Wool 17

Wool shows the largest land occupation and biodiversity impact of all four textiles

*biodiversity impact (potentially lost non-endemic species/functional unit (f.u.))

Total biodiversity impact of assessed textiles

Wool Cotton Lyocell Polyester

Total Land Occupation (billion m2year) 17.7 0.159 0.00977 0.000192

Total Biodiversity Impact* 0.0475 0.00229 0.000302 0.00000502

Ratio of Textile’s Impact to Wool’s 1:1 1:21 1:157 1:9461


2a. Importance of Raw Material Production

18

*potentially lost non-endemic species/f.u.

Raw Material Contribution to Total

Biodiversity Impact

Wool

99.0%

Cotton

99.9%

Lyocell

91.7%

Polyester

15.8%


2b. Exception: Polyester

19

Southern US *World Average

CF used California El Salvador

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

1.20

1.40

1.60

1.80

Raw Material FiberProduction

Spinning Finishing Cutting Sewing

Bio

div

ers

ity Im

pa

ct

(milliont

hs o

f a

pote

ntia

lly lost

non-e

ndem

ic

speci

es/

f.u.

)

Distribution of biodiversity impacts across processes

3. Influence of Characterization Factor: Lyocell

20


0.00

1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00

5.00

6.00

7.00

8.00

9.00

Tree Production

Chara

cteri

za

tion F

act

or

(b

illio

nths

of

a p

ote

ntia

lly lost

non-

end

em

ic s

peci

es

/sq

uare

mete

r)

0.00

0.10

0.20

0.30

0.40

0.50

0.60

0.70

0.80

0.90

Tree Production

Bio

div

ers

ity Im

pact

(b

illio

nths

of

pote

ntia

lly lost

non-e

ndem

ic s

peci

es/

odt)

-

350

700

1,050

1,400

1,750

2,100

2,450

2,800

3,150

Tree Production

Land O

ccupa

tion

(squa

re m

ete

rs/odt)

4. Uncertainty Analysis


21

Biodiversity Impact* Cotton Wool Polyester Lyocell

High Impact 7.47 137 0.0532 8.16

Median Impact 2.29 47.5 0.00502 0.302

Low Impact -1.95 -14.5 -0.06294 -2.48

*(thousandths of a potentially lost non-endemic species/f.u.)

Total Biodiversity Impacts

incorporating upper and lower bound characterization factors

Model Limitations


22

• Using high and low uncertainty bounds of CFs, impacts span from negative to positive.

Uncertainty in characterization

factors

• Measurement of the multifaceted nature of biodiversity is impossible with this model.

Captures limited aspects of biodiversity

• Since location specific data is often unavailable, the advantage of this model in providing regional results is frequently lost.

Location dependent

• Distinction within broad land use types and management strategies is not possible.

Coarse land use classification

Overestimated Impacts


23

Kariegasfontein ranch in Aberdeen, South Africa

Source: The Savory Institute

Conservation Objective is Important


24

Median occupation characterization factors based on plant species for agriculture, urban, pasture, and managed forests

Source: de Baan et al. (2013)

Conclusions & Recommendations 25

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank our faculty advisor, Roland Geyer,

our Patagonia client representatives, Elissa Loughman and Jill

Dumain, and our external advisors, Thomas Koellner and

Laura de Baan for their invaluable guidance and feedback

on this project.

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