A large share of climate impacts of beef and dairy can be attributed to ecosystem services other than food production

Sammanfattning

Domesticated ruminants supply nutrient-dense foods but at a large environmental cost. However, many ruminant production systems are multi-functional, providing ecosystem services (ES) other than direct provision of food. When quantifying the climate impact of ruminant products using life cycle assessment (LCA), provisioning ES (i. e. beef and milk) are generally considered the only valuable outputs and other ES provided are ignored, which risks overlooking positive contributions associated with ruminant production. Non-provisioning ES can be included in LCA by economic allocation, using compensatory payments (through agri-environmental schemes) as a proxy for the economic value of ES. For example, farmers can receive payments for maintenance of pastures, which supports e.g. pollination. However, the association between different payment schemes, the ES provided, and livestock production is not always straightforward and it can be difficult to determine which payment schemes to include in the allocation. This study examined how accounting for ES in quantification of climate impact for beef and milk production on Swedish farms was affected by different ways of coupling ES to livestock production through payment schemes. Quantification was done using LCA, attributing the climate impact to beef, milk, and other ES by economic allocation. This resulted in

Nyckelord

Life cycle assessment; Multi-functionality; Climate impact; Economic allocation; Cattle

Publicerad i

Journal of Environmental Management
2023, volym: 325, nummer: Part A, artikelnummer: 116400
Utgivare: ACADEMIC PRESS LTD- ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

SLU författare

• von Greyerz, Karin

  • Institutionen för energi och teknik, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

• Tidåker, Pernilla

  • Institutionen för energi och teknik, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

• Karlsson, Johan

  • Institutionen för energi och teknik, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

• Röös, Elin

  • Institutionen för energi och teknik, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

Globala målen (SDG)

SDG8 Anständiga arbetsvillkor och ekonomisk tillväxt
SDG13 Bekämpa klimatförändringarna

UKÄ forskningsämne

Husdjursvetenskap
Miljö- och naturvårdsvetenskap

Publikationens identifierare

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.116400

Permanent länk till denna sida (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/119916