Carbon footprint Archives

2024 South Africa

Life Cycle Assessment of an Avocado: Grown in South Africa-Enjoyed in Europe

Authors: Blaauw, Sheldon A.; Broekman, André; Maina, James W.; Steyn, Wynand J. v. d. M.; Haddad, William A.

"Food production is known to have significant environmental impacts, with the main contributors residing in the farming and transportation life cycle phases. Of the various food products transported around the world, avocados have increasingly gained attention as a high-commodity superfood. Avocados require specific climatic and agricultural conditions for farming, with the most fertile land and conditions located outside Europe. Consequently, most avocados consumed in Europe are imported over vast geographical distances, with little information available to quantify the environmental impacts of this imported superfood. This paper aims to present the most detailed life cycle assessment results of an avocado cultivated, grown and harvested in the Limpopo Province of South Africa and exported to the European market for sale and consumption. A life cycle assessment was developed for the farming, harvesting, handling, packaging, ripening, transportation, and carbon sequestration potential of the avocado, and it was used to conduct a holistic life cycle assessment. Input data was obtained through an 18-month data collection campaign across the relevant stakeholders. A baseline 'business-as-usual' scenario is focused on throughout this study, and scope for optimisation is identified for each life cycle phase where applicable, accompanied by uncertainty analyses. Results show a total carbon input of 904.85 kg CO₂e/tonne. Mitigating this, 521.88 kg CO₂e/tonne is offset, resulting in a net carbon footprint of 382.97 kg CO₂e/tonne with uncertainty ranges of −23.22 to +58.69 kg CO₂e/tonne, normalised to 57.45 g CO₂e/avocado grown in South Africa and sold in Europe. The environmental impacts of the avocado industry under consideration are largely mitigated by the ""nature first"" philosophy of the farming and logistics enterprises, which have made significant investments in reducing emissions. Sensitivity analyses indicate that implementing large-scale renewable energy, using alternative packaging instead of cardboard, and selling avocados unripened could further enable the farming enterprise to achieve Net Zero objectives. These measures could reduce baseline emissions from 382.97 kg CO₂e/tonne to a theoretical −68.54 kg CO₂e/tonne, representing a 117.9% decrease. Although this study does not quantify climate change impacts, qualitative analyses suggest that climate change will have a net negative effect on the avocado industry in South Africa. These regions, typically located in micro-climates, are projected to become wetter and warmer, adversely affecting crop phenology, pest control, road conditions, management complexity, farmer livelihoods, and food security. The study recommends large-scale implementation of the optimisation strategies identified to achieve Net Zero objectives and the development of proactive climate change mitigation strategies to enhance the resilience of avocado supply chains to future stressors. These insights are crucial for policymakers, industry stakeholders, and consumers aiming to promote sustainability in the avocado market." See more

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2022 Germany

Estimating the Water and Carbon Footprints of Growing Avocados in the Munich Metropolitan Region Using Waste Heat as a Water-Energy-Food Nexus Potential

Authors: Becker, L.; Gondhalekar, D.

Avocados, which have been labeled a superfood and are very popular around the world, are often grown in areas with water scarcity and have long-distance transports to their end consumer. Water and carbon footprints could be reduced by using greenhouse farming, waste heat and rainwater. This study aims to determine whether avocados and other exotic fruits could be locally or regionally grown in greenhouse systems in Bavaria heated using waste heat and examines whether this approach decreases the resulting See more

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2014 Mexico

Energy balance and greenhouse gas emissions in organic and conventional avocado orchards in Mexico

Authors: Astier, M.; Merlín-Uribe, Y.; Villamil-Echeverri, L.; Garciarreal, A.; Gavito, M.; Masera, O.

There is a worldwide growing awareness of the negative impacts of the increasing fossil fuel reliance and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agriculture, in particular for intensive crop systems. We analyze the energy balances and greenhouse gas emissions from export-oriented avocado orchards in Mexico. Avocado is a very important export crop and one of the main drivers of land-use change in the country. We compared 12 avocado orchards under organic and conventional management during two production See more

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2022 Peru

Environmental footprint of critical agro-export products in the Peruvian hyper-arid coast: A case study for green asparagus and avocado

Authors: Esteve-Llorens, X.; Ita-Nagy, D.; Parodi, E.; González-García, S.; Moreira, M.T.; Feijoo, G.; Vázquez-Rowe, I.

Peru has become one of the world's main agricultural hubs for a wide range of fruits and vegetables. Two of these products, avocado and green asparagus, have raised attention in recent years in the international scene from an environmental perspective due to the high amounts of water they require, as well as the long air and marine freighting distances to export these products to Europe, Asia or the US. Consequently, the aim of the current study was to perform an environmental assessment of these See more

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2014 Mexico

Effects of converting forest to avocado orchards on topsoil properties in the trans-Mexican volcanic system, Mexico

Authors: Bravo-Espinosa, M.; Mendoza, M.E.

In the present work, land cover and land use changes between 2003 and 2008 were assessed in the Cupatitzio River sub-basin located in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic System and Balsas Depression in Mexico. The effects of land cover conversion from temperate forest to avocado orchards on soil properties were determined. Land cover and land use databases were built for the years 1975, 2003, and 2008 using available cartographic information and interpretation of panchromatic SPOT images for the year 2008. See more

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2021 Mexico

Potential expansion of Hass avocado cultivation under climate change scenarios threatens Mexican mountain ecosystems

Authors: Charre-Medellín, J.; Mas, J-F.; Chang-Martínez, L.

Analysis of potential areas for crop establishment is necessary for sustainable agricultural planning, conservation of natural ecosystems, and achievement of food security’s current global objective. This study aims to model the current potential distribution of the optimal areas for Hass avocado crop in Mexico, along with the likely impact of climate change on the crops and the surrounding mountain ecosystems in the state of Michoacán, the principal producer. The maximum entropy approach was See more

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