Environmental and health-related external costs of meat consumption in Italy: estimations and recommendations through life cycle assessment.

The literature on the external costs of food consumption is limited. This study aims at advancing in this field by translating the environmental and health-related impacts generated by the life-cycle of meat into external costs via monetization. The main types of meat consumed in Italy are used as a case study. The potential external costs are estimated via attributional life cycle assessment (LCA), using: i) the ReCiPe method for the environmental impact assessment (fourteen impact categories), ii) the population attributional fractions for the health damage from meat ingestion, and iii) the CE Delft environmental prices for monetization. Results show that processed pork and beef generate the highest costs on society, with an external cost of approximately 2€ per 100 g. Fresh pork and poultry follow, with a cost of 1€ and 0.5€ per 100 g, respectively. For comparison, the potential external costs of legumes (i.e., a plant-based alternative to meat) are estimated to be from eight to twenty times lower than meat (around 0.05€ per 100 g of legumes). In 2018, meat consumed in Italy potentially generated a cost on society of 36.6 bn€. The burden arises almost equally from impacts generated before meat ingestion (mainly associated with the emissions arisen from farming), and after the ingestion (due to diseases potentially associated with meat consumption). A sensitivity analysis on the main parameters revealed a large uncertainty on the final yearly cost, ranging from 19 to 93 bn€. Although more research is needed to improve the accuracy and the validity of the models used in the study (e.g., human health impact assessment, monetization) and to include potential external costs currently unaccounted for (e.g., water use, animal welfare, occupational health), results show unequivocal significant costs associated with meat consumption. We thus advocate for policies aimed at reducing these costs and allocating them properly.

From beans to bar: A life cycle assessment towards sustainable chocolate supply chain.

The environmental sustainability has emerged as a crucial aspect in the agri-food sector, nevertheless environmental assessments and certifications of cocoa and chocolate are still missing. Given this gap and the increasing global demand for cocoa derivatives, this study aims to evaluate the environmental impacts of an Italian dark chocolate through a holistic cradle-to-grave Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The impact categories assessed are acidification potential (AC), eutrophication potential (EU), global warming potential (GW), photochemical ozone creation potential (POC), ozone layer depletion potential (OD), abiotic depletion (AD) and cumulative energy demand (CED). The obtained results highlight the relevant contributions of upstream phase (63% for the ODP, 92% for EU and 99% for the AD) and core processes (39% for the GW and 49% for the CED) on the overall impacts. Specifically, cocoa provisioning and energy supply at the manufacturing plant emerged as environmental hotspots and have been deeper investigated through a sensitivity analysis. Obtained outcomes show the significant variability of the environmental impacts due to the agricultural phase (i.e., depending on agroecosystems and practices) and environmental benefits guaranteed by an efficient trigeneration system implemented in the manufacturing plant. The quantification of the environmental impacts of chocolate through LCA, the identification of the main hotspots along the supply chain and the sensitivity analysis performed in this study could effectively support chocolate companies in their pathway towards environmentally sustainable productions.