Soil organic carbon as an indicator of land use impacts in life cycle assessment

De Laurentiis Valeria, Maier Stephanie, Horn Rafael, Uusitalo Ville, Hiederer Roland, Chéron-Bessou Cécile, Morais Tiago, Grant Tim, Mila i Canals Llorenç, Sala Serenella. 2024. Soil organic carbon as an indicator of land use impacts in life cycle assessment. International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 29 : 1190-1208.

Résumé : Purpose: Anthropogenic activities are a major driver of soil and land degradation. Due to the spatial heterogeneity of soil properties and the global nature of most value chains, the modelling of the impacts of land use on soil quality for application in life cycle assessment (LCA) requires a regionalised assessment with global coverage. This paper proposes an approach to quantify the impacts of land use on soil quality, using changes in soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks as a proxy, following the latest recommendation of the Life Cycle Initiative. Methods: An operational set of SOC-based characterisation factors for land occupation and land transformation were derived using spatial datasets (1 km resolution) and aggregated at the national and global levels. The developed characterisation factors were tested by means of a case study analysis, investigating the impact on soil quality caused by land use activities necessary to provide three alternative energy supply systems for passenger car transport (biomethane, ethanol, and solar electricity). Results obtained by applying characterisation factors at local, regional, and national levels were compared, to investigate the role of the level of regionalisation on the resulting impacts. Results and discussion: Global maps of characterisation factors are presented for the 56 land use types commonly used in LCA databases, together with national and global values. Urban and industrial land uses present the highest impacts on SOC stocks, followed by severely degraded pastures and intensively managed arable lands. Instead, values obtained for extensive pastures, flooded crops, and urban green areas often report an increase in SOC stocks. Results show that the ranking of impacts of the three energy systems considered in the case study analysis is not affected by the level of regionalisation of the analysis. In the case of biomethane energy supply, impacts assessed using national characterisation factors are more than double those obtained with local characterisation factors, with less significant differences in the other two cases. Conclusions: The integration of soil quality aspects in life cycle impact assessment methods is a crucial challenge due to the key role of soil conservation in ensuring food security and environmental protection. This approach allows the quantification of land use impacts on SOC stocks, taken as a proxy of soil quality. Further research needs to improve the assessment of land use impacts in LCA are identified, such as the ability to reflect the effects of agricultural and forestry management practices.

Mots-clés Agrovoc : utilisation des terres, cycle du carbone, cartographie de l'utilisation des terres, carbone organique du sol, analyse du cycle de vie, Saccharum officinarum, impact sur l'environnement, dégradation du sol, évaluation de l'impact

Mots-clés libres : Land occupation, Land transformation, Land use impact, Characterisation factors, Soil organic carbon, Life cycle impact assessment (LCIA), Regionalisation

Classification Agris : P34 - Biologie du sol
P40 - Météorologie et climatologie

Champ stratégique Cirad : CTS 2 (2019-) - Transitions agroécologiques

Agences de financement européennes : Directorate-General for the Environment

Auteurs et affiliations

• De Laurentiis Valeria, European Commission-Joint Research Centre (ITA)
• Maier Stephanie, University of Stuttgart (DEU)
• Horn Rafael, University of Stuttgart (DEU)
• Uusitalo Ville, Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology (FIN)
• Hiederer Roland, European Commission-Joint Research Centre (ITA)
• Chéron-Bessou Cécile, CIRAD-PERSYST-UMR ABSys (AUS) ORCID: 0000-0001-6686-8468
• Morais Tiago, Universidade de Lisboa (PRT)
• Grant Tim, Life Cycle Strategies (AUS)
• Mila i Canals Llorenç, UNEP (FRA)
• Sala Serenella, European Commission-Joint Research Centre (ITA) - auteur correspondant

Source : Cirad-Agritrop (https://agritrop.cirad.fr/609390/)

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