CONCITO and 2-0 LCA

The Big Climate Database is a life cycle assessment (LCA) database covering 540 food products at retail, developed by 2.-0 LCA consultants and published by CONCITO. It follows the ISO 14040/44 framework and uses EXIOBASE — a multi-regional hybrid input-output database — as its background system, ensuring no life cycle flows are cut off. The database covers five markets: Denmark, Great Britain, France, Spain, and the Netherlands, though all crops and animal categories worldwide have been modelled to reflect international supply chains. Agricultural emissions are calculated using IPCC (2019) guidelines, and both direct and indirect land use changes (dLUC and iLUC) are included in the system boundary.

The database includes the following life cycle stages, for which results are specified:

▪ Agriculture: This life cycle stage includes all emissions from agriculture including upstream emissions from the production of fertiliser, chemicals, fuels, machinery, buildings, services as well as transport of these inputs to agriculture. Further, the substituted productions caused by by-products are included. This refers to, e.g., beef (cows, heifers and bulls) from milk cattle and wool from sheep. However, the upstream land use (iLUC) is explicitly not included, since it is separately specified:

▪ Indirect land use changes (iLUC): When activities use land, additional land will be “produced” in the same manner as demand for fertiliser cause production of fertiliser. The following activities use land: crops, animal grazing, forestry, urban area, infrastructure, and mining. When an activity uses land, this causes expansion of human activities into wild nature, as well as intensification of the production on existing productive land (yield increases).

▪ Food processing: Food processing includes direct emissions from this industry as well as emissions from all upstream activities, except agriculture and iLUC: the production of fuels, chemicals, machinery, buildings, services, transport of non-feedstock inputs (transport of agricultural products to food processing is included under the life cycle stage ‘transport’) and treatment of wastes and by-products, e.g. in the feedstuff and rendering industries. The avoided production of products substituted by by-products is included (with a negative sign).

▪ Packaging: Packaging includes all upstream emissions from the production of packaging materials as well as downstream emissions from end-of-life treatment of the materials. When the end-of-life includes by-products such as recovered energy from waste incineration and materials from recycling/reuse, the substituted production of heat, electricity, and virgin materials is included.

▪ Transport: This life cycle stage includes the transport of agricultural products to food processing and food products to retail. All other transport is included under the other life cycle stages.

▪ Retail: Retail includes all direct and upstream emissions from the inputs of fuels, energy, and equipment (displays, cash registers, refrigerated counters, freezers, building etc.).

For full details, see the Big Climate Database methodology report (Schmidt et al., 2024): https://thebigclimatedatabase.com/static/core/pdfs/Methodology_report_the_big_CLIMATE_DATABASE_FINAL.pdf.

The database provides results per reference flow, typically 1 kg product, rather than for a functional unit, the study does not include life cycle interpretation phase and the study has not been subject to a critical review.

The study uses a "consquential" approach: This may mean the results are incomparable with other studies that follow a different approach. They may not be suitable for Corporate Reporting or some LCA standards. It is best practice not to mix these emission factors with those from other sources that follow a different approach. See the methodology notes for each lifecycle stage.