Publications des agents du Cirad

Cirad

LCA application in France

Bessou C., Bellon-Maurel V., Junqua G., Lardon L., Loiseau E., Macombe C., Risch E., Roux P.. 2012. In : Workshop on "LCA AGRI-FOOD ASIA INITIATIVE", Bangkok, Thailand, 15-16 february 2012. s.l. : s.n., 1 p.. Workshop on LCA AGRI-FOOD ASIA INITIATIVE, 2012-02-15/2012-02-16, Bangkok (Thaïlande).

During the last two decades, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has been increasingly used in the agri-food sector with a shift from focused applications in industrial eco-design to a broader range of products. In France, publications of LCA studies on agricultural feedstock started in the late 90s focusing on bioenergy production. With environmental assessment close to become a prerequisite in most sectors, the number of LCA practitioners in France has rapidly increased with a diversification of actors, such as researchers, consultants or governmental agencies. Research actors in LCA work in research institutes such as INRA1, CIRAD2 or IRSTEA3. The collaboration platform ELSA4, created in 2008, brings together numerous actors from these institutes in Montpellier as well as researchers form the universities Supagro and Les Mines of Alès. It is currently the biggest French team on LCA of agro-bioprocesses. Experts on industrial eco-design, agricultural and social sciences work together on several projects that aim to both provide expertise and develop knowledge on LCA. Activities within ELSA also consist in disseminate scientific knowledge on LCA or industrial ecology through Ph.D. thesis supervision, educational and vocational training. Lately, scientists within the team have been working specifically on four scientific challenges: 1) modeling the complex agro-bioprocesses, 2) dealing with uncertainty in LCA, 3) building causal chains related to specific environmental or social impacts, and 4) refining life cycle inventories (LCIs). Further information on ELSA and possible collaboration ways can be found under www.elsa-lca.org. Researchers from CIRAD actively contribute to activities within ELSA. They are particularly involved in researches dealing with tropical crops. Specific challenges in the tropics concern notably methodological developments and data collection to better account for very diverse cropping systems such as perennials or agro-forestry cropping systems.

Documents associés

Communication de congrès

Agents Cirad, auteurs de cette publication :