1. A life-cycle approach to measuring the sustainability of New Zealand’s primary production: a carbon footprint of beef/sheep Amélie Goldberg, MEnvStud School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences

2. Presentation Outline  Purpose and Background  Aims and Objectives  Literature Review  Methodology  Next steps…  Research Implications

3. Background  Trade liberalisation and globalisation  Lengthening supply chains & ‘big box’ retail  ‘Food miles’ concerns in UK/ USA  Internalising externalities through reducing information asymmetries  Threat or opportunity for New Zealand?

4. Purpose  Consumer ability to make better choices  Encourage foresight in the agro-food sector  Producer knowledge and information for responding to international concerns  Environmental quality  Climate change mitigation Short - term outcomes Long - term outcomes

5. Aim  How well are carbon emissions of the beef/sheep sector managed, from production through to consumption?  What are the opportunities and threats that arise from accounting for carbon in the agro- food sector?

6. Objectives 1.Create a carbon footprint of sheep or beef produced and consumed in New Zealand 2.Compare footprints among farms and categories of farms (e.g. conventional, organic and integrated) 3.Establish whether comparable profiles exist in the UK, and if so, how they differ 4.Explore the perceptions of the agro-food sector and the public service about the opportunities and threats to NZ.

7. Literature Review 1: International Policy  CarbonUK and Carbon Trust  Tesco carbon labelling of food  GHG accounting worldwide

8. Literature Review 2: New Zealand Context  Patterson 1984: top-down approach  Wells 2001: on-farm production  Saunders et al. 2006: UK focus (food miles)  Stancu & Smith 2007: sector’s environmental knowledge  Information gap in the literature: no complete carbon footprint exists

9. Methodology  Mixed methods: quantitative and qualitative  Method A: construct a carbon footprint of beef/sheep  Method B: comparison with UK & NZ studies  Method C: perceptions of carbon footprints through semi-structured interviews

10. Methodology: Method A (Objectives 1-2)  Objectives 1 and 2: create a carbon footprint of beef/sheep meat for comparison and evaluation  Method 1: a life cycle assessment (LCA) focusing on energy and carbon emissions, using a case study with a meat exporter and ~ 35 farms (conventional, organic, and ‘integrated management practices’).

11. Method A: Carbon Footprint  Energy and carbon focused life cycle assessment (LCA)  An extension of GHG inventory and accounting systems  Applying Wells’ (2001) methodology  ISO 14040 & 14044: Framework and Guidelines (internationally recognised)

12. ISO 14040 Life Cycle Assessment Framework

13. LCA of a Food System Adapted from Patterson (1984)

14. Method B: Literature Review (Obj. 2-3)  Review similar studies in t the UK and New Zealand  Establish whether comparable profiles have been developed  Analyse how these profiles differ

15. Methodology: Method C (Obj. 4) Undertake semi-structured interviews with:  key informants in the beef/sheep supply chain, including freight operators and retail associations  government officials from different ministries responsible for sustainable agriculture and trade issues.

16. Next steps…  Doing the Fieldwork!  Interviewee recruitment  Methodological issues  Use of software? SimaPro, GaBI  Combination of bottom-up and top-down data sources?  Difficulty in obtaining data: freight (tonne km of product movements), retail and consumer food shopping patterns

17. Research Implications  Fills research gaps, especially once products have left farm gate - to NZ consumer’s plate  Although New Zealand production systems may be more carbon efficient than the UK, there is a risk to New Zealand exports if we do not account for emissions (in part due to UK media)  NZ agro-food sector needs to show leadership and foresight in managing their environmental reputation - such as through carbon footprints

18. Research Implications  Stimulate discussion on NZ ‘food miles’ and how supply chains, delivery patterns & shopping behaviour can be modified to decarbonise our food systems  Creating footprints enables:  NZ agro-food sector to respond to information requests from international markets  Consumers to vote with their $ and choose low-carbon products - through carbon labelling

19. References Barber, A., & Pellow, G. (2005). Energy use and efficiency measures for the New Zealand dairy farming industry: Prepared by AgriLink New Zealand for the Climate Change Office. Bolland, J., Weir, D., & Vincent, M. (2005). Development of a New Zealand national freight matrix (No. 283 Land Transport New Zealand Research Report). Wellington: Booz Allen Hamilton (NZ) Ltd. Cavana, R. Y., Harrison, I. G., Heffernan, F. E. B., & Kissling, C. C. (1997). Freight transport in New Zealand - Working Paper 2/97. Wellington: Graduate School of Business and Government Management, Victoria University of Wellington. Fuels & Energy Management Group. (2000). Road transport sector energy demand and CO 2 output - projections and analysis of reduction strategies. Wellington: Ministry of Transport. Lovell-Smith, J. E. R., & Baldwin, A. J. (1988). Energy trends in the New Zealand diary industry. New Zealand Journal of Diary Science and Technology, 23, 239-255. Patterson, M. G. (1984). Energy use in the New Zealand Food System. Energy in Agriculture, 3, 289-304. Saunders, C., Barber, A., & Taylor, G. (2006). Food Miles- Comparative Energy/Emissions Performance of New Zealand's Agriculture Industry: Lincoln University. Smith, A., Watkiss, P., Tweedle, G., McKinnon, A., Hunt, A., Trevelen, C., et al. (2005). The Validity of Food Miles as an Indicator of Sustainable Development: DEFRA. Stancu, C., & Smith, A. (2007, Feb 21-23). Making sustainable links: the well-being of NZ exports in a changing climate. Paper presented at the 2nd International Conference of Sustainability and Engineering Science, Auckland, NZ. Wells, C. (2001). Total energy indicators of agricultural sustainability: dairy farming case study: University of Otago.

20. Questions? Feel free to me send your feedback or comments: amelie.goldberg@gmail.com amelie.goldberg@gmail.com