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The increased frequency of hot days due to climate change can potentially impair the environmental and economic performance of pig-fattening farms. Several pig-cooling strategies have been proposed to address these impacts, however their implementation is not always economically viable and the potential environmental-economic trade-offs not well understood. Here, we propose and implement a novel framework for environmental and economic evaluation of pig-cooling strategies in a whole farm context. We also demonstrate through a sensitivity analysis how such models can be integrated with projected climate data to investigate how climate change may affect the assessment of capital investments that are made over significant timescales. We considered two strategies implemented in a pig-fattening farm in south Sweden: pig-cooling with showers and with increased air velocity. Operation of the farm under non-cooling conditions was considered as the baseline system against which the analysis was conducted. We calculated whole-farm annual equivalent values (AEV) with the implementation of each strategy through a discounted cash flow analysis and annualised system environmental impact through a life cycle assessment. Both cooling strategies significantly reduced system environmental impact across all categories except water footprint. Acidification potential was reduced the most, exhibiting a −3.28% reduction with pig showers and −1.51% with increased air velocity. Farm profitability improved by +6.79% with showers and +3.37% with increased air velocity. Ambient temperature increase under non-cooling conditions significantly increased all impact categories with acidification being affected the most (+2.24%), and caused a −4.43% decrease in AEV. Both pig-cooling strategies mitigated these effects on system environmental performance. With increased air velocity we observed a +0.718% increase in acidification, while pig showers were the more resilient option exhibiting a +0.690% increase. The study represents a case-in-point for how to rationalise economically environmental management technologies in pig housing systems based on their cost-effectiveness in mitigating environmental impacts. Image 1 • The environmental and economic impacts of two pig-cooling strategies were evaluated. • We considered pig-cooling with showers and increased air velocity at pig lying area. • Both strategies improved farm environmental performance for AP, EP and NRRU. • Both strategies mitigated heat stress, improved pig welfare and farm profitability. • The strategies mitigated the effects of global warming on pig farm sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the natural rubber industry, concentrated latex (CL) holds a prominent position due to its use in manufacturing dipped rubber products (e.g., gloves, condoms, etc.). With no previous studies on the process efficiency at commercial level of CL manufacture, this study aimed at adopting process analyses tools in three CL factories (factory A, B and C) in Sri Lanka in view of improving CL manufacture process in financial and environmental terms. This approach possessed three steps: 1) quantification of resource use, financial losses and global warming potential using material flow analysis (MFA), material flow cost accounting (MFCA) and environmental life cycle assessment (ELCA), 2) identification of key issues and proposing improvement options with help of Pareto and what if analyses, field interviews and literature, and 3) determination of potential improvement and feasibility through re-performing MFA, MFCA and ELCA, and discounted cash flow analysis, greenhouse gas payback time and novel loss reduction efficiency index. On average, the present level of financial loss and global warming potential per 1 MT of rubber input were found to be LKR 9608 and 112.8 kg CO2e, respectively. Installation of an advanced trap tank was proposed to factory A (i.e., option-1) whilst extending sedimentation time (i.e., option-2) and Installing inverters and solar panels (i.e., option-3) were recommended to all factories as improvement options. Combined scenario entailing options 2 and 3 for all factories, was found to be the most applicable in terms of financial returns and environmental benefits. • Monetary losses and environmental impact of Concentrated Latex manufacture quantified. • Factors affecting monetary losses and environmental impact identified. • Options with remarkable impacts proposed to improve the overall efficiency. • Novel approach developed to assess the efficiency of multi-factor improvement options. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]