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Date production and consumption is mostly diffused in Middle East and Northern African countries. Date production is linked to the land and water footprint in countries where agricultural land and freshwater are scarce. We estimate the global land, green water, blue water, and water scarcity footprint at the country scale from a production perspective. We show that production trends are increasingly driven by foreign demand. By tracking the international trade dynamics of dates, we map the shift of environmental footprint from the producing to the consuming countries. We find that dates production and consumption are not yet decoupled from the associated environmental burden. Global dates consumption accounted for 1.4 million hectares of agricultural land, 5.8 Gm3 of green water, 7.5 Gm3 of blue water, and the related impact on water scarcity reached 358 Gm3 world equivalent in 2019. The primacy of the economic driver is revealed, indicating that in the case of dates, the environmental sustainability aspects are currently overlooked for the sake of the economic benefit. The time-series analysis provides informative results to support policymakers in the design of mitigation strategies that can help the achievement of the SDGs.

Coffee consumption is concentrated in the “Global North”, while production is mainly located in the “Global South”. This trade-driven dependency leads to the exploitation of natural resources. As an export-oriented cash crop, such dependency jeopardizes the existence of a fair distribution of the risks and revenues among all the actors taking part in its globalized supply chain. Coffee trees are mainly rain-fed and only partly irrigated. However, the increasing global coffee demand led to higher consumption of freshwater, which can exacerbate the stressed condition of already stressed water basins. This study quantifies the impact of global coffee consumption on water scarcity, considering the larger system made of producer and consumer countries. The global displacement of such impact is driven by consumer preferences. We found that the US, EU and Asian countries’ coffee consumption create impact on water scarcity mostly in African and South American countries, which is also representative of the economic disparities existing behind the global trade flows. Climate change will likely affect the varieties currently preferred by global consumers. Therefore, immediate environmental sustainability actions including water resource preservation are necessary to face current and future challenges.

The Danish diet is characterized by a high content of sugar, fat dairy products and red meat, and a low content of fruits and vegetables. As it is considered unhealthy and environmentally unfriendly, various alternatives to the standard Danish diet have been investigated and promoted in Denmark, such as the New Nordic Diet. By using a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), this study estimates the carbon footprint (CF) of four different diet scenarios in Denmark: standard, carnivore, vegetarian and vegan. The LCA is applied to build a dataset of the 47 most widely eaten food and beverage products, which represent the average Danish eating habits and grouped into six food categories. Unlike most past LCA-based studies, where system boundaries are limited to the farm gate, this study covers all activities and relative use of materials and energy, from the food production phase to the final consumption (namely ‘from-cradle-to-fork’). We find that the highest CF value is associated with the carnivore diet, which has the highest impact (1.83 t CO 2eq person −1 year −1). The vegan and vegetarian diets record the best profiles (0.89 and 1.37 t CO 2eq person −1 year −1, respectively), whereas the standard Danish diet has a CF value of 1.59 t CO 2eq person −1 year −1. We find that the food production phase is the most significant in terms of CF (65–85%). This study confirms that dietary preferences are a strong driver of CF. A comparison with CF associated with other diets suggests that a further research could provide a guidance to promote healthy eating patterns with adequate nutritional values and better environmental performances.

Due to growing interest in biofuels as alternative renewable energy sources, several recent studies have assessed the sustainability of their production. Emergy is a widely used environmental indicator for this purpose, as it counts exploitation of natural resources and direct and indirect solar energy requirements of biofuel production. Depending on whether a biofuel is first, second or third generation, its production system differs in nature and the indications derived from emergy evaluations vary as well. This article aims to provide guidelines on how to interpret and properly use the results of emergy evaluation of first, second and third generation biofuels. These guidelines are useful for correct emergy assessment of biofuels and clarify the actual meaning of emergy evaluation outcomes.

The comparison of the Ecological Footprint and its counterpart (i.e. biocapacity) allow for a classification of the world's countries as ecological creditors (Ecological Footprint lower than biocapacity) or debtors (Ecological Footprint higher than biocapacity). This classification is a national scale assessment on an annual time scale that provides a view of the ecological assets appropriated by the local population versus the natural ecological endowment of a country. We show that GDP per capita over a certain threshold is related with the worsening of the footprint balance in countries classified as ecological debtors. On the other hand, this correlation is lost when ecological creditor nations are considered. There is evidence that governments and investors from high GDP countries are playing a crucial role in impacting the environment at the global scale which is significantly affecting the geography of sustainability and preventing equal opportunities for development. In particular, international market dynamics and the concentration of economic power facilitate the transfer of biocapacity related to "land grabbing", i.e. large scale acquisition of agricultural land. This transfer mainly occurs from low to high GDP countries, regardless of the actual need of foreign biocapacity, as expressed by the national footprint balance. A first estimation of the amount of biocapacity involved in this phenomenon is provided in this paper in order to better understand its implications on global sustainability and national and international land use policy. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

An evaluation of the investment required to implement a second generation bioethanol production chain is presented in this study. An integrated agro-industrial system can be an appropriate solution to accomplish the European requirement for the partial substitution of bioethanol for gasoline by 2020. A biorefinery system is hypothesized within the Province of Siena (Italy), fed by residual energy and material flows from local productions: straw from agriculture and residual geothermal heat from geothermal electricity generation; the output is calibrated to replace 10% of gasoline consumption within the Provincial area. The physical consistency of the investment required to implement the production process, as well as the benefit of the biofuel–gasoline substitution, have been evaluated by means of the emergy methodology. Emergy is a thermodynamics-based indicator that contributes to identify and measure all the inputs supporting a given system, expressed in a common unit (solar emergy Joules – semj). Results show that the benefit of saving gasoline, in emergy terms, almost doubles the emergy investment to produce biofuel. The case of a biorefinery fed by natural gas instead of local residual geothermal heat is also presented. The Unit Emergy Investment (UEI) of bioethanol produced in a biorefinery that uses residual straw and geothermal heat is 9.16E + 08 semj/g (the case of the Province of Siena); it is 1.84E + 09 semj/g (in case natural gas is used to fuel the process). Finally, the comparison between the UEI of bioethanol evaluated in this study and UEV of bioethanol calculated in other studies is presented.

Consumption habits imply responsibility. Progressive awareness of the scale of materials, energy, goods and services consumed on a daily basis and knowledge of the implications of consumption choices are prerequisites for designing steps towards sustainable behavior. This article explores, for the first time, the educational value of personal Footprint calculators and their contribution in terms of enhancing awareness of the environmental consequences of consumption behaviors. Our study involved the application of Global Footprint Networks’ personal Ecological Footprint (EF) calculator in teaching aimed at High School and postgraduate University students in two geographical areas (Italy and UK). Students calculated their individual EF, and used the results to explore the environmental consequences of their current consumption behaviors and the effects associated with selected changes in daily consumption activities. Our analysis shows that students were able to appreciate the difference between their individual Footprints and national and global averages. The calculator also enabled them to debate sustainable consumption in the context of their everyday life, inducing them to personally experience the multidimensional character of sustainability. Students finally demonstrated an ability to quantitatively capture how knowledge and awareness of the environmental consequences associated with certain consumption behaviors may facilitate better choices, and encourage greater commitment to sustainable resource use.

The agricultural sector released about 5.4 Gt CO2 eq in 2010, of which 57% was due to the livestock sector. Cattle are the main contributors (65%) to the livestock sector's emissions, while sheep and goats (small ruminants) are responsible for about 6.5%, corresponding to 475 million tonnes CO2 eq. The Life Cycle Assessment method has been largely adopted to assess the environmental impacts connected to the livestock sector and to related products. Despite this, very few pieces of research are specifically addressed to analysis of the environmental performances of sheep cheese and, particularly, to the proposal of improvement strategies that may allow the reduction of environmental impacts. In this context, the Life Cycle Assessment method is applied in order to assess the environmental hot-spots of Tuscan “Pecorino” cheese (a traditional Italian dairy product obtained from sheep milk processing) and to evaluate potential improvement scenarios. The analysis follows a “cradle to gate” approach by including the processes related to sheep breeding (intensive system), milk transport and cheese production. The functional unit selected is 1 kg of “Pecorino” cheese, packaged at dairy farm gate and ready to be distributed. Focusing on Climate Change impacts, the results highlight that the total impacts related to the functional unit are 22.13 kg CO2 eq. The environmental hot-spots are mainly connected to direct emissions from the sheep enteric fermentation and to the production of feed used in sheep breeding, as well as, to waste water treatment and electricity consumption during cheese production. The adoption of a different breeding system (from intensive to extensive) may represent a good improvement option for the reduction of environmental impacts related to the baseline system, as well as the utilisation of a photovoltaic system as an alternative energy source for production of the electricity used in the cheese production phase.

This study aims to assess the sustainability of an agroforestry system: i.e. a system obtained by the union of two productions to get at least two by-products from the same productive space. In particular, this case study presents the integration of a goose raising system with an organic grape production, from an environmental point of view. This integration is mainly designed to have two simultaneous co-products (grape and goose meat) with: i) a less intensive use of machineries for weeding and ii) avoiding use of chemical fertilizers and weeding. The sustainability is assessed by means of emergy evaluation. Emergy is a thermodynamic based tool able to estimates the environmental cost of products and services in terms of the solar energy (directly and indirectly) required for its production. As Emergy is not a state function, its final value depends on the way the product is made. The set theory applied to the emergy evaluation enables the comparison between the integrated system and the originating isolated systems in a proper way. Results confirm that the integrated system enables a saving, in emergy terms, amounting to 33% compared to the two originating isolated production systems. Emergy evaluation is able to keep track of the lower amount of resources required from outside the agroforestry system due to the optimization of resources internally available.

Bioethanol is obtained from various raw biomasses and by means of optimized process technologies. It can be a substitute for gasoline, which implies greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction. The type of feedstock determines the classification of bioethanol: first generation (starch-based biomass or simple sugar-based feedstock) and second generation (lignocellulosic material as straw and wood). Second generation bioethanol production requires cellulosic biomass, which overcome the problems of first generation like food competition and low efficacy in GHG emission reduction. Sustainability evaluations of (first and second generation) bioethanol production have been proposed in the past by means of systemic indicators like emergy analysis and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). A joint use of emergy and LCA of a possible implementation of a second generation bioethanol production chain is presented in this study. The emergy methodology has been used to test the physical consistency of the investment required to implement the production process, as well as the benefit of the biofuel-gasoline substitution. The effect of this substitution has been also evaluated by including the LCA of this production chain within the GHG balance of the Province of Siena.

This study presents a possible implementation of a second generation bioethanol production chain within the Province of Siena (Tuscany, Italy) by means of a biorefinery, and its consequences for the regional GHG balance in order to meet the European requirements for partial substitution of 10% bioethanol for gasoline by 2020. According to the last GHG balance of the territory of the Province of Siena, the transport sector represents the main contributor to the overall GHG emissions within the Province. A biorefinery project is hypothesized, fed by residual straw (from the local production of wheat, barley and oat) and residual geothermal heat (from local geothermal power plant) in order to produce bioethanol. The target of the production plant was about 8200 tons/year of bioethanol, representing the amount needed to replace 10% of the gasoline consumed in 2008 in the Province of Siena. The results of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the entire production chain have been included within the GHG balance of the Province of Siena in order to assess the effect of this substitution. The emissions derived from the production chain have been added to the current gross CO2eq emissions, and the CO2eq avoided, thanks to the substitution of bioethanol, has been subtracted. The main results of this paper are: 1) the territory of the Province of Siena produces enough straw to implement the bioethanol production chain (38,000 tons/year of ethanol out of 147,000 tons/year of straw); 2) the emissions deriving from the entire bioethanol production chain are about 601.51 kg CO2eq per ton of bioethanol produced (about 4932 tons of CO2eq are the emissions associated to the production of 8200 tons of bioethanol); 3) the use of the produced bioethanol in Siena's transport sector could bring about a reduction of 15,393 tons of CO2eq in emissions, equal to 6% of the net CO2eq emissions. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

On 4 th November 1966 a flood hit the city of Florence, with a water discharge 3 . The paper presents the results of the emergy evaluation of the Bilancino's artificial basin and its role. The emergy evaluation is an environmental accounting method that converts all different inputs, inflows of energy and matter into a system or a production process, to a common denominator, the equivalent solar energy. The emergy represents the quantity of solar energy that was used, directly or indirectly, to obtain a good or service. In other words, emergy accounting enables to "memorize" all the energy that was necessary in the past to obtain a flow or a product that is available today. The environmental costs of the Bilancino's dam, which creates the basin, as well as the economic benefits of its presence are evaluated from an emergy point of view. In order to calculate the emergy of the dam, the resource flows constituting it have been considered: materials used to build the dam (rockfill diabase, rockfill limestone, gravel, sandstone and clay) and construction and annual management costs. Environmental costs like sediment loss and the loss of organic matter (land) have also been taken into consideration. The emergy investment for the construction and maintenance of the dam is finally compared with the emergy estimate of a future incidental flooding.