Life-cycle greenhouse gas assessment of portuguese chestnut

This paper presents a life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) assessment of various chestnut production systems in northern Portugal. Life-cycle models and inventories were implemented for three chestnut cultivation systems and two processing lines (fresh and frozen chestnut). The overall GHG intensity ranged between 0.4-2.7 (fresh) and 0.6-2.9 (frozen) kg CO2eq kg-1 harvested chestnut. The cultivation contribution to the overall GHG intensity varied considerably (from 0.36 to 2.69 kg CO2eq kg-1 harvested chestnut) mainly due to different yields and input requirements (diesel and fertilizers) among the three chestnut cultivation systems analysed. The GHG emissions associated with chestnut processing ranged between 0.05 (for fresh chestnut, mostly from propane consumption) and 0.23 kg CO2eq kg-1 harvested chestnut (for frozen chestnut, mainly due to electricity consumption). The results demonstrate the importance of cultivation management practices, in particular an efficient use of fertilizers in order to minimize the GHG intensity of Portuguese chestnut.This research was supported by ECODEEP project (Eco-efficiency and Eco-management in the Agro Industrial sector, FCOMP–05–0128–FEDER–018643), FEDER funds through “Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade” - COMPETE and by the Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation (FCT) project FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-029055 (PTDC/EMS-ENE/1839/2012), project FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-021495 (PTDC/SEN-TRA/117251/2010), and project FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-022692. Was also supported by the R&D project EMSURE (CENTRO-07-0224-FEDER-002004).