LCA in the agri-food sector: challenges, mitigation options, and recent developments

The webinar examined the application of Life Cycle Assessment in the agri-food sector, highlighting why the strong dependence on natural resources, open biological systems, and high environmental variability make LCA particularly challenging in this domain, and how the field is advancing through improved LCI databases and dedicated LCA tools. Practical examples illustrated key findings from decades of LCA studies, along with concrete options for mitigating environmental impacts across food production systems. Presented by Dr. Thomas Nemecek, Senior Researcher at Agroscope, the session also offered an outlook on emerging developments such as nutritional LCA and eco-labelling, framing food systems as a critical area where robust assessment methods are essential to addressing some of the most heavily transgressed planetary boundaries.