Application of the LCA approach to the citrus production chain – A systematic review

Abstract

The citrus sector represents one of the main agri-food supply chains in Italy, which today is the second largest producer of citrus fruits in Europe. Consequently, its impact from an environmental, economic and social point of view can be considerable and it is therefore necessary to assess the sustainability performance of this supply chain. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies are nowadays an important tool for the improvement of production standards and for better decision support by entrepreneurs and public decision makers. This work aims to review in a systematic way the scientific literature on LCA applied to the citrus fruit sector and was conducted following the STARR-LCA checklist approach. The survey was conducted through the main bibliographic databases: Scopus, Web Of Science and Google Scholar, adopting specific search criteria depending on the tool used; the search led to a final selection of 42 articles. The analysis of the papers was conducted using various parameters such as: topic, methodology applied, system boundaries, functional units, allocation criteria, inventory analysis and impact assessment. The analysis of the results shows an overview of the state of the art of LCA approach applied to the citrus sector and can provide useful data and information for practitioners as well as a basis for further methodological developments.

Keywords

• LCA
• Citrus supply chain
• Functional unit
• System boundaries
• Data quality
• Life cycle inventory