Organizers: Hanna Tuomisto (University of Helsinki and the Natural Resources Institute Finland, Luke) and Nicole Tichenor Blackstone (Tufts University)

Date and time: 12:00 - 17:00, 8th September

Location: University of Barcelona, meeting room “Ramón y Cajal”

Zoom option: available

By invitation only. If you have worked or are actively working on cultivated meat LCAs and are interested in attending, please emailhanna.tuomisto@helsinki.fi to introduce yourself and be added to the participant list. 

On-site attendance requires being registered at the Conference.

Description: Wide variability in LCA results for cultivated meat underscores the need for standardized guidance to estimate its environmental performance. Because of the nascency of the industry, practitioners face critical barriers in developing cultivated meat LCAs related to data availability, as well as data and system representativeness. Additionally, the choice of comparison products, byproduct handling, and boundaries of the analysis can significantly influence results, further underscoring the need for harmonized guidance. The objectives of this workshop are to develop consensus guidance for LCA practitioners on developing and implementing cultivated meat LCAs. This will become the core part of a short publication that interested participants will continue to co-author and submit in the months after the workshop. Participants will be expected to pre-read materials (i.e., an initial proposal of harmonized guidance) in advance of the workshop to make best use of the workshop time. 

Preliminary agenda

• Introduction to the workshop and an introduction round of the participants
• An overview presentation of the published cultivated meat LCAs
• Discussion of the harmonization topics:
  • Should some standard be followed (e.g. PEF)
  • Methodological choices: system boundaries, FU, allocations, impact assessment methods, environmental impact categories, uncertainty assessments, comparisons with livestock meat/plant-based foods/other products
  • Data: medium ingredients, large-scale bioreactors, cell yields
  • Results: presentation of the results (grouping or life cycle stages)
  • Discussion: limitations
• Planning the journal paper writing process
• Discussion of other possible collaborations (e.g. creating a shared database, development of a tool for cultivated meat LCAs, other ideas)

Organizers: FOLOU & WASTELESS projects. Joan Colón, Nancy Peña and Jorge Senan (BETA Technological Center, University of Vic – Central University of Barcelona), Ana Isabel Novo de Barros (University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro) and Sofia Reis (ISEKI-Food Association).

Date and time: 14:00 - 16:00, 8th September.

Location: University of Barcelona, room “Aula 112”

How to Attend: Limited physical attendance (90 people). To register, please email folou@uvic.cat. This session is open to all registered conference attendees.

Harmonized methods for Food Loss and Waste LCA

The mitigation of food waste (FW) and losses (FL) is crucial for sustainability (Sustainable Development Goal 12.3). Thus, assessing the FLW contribution to the overall environmental burdens associated to the agri-food value chain is essential, e.g., impacts associated with resource consumption, field operations, food left on the ground or discarded and FLW treatments (on-farm or external). Current commercial LCA databases often do not fully consider these impacts, especially for the FL at the primary sector.

FOLOU and WASTELESS project aims to fill the gap by developing harmonized methodologies to account and allocate the impacts related to FL and FW. During the session, the presentation of an initial proposal of harmonized guidance on quantification and assessment of FL will be presented (if you are interested in reading in advance the guidance please write an email at folou@uvic.cat) and discussed aiming at incorporating expert feedback from panelist and attendees.

Preliminary agenda

• Introduction to the workshop and an introduction round of the expert panelists.

• Overview presentation of the State of the Art

• Presentation of the “harmonized guidance on quantification and assessment of FL”.
• Discussion of the harmonization topics:
  • How to align FL and FW impacts in the PEF/OEF standard
  • Methodological choices (system boundaries, FU, allocations, etc.)
  • Gaps identification
  • Discussion: limitations

• Discussion of other possible collaborations (e.g. joint publications, creation of a FLW working group, other ideas)

A hackathon to work collaboratively on data or models related to the HESTIA project.

Hackathon for the HESTIA (University of Oxford) project on the 7^th-8^th September 2024 in Barcelona (the weekend before LCA Food 2024). HESTIA aims to increase the accuracy and consistency of environmental data about food products, so that farmers, businesses, and researchers can understand and reduce the sector’s environmental impacts. All data are free, open-source, and open-access.

At the Hackathon, we’ll work on projects like:

• Using HESTIA data in your own LCA applications.
• Adding new environmental impact indicators.
• Extracting, interpreting, and analysing data.
• Enhancing API documentation and debugging code.
• Improving connectivity with other databases like ecoinvent.
• Working more broadly on any research or practical applications of HESTIA.

Limited physical attendance (40 people), with virtual option available. Cost: £200 / €230 (to cover the venue and meals).

Register your interest by 1^st July 2024 by answering four short questions at this link: https://lnkd.in/e2xziCiB. For registrations after this date, please email emily@hestia.earth