Carbon Footprint of an Orchard Tractor through a Life-Cycle Assessment Approach

Salvatore Martelli (), Francesco Mocera and Aurelio Somà
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Salvatore Martelli: Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi, 24, 10129 Turin, Italy
Francesco Mocera: Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi, 24, 10129 Turin, Italy
Aurelio Somà: Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi, 24, 10129 Turin, Italy

Agriculture, 2023, vol. 13, issue 6, 1-22

Abstract: The effects of climate change are reaching a point of no return. The necessity to reduce greenhouse gasses (GHGs) is currently notorious on several levels: academic, industrial, and political. The Paris Climate Agreement set a clear roadmap to limit pollutant emissions and reach carbon neutrality. Consequently, everything related to product life cycles, considering the entire supply chain, needs to be analyzed and reconsidered. The agricultural sector is no exception: indeed, it is responsible for 11% of global anthropogenic GHG emissions. Agri-construction sector accounts for 20–30% of all GHG emissions referred to the agricultural field. This study aimed to evaluate the GHG emissions of an orchard-specialized tractor operating in Europe considering a service life of ten years. The assessment was conducted through the life-cycle assessment (LCA) standardized methodology, combining secondary data, primary data, and a software database ( Open LCA (v 1.10.3) software, Environmental Footprint (v 4) database). First, the functional unit, and the boundaries of the analysis are defined. Then, the tractor life cycle is analyzed considering its three main stages: manufacture, use, and disposal. Lastly, the results are discussed according to gate-to-gate and cradle-to-gate approaches. What emerged from the assessment was the production of 5.75 kg CO 2eq . · kg vehicle −1 · year −1 for a single orchard specialized tractor and the predominance of use phase emissions (around 90% of the total).

Keywords: carbon footprint; greenhouse gases; life-cycle assessment; orchard tractor; sustainable agriculture (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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