An overview of life cycle assessment (LCA) in the coffee supply chain

Coffee is one of the most popular beverages globally, as well as an important source of income for some Countries. It is one of the psychoactive beverages and is the second most traded commodity after oil. Due to its economic and health relevance, it is of great interest to the agri-food sector, and it could be important to assess the environmental impacts associated with its production and consumption. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is recognized as a valid quantitative tool for assessing the sustainability of a product or process. Within this work, an overview of LCA applications in the coffee supply chain was conducted. The results show the studies are still limited, they focus as much on the production phase as on production and consumption, and that there is no agreement either between functional units (FU), which vary depending on the type of research and the type of Country, nor between system boundaries, which consider different stages of production and consumption. There is also no concordance between methodologies and impact categories chosen, which in turn vary according to the method, which is chosen according to the Country of origin of the study. The impact categories most considered are linked to the environmental macro-area, human health and resources.