CLIF Workshop on Methodological Issues for the Communication Tool at the 2022 International Food Life Cycle Assessment Conference.
On October 11, corsus conducted a workshop on methodological issues at the International Food Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Conference 2022, taking place this year in Lima, Peru. More than 50 LCA experts provided valuable input for the development of the Food Impacts Toolkit (FIT), which will form the basis for the CLIF communication tool being developed under the CLIF project.
As part of the CLIF project, corsus discussed with international LCA experts which methodological approach would be best to present LCA results to consumers. The aim of the CLIF project is to develop a communication tool to inform consumers about the environmental impact of food products. The development of the method is necessary because LCA results are usually too complex to be used directly to inform consumers and support their purchasing decisions. The hybrid workshop was moderated by Ulrike Eberle (PhD), Managing Director of corsus, and the CLIF team, Christina Mumm (PhD), Julian Quandt, Marius Roedder and Nico Mumm, who each moderated the work in the small groups.
The communication tool builds on data from life cycle assessment databases. Based on this data, a score is to be calculated that depicts the environmental impact in a simple manner. The method must ensure that it provides valid information. Several approaches are being discussed in the field of life cycle assessment.
The experts, who participated in the workshop both on site in Lima and virtually, provided valuable input, on the basis of which the methodology will be further developed by corsus.
In addition to the results of the workshop with LCA experts, the development of the methodology for the preparation of the information will also take into account the results of the four workshops that corsus has already held or will hold with stakeholders in the four partner regions of CLIF – Germany, Paraguay, South Africa and Thailand.
With the help of case studies, which will also be conducted in all four regions, methodological questions will be answered to ensure that the derived information is valid.
We would like to thank all experts for their valuable input!
The goal of ‘CLIF’ is to design an internationally usable communication tool for consumer-friendly information about the sustainability of selected food products. In the project, led by WWF Germany, corsus as implementation partner identifies relevant environmental impacts of food products in Germany, South Africa, Thailand and Paraguay. The six-member team, led by Dr. Ulrike Eberle, is conducting life cycle assessment case studies in the four countries. In workshops, corsus discusses with stakeholders of the target regions, NGOs and international LCA experts the priority of different environmental impacts of food products, taking into account country-specific differences. In addition, corsus is developing guidelines for providing data for the communication tool. The project, which is scheduled to run until the end of 2024, is funded under the International Climate Investment (ICI) program. The website provides background information and current news about CLIF. A factsheet and a short PowerPoint presentation are available for download.
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