Viresco recently completed a technical review identifying the current state of Life Cycle Analyses (LCA) practice and scientific approaches that developers and users of carbon footprinting tools are applying in beef farm-gate assessments. In so doing, the report provides a roadmap of applicable LCA standards, other sectoral approaches, available guidance on beef carbon footprinting methods, and how users and developers of specific assessments/tools are making methodological choices and decisions. In particular, the report focuses on areas of ambiguity in LCA application and understanding gaps and various data sources that can lead to divergence in results. The review describes the latest science on Global Warming Potentials (GWPs), soil/tree carbon sequestration, and land-use change (LUC) – important aspects that need consensus. This review provides recommendations for moving forward and is designed to set the stage for discussing how a standardized framework for beef carbon footprinting can be developed to give more consistency in results. This review also captures current efforts by organizations conducting similar comparisons between beef footprinting tools/methods for the purpose of aligning results and informing the next phase of work.
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