Low carbon Certifications
in the Agricultural/Food Sector
(The Korean Case)
For the UNECLAC conference
Dec 6-7, 2016, Santiago, Chile
2016. 12. 7.
Kun Mo Lee, Ph.D., PE
Professor
Ajou University, Suwon, Korea (Republic)
www.ecodesign-company.com
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Carbon Footprint
• Global warming impact caused by the emission of
greenhouse gases (GHG) in its entire life cycle of a
product /service.
• GHG gases include CO2, CH4, N2O, SF6, HFCs and
PFCs.
• Sum of GHG emissions and removals in a product
system expressed as CO2 equivalent and based on
life cycle assessment using the single impact category
of climate change (GWP) (ISO/TS 14067)
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What is Carbon Footprint?
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Example: Hair drier (home use)
Use of Raw
Materials Manufacture Distribution use End of life
Production of raw materials Manufacturing hairdrier Distribution Disposing wasted hair drier
10% 5% 1% 6%
Drying hair
70%
• Information shown on the product labels or webpage of a company
• It is an indication of the company's will to reduceGHG emission
Need for Carbon Footprint
• Climate change is the biggest issue nowadays.
• The Paris Accord is a prevalent international
agreement.
• Pressures from the market, NGO’s .
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Carbon footprint definitions
Program Definition
ISO/TS 14067
• GHG emission from process or
product system in order to quantify the
factors contributing to climate change
BSI PAS 2050
• Total GHG emission in terms of CO2
eq. of product life cycle from raw
material extraction, processing,
transport, use, and up to disposal
Japan Carbon
Footprint of Products
• Total GHG emission from each stage
of product life cycle
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Carbon footprint definitions
Program Definition
Energetics• Direct and indirect CO2 emission
caused through business activity
Global Footprint
Network
• Bio-capacity requirement for
photosynthesis corresponding to
CO2 emission caused by fossil
fuel combustion
Grub & Ellis• CO2 emission from combustion of
fossil fuel
Parliamentary Office
of Science and
Technology
• Total emission of CO2 and non-
CO2 GHG from product life cycle
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• ISO TC 207 Environmental Management : 14000 series
• TC 207/SC7 Greenhouse gas management and related
activities
• WG2 Carbon footprint of products
• ISO TC 207 group dealing with GHG standards
• ISO 14064, 14065, 14066, 14067, 14069
• TC 207/SC3 Environmental labelling
• TC 207/SC5 Life cycle assessment
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International standards on
GHG emissions of products
International climate change treaty
Government implemented policies
to reduce GHG emission Set goals to reduce GHG
emission by industry sector
Global Warming
Regulations on
GHG emissions of products
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Supply chain carbon
management
by global companies
Movement to make carbon management
regulation
•France enforced mandatory
carbon labeling policy
•All products sold in the French
market display environmental
information
Source: http://www.developpement-durable.gouv.fr
Enterprise carbon management
and reduction activities is needed
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Activation of Green
marketing/communication
Carbon labeling certification
and promotion
Publish carbon report /
carbon management report
Operate Carbon Point /
Green Card System
Conduct voluntary
environmental campaign
Green marketing
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• Government procurement office: GHG emissions data of a product
as part of a bidding document (2011. 8)
− washing machine, monitor, PC, air conditioner (will expand product
categories)
− carbon label certification is essential (basis for the GHG emissions
data)
− low carbon product is a must to increase competitiveness of the
bidding
Incentives
Incentives for products with the Carbon label and Low
carbon certification
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Basic approach
A quantification guide applicable to all types of products
1. Development of a system enabling quantification and verification
of GHG emissions in accurate, simple and easy way.
2. Building the low carbon product consumption culture.
Reinvigorating public procurement for low carbon products
Certifying low carbon products
Reinvigorating consumer consumption of low carbon products
Simple procedure applied to the product’s certification
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Carbon emission certification
Product’s carbon
footprint
This mark
represents CO2
Source: KEITI, Carbon footprint label, <http://www.edp.or.kr/index.asp>, 2012
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Carbon emission certificate
Low carbon product certification
Low carbon product certificate
GHG emission is reduced
below the baseline
(previous year) level
Source: KEITI, Carbon footprint label, <http://www.edp.or.kr/index.asp>, 2012
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Product Category Rules
Energy-non-using durable product, production product, service
Incl. use stage of a product’s life cycle
(36)
• Korea Carbon Footprint Labeling’s PCR※ is
called KOCFP ※ PCR : Product Category Rules
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Low Carbon Product and
Green Technology
Reduce
material use
Eco-material
Process
improvement
Increase energy
efficiency in use
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GHG emission reduction targetof the Korean Government
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• Reduce GHG emission from the agricultural production and
food processing sectors in Korea as part of meeting the
Korean government’s GHG emission reduction target.
• Current reduction target in the agricultural production and
food processing sectors: 5.2 % reduction by 2020 from the
BAU level of 34.3 million ton CO2 eq. The reduction is from
the entire life cycle of the sectors. (new goal for 2030 will
come out shortly)
Agricultural sector GHG emission
reduction target
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Agricultural sector GHG emission
reduction target
Necessity for the low carbon agricultural/
food product certification system
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Carbon footprint labeling
Measures
Low carbon product certification
Contributing to GHG reduction by encouraging consumption of
the low-carbon agricultural and livestock products
Strengthening competitiveness of the agricultural and
livestock products
Low carbon agricultural cultivation
technologies promoted in Korea
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Category Technology
Saving the use of fertilizer
• Reducing the use of chemical fertilizer
• Cultivation of green manure crops
• Natural circulation farming
• Fertigation cultivation of no-till soil
• Use of environmentally friendly fertilizer
Saving energy for the
agricultural machineries
• Tillage management of soil
• Utilization of high efficiency agricultural
machinery
• Application of the energy efficient
technology to the agricultural machinery
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Category Technology
Saving energy for heating
• High-efficiency heating technology
• Insulating Tunnel (Water curtain cultivation)
• Use of renewable energy
Others
• Water management in paddy fields
• Recycling of agricultural materials
Low carbon certification target
products
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Category Items (total 41 items)
Vegetable
(21 items)
Baechu
(Chinese cabbage)Cabbage Ginger
Chives Cherry tomato Chili pepper
Cucumber Garlic Ginger
Green onion Egg plant Lettuce
Melon Onion Paprika
Pumpkin Radish Spinach
Strawberry Tomato Watermelon
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Category Items (total 41 items)
Fruit
(8 items)
Apple Citron Citrus
Grape Kiwi fruit Peach
Pear Persimmon
Special medicinal
crop
(6 items)
Bonnet bellflower Ginseng Green tea
Oyster mushroom Schisandra berry Sesame
Food crop
(6 items)
Barley Bean Corn
Potato Rice Sweet potato
System boundary for the low carbon certification:
Rice cultivation case (Korea)
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Source: Kyu-Ho So, Jung-Ah Park, Gil-Zae Lee, Kyo-Moon Shim, Jong-Hee Ryu and Kee-An Roh(2010),
Estimation of Carbon Emission and Application of LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) from Rice
(Oryza sativa L.) Production System
Product Category Rule
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• GHG emission is quantified based on Product
Category Rule in Korea (Guidelines for quantifying
carbon footprint of the agricultural products)
• PCR is based on Life Cycle Assessment (ISO 14040,
14044)
Low carbon certification
examples (crop basis)
33
Farm
No.
Low carbon agricultural
cultivation technologies
Product
Measured
Emissions of the
Certified product
National average
emission of the
Same product
group
Reduction
rate(%)
1. Water curtain CultivationGreen
house
Vegetable1,005 2,185 54
2Water curtain cultivation,
Non-input farming methodStrawberry 1,192 3,612 67
3Application of seed
fertilizer Rice 939 1,067 12
4Partial tillage
managementTomato 2,720 11,827 77
5
High-efficiency heating
technology,
Partial tillage management
Cherry
tomato10,400 13,684 24
Unit: kgCO2eq./10a
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Low carbon agricultural
cultivation technologies
product
Measured
Emissions of the
Certified product
National average
emission of the
Same product group
Re
du
cti
on
Ra
te
(%)
Fe
rtili
ze
r
Pro
tect
ants
Fu
el
Etc
.
Fe
rtili
ze
r
Pro
tect
ants
Fu
el
Etc
.
FertilizerApplication of
seed fertilizer Rice 126 4 198 6 36
Agricultural
machineries
Partial tillage
management
Cherry
Tomato188 7,963 57 409 10,108 162 23
Heating
High-efficiency
heating
technology
Tomato 5,088 8,500 40
Water curtain
cultivationStrawberry 198 547 64
Water curtain
cultivation
Green
vegetable148 296 50
Unit: kgCO2eq./10a
Reference: Strategy for vitalizing Low-Carbon Emission Agriculture Adapted to New Climate Regime,
Foundation of Agri. Tech. Commercialization & Transfer
Low carbon certification
examples (technology basis)
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• Logo
– Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs
(MAFRA)
– Low carbon products Logo
• Marking
□ Producer :◯◯◯
□ Certified Product :◯◯◯
□ Production year :
□ Location : Name of the city
□ Tel : 02-500-0000
□ Address :
Name of Certifying Body:
Certificate Number::
Logo and marking
Source: Foundation of Agri. Tech. Commercialization & Transfer
<http://www.smartgreenfood.org/jsp/front/business/business02_1.jsp>
Validity and incentives
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• Validity of the certification
– May audit more than once in a year.
– 2 years (can be renewed only once)
• Incentives
– Productivity improvement
– Cost reduction
– Product differentiation
Shortcomings of the
carbon footprint quantification
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• Data quality problem(LCI DB ): not transparent, unknown
errors
• LCA implementation: inconsistent application of the
methods
− System boundary, Allocation, Cut-off criteria, etc
• Uncertainty of the impact assessment results: lack of the
uncertainty results
• Needs harmonized PCR
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Conclusion
Conclusion
• Carbon footprint and low carbon agricultural products
certification will be here to stay
• They are market driven tools for mitigating GHG emissions
• Basic tools including LCA, LCI database, and software for
the quantification of carbon footprint should be in place
• Product category rules should also be set up for a proper
implementation of LCA
• Uncertainty analysis must be part of the LCA implementation
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• ECODESIGN Implementation –
A systematic guidance on integrating
environmental considerations into
product development
− Wimmer, Züst, Lee:
Springer Verlag, 2004
ISBN 1-4020-3070-3
Ecodesign textbook 1
40
• ECODESIGN- The competitive advantage
− Wimmer, Lee, Quella and Polak:
Springer Verlag, 2010
ISBN 978-90-481-9126-0
Ecodesign textbook 2
41
• Handbook of Sustainable Engineering
− Joanne Kauffman and Kun-Mo Lee,
Editors
Springer Verlag
April 2013
ISBN 978-1-4020-8938-1
42
Sustainable Engineering Reference Book
