Authors
Novo Fernandes, Matheus Henrique; Scachetti, Michelle
Abstract
Brazilian agriculture products, specially that derived from soy, have been questioned in the external scenario because they associate their production with deforestation. Studies widely disseminated in Europe bring the results for the soybean meal (SM) and soy protein concentrate (SPC) produced in Brazil in the range of 6kg CO2eq per kg of product, reaching up to 7.4kg CO2eq per kg of product when considered the worst case scenario, most of those emission linked to Land Use Change (LUC). This situation make some european buyers to question brazilian producers about the sustainability of their productions, and the company (omitted) developed a study to quantify the GHG emissions of the SPC and SM produced in its units, using the PAS 2050:2011 method, in the cradle-to-gate approach, applying mass allocation, focusing on understanding the relevance of each stage of the product lifecycle, considering LUC. The functional unit (FU) defined for the study was 1kg of product. For the LUC, data from BRLUC v1.3 were used, which considers the state divisions of the country, applying the most conservative scenario, being the LUC factor adopted specifically to the state of Mato Grosso where SPC suppliers are located, and of Goiás, where SM suppliers are located. The life cycle emission of 1kg of SPC was 4.2gCO2eq/kg and for SM the emission was 1.2gCO2eq/kg, being the LUC emission responsible for 86 and 70% respectively. The studiy showed that the LUC is the most representative source of emission for the brazilian product, but the overall emission can be up to 80% lower than the results that is considered in international studies when considered data more attached to Brazilian reality.