Esther Sanyé-Mengual

European Commission | ec · Joint Research Centre (JRC)

The Joint Research Centre (JRC) the European Commission service providing evidence-based science and knowledge to support EU policies has set up its first monitoring framework to provide information on progress towards a fair, healthy and environmentally friendly food system, built on a set of environmental, economic and social (including health) i...

Environmental sustainability boundaries can be used as references in evaluations of the absolute sustainability of activities and for developing policy targets and strategies. Recent literature has applied boundaries for climate change in different ways in life cycle assessment and there is a need for a systematic overview of these approaches, thei...

The European Green Deal and the German Resource Efficiency Programme both aim at decoupling resource consumption and associated environmental burdens from economic growth. Monitoring the progress of such policies requires robust estimates of environmental pressures and impacts, both from a domestic and a footprint perspective. Building on the life...

Purpose This work investigates the use of alternative approaches to normalization in life cycle assessment (LCA) and shows the relevance of the normalization step in the interpretation of the results of life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) by testing the use of five alternative normalization sets. Methods Five normalization sets are applied and com...

→ The environmental impacts of EU food production and consumption have risen along time, transgressing some planetary boundaries. → Biodiversity footprint is driven by land use and climate change-related impacts, which are associated mainly with animal-based products. → More balanced diets, where animal-based food consumption is reduced and vegetab...

This report describes part of the research carried out to support the Impact Assessment of the legislative proposal amending Directive 2008/98/EC, in relation to the part focusing on setting legally binding food waste reduction targets. It illustrates: — the outcome of the public consultation on the revision of the Waste Framework Directive, for th...

From 15 to 17 May 2023 the European Parliament is hosting a conference on the topic 'Beyond Growth'. This study introduces participants and other stakeholders and interested parties to the debate on going beyond growth. Organised in two parts, the study first presents the status quo, with our reliance on economic growth as the main policy driver an...

Purpose Recent developments in life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) target at better addressing biodiversity impacts, including the extended modeling of drivers of biodiversity loss. This led to the development of multiple LCIA methods addressing the area of protection of ecosystem quality (i.e, biodiversity loss) over time. This paper aims at syste...

The European Union (EU) uses biodmass to meet its needs for food and feed, energy, and materials. The demand and supply of biomass have environmental, social, and economic impacts. Understanding biomass supply, demand, costs, and their associated impacts is particularly important for relevant EU policy areas, to facilitate solid and evidence-based...

The transition towards more sustainable food systems is one of the great challenges at global level. While environmental considerations have been widely explored, the social sustainability of agri-food systems have been scarcely addressed in literature, especially regarding the externalization of impacts due to international trade. In this study, w...

Purpose An adequate matching between the nomenclature of elementary flows in life cycle inventory (LCI) databases and life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) methods is key for ensuring the proper application of life cycle assessment (LCA). However, the nomenclature of elementary flows lacks harmonization among the LCA community. This paper aims at def...

This report presents the Consumer Footprint Calculator to assess the environmental impacts of the different lifestyles of EU citizens. It is based on the Consumption Footprint indicator, which follows a life cycle-based approach considering the entire supply-chain of products, and applies the Environmental Footprint method to estimate the potential...

Purpose The EU environmental footprint (EF) is a life cycle assessment (LCA)-based method which aims at assessing the environmental impacts of products and organisations through 16 midpoint impact categories, among which three address toxicity-related impacts. This paper presents the principles underpinning the calculation of the set of characteris...

Despite plastic being one of the most used materials globally, information about plastic flows in value chains is generally lacking. The present study aims at estimating the European Union (EU) plastic footprint (including production and consumption flows) by combining different approaches, as well as at estimating marine littering potentials. Plas...

The European Green Deal and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) ask for a more holistic approach to production and consumption along value chains. The role of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in supporting policy design and monitoring is then pivotal to achieving policy ambitions. This paper explores the potential support of LCA to EU (European Uni...

As part of its commitment towards more sustainable production and consumption, the European Commission developed a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)-based framework, which allows assessing the environmental impacts related to EU consumption of goods and services. Two indicators have been developed: the Consumption Footprint and the Domestic Footprint. Th...

Assessing the Domestic Footprint of individual Member States and the EU allows for identification of environmental hotspots, setting baseline for monitoring of environmental performance progresses and against which testing policy options and scenarios. Domestic footprint focuses exclusively to what is happening within MS boundaries. The Domestic Fo...

Environmental assessment methods have increasingly been adopted to support local transitions toward sustainable urban development and Agenda 2030 implementation at the city level. However, available methods evaluating both direct and indirect (embodied) environmental impacts due to local consumption are still limited and lack a broad coverage of en...

Purpose Current patterns of household goods consumption generate relevant environmental pressures and impacts. Environmental impacts are not only limited to the European territory but also to third countries from where products are imported. Assessing the entire life cycle of products enables considering trade-related transboundary effects along su...

This chapter discusses the relevance of life cycle assessment within the context of the SDGs and the European Green Deal as a method to assess transboundary effects within the environmental assessment of consumption. The consumption footprint indicator, developed for assessing the environmental impacts of EU consumption, is employed to illustrate h...

• Planetary Boundaries help quantify the environmental sustainability of consumption. • We developed LCIA-based planetary boundaries for evaluating the EU consumption. • EU consumption occupies a high share of the safe operating space globally available. • Planetary boundaries are fundamental to support policy making towards sustainability. • LCA-b...

Link for download: https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1ch233QCo9bJkP Rooftop agriculture (RA) is a building-based form of urban agriculture that includes both protected and nonprotected farming practices, such as rooftop greenhouses as well as open-air rooftop gardens and farms. The use of underexploited urban spaces on buildings for farming purposes...

Within the scholarly debate, Urban Agriculture (UA) has been widely acknowledged to provide diverse environmental and socio-cultural ecosystem services (ESs) for cities. However, the question of whether these potential benefits are also recognized as such by the involved societal groups on the ground has not yet been investigated. This paper aims a...

In recent years, urban agriculture (UA) projects have bloomed throughout the world, finding large applications also in the developed economies of the so-called Global North. As compared to projects in developing countries, where research has mainly targeted the contribution to food security, UA in the Global North has a stronger multifunctional con...

Background: The number of urban community gardens, including those on rooftops, is increasing. However, few studies have explored the benefits of these gardens for people with intellectual disabilities or mental health disorders. We evaluated the association between urban rooftop gardening and quality of life of individuals with moderate to very m...

The planetary boundaries (PBs) represent a well-known concept, which helps identify whether production and consumption systems are environmentally sustainable in absolute terms, namely compared to the Earth's ecological limits and carrying capacity. In this study, the impacts of production and consumption of the European Union in 2010 were assessed...

This report presents the results of the Life Cycle Indicators (LC-IND2) project3, aimed at developing two sets of Life Cycle Assessment-based indicators for assessing the environmental impact of EU consumption: the Consumer Footprint and the Consumption Footprint. The indicators have been designed aiming at: •building a Life cycle assessment-based...

Soilless crops are commonly used in rooftop agriculture (RA) because they easily adapt to building constraints. However, acceptance of the produce derived from this system may be controversial. This paper evaluates consumers’ acceptance of food from RA in Mediterranean cities, focusing on the quality of the product, production system, and consumers...

Compared to rural agriculture, urban agriculture (UA) has some distinct features (e.g., the limited land access, alternative growing media, unique legal environments or the non-production-related missions) that encourage the development of new practices, i.e., “novelties” or “innovations”. This paper aims to (1) identify the “triggers” for novelty...

Notwithstanding that indoor farming is claimed to reduce the environmental pressures of food systems, electricity needs are elevated and mainly associated with lighting. To date, however, no studies have quantified the environmental and economic profile of Light Emitting Diodes (LED) lighting in indoor farming systems. The goal of this study is to...

Urban gardens are spreading in many cities across Europe, with community gardening being a fundamental form of urban agriculture. While the literature reveals the essential role that community gardens can play in terms of learning and education, no studies have investigated the training needs for participants in community gardens to ensure their su...

Pursuing a responsible and sustainable development, the United Nations urged to decouple economic growth from environmental impacts. Several European Union (EU) policies have been implemented towards such goal. Although multiple authors have evaluated the decoupling of the economic growth from the resource use or environmental concerns, the environ...

In the context of climate change and population growth, aquaculture plays an important role for food security, employment and economic development. Intensive recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) allow to treat and recycle fish effluents to reduce waste concentration in outflow water thereby reducing environmental contamination. RAS sustainabilit...

This report provides an overview of the result of the application of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to assess the environmental impacts of consumption in the European Union (EU) as a basis to support policies and to improve the appraisal of impacts and benefits thereof. The content builds upon the results of the Life Cycle Indicators (LC-IND2) project...

Urban agriculture has become a common form of urban land use in European cities linked to multiple environmental, social and economic benefits, as well as to diversified forms (from self-production allotments to high-tech companies). Social acceptance will determine the development of urban agriculture and specific knowledge on citizens’ perception...

Summary of survey results. (DOC)

Urban Food Production (UFP) initiatives are expanding worldwide to enhance urban food production while contributing to the development of sustainable cities in a three-bottom perspective (environment, society, economy). Although the sustainability aspects of UFS have been addressed in the literature, there is a need to set a sustainability framewor...

In the expanding urban agriculture phenomenon in Europe, home gardens are a traditional form that have kept agriculture within cities, even becoming crucial in certain historical periods (e.g., war periods). However, horticultural practices in home gardens can also have negative consequences. The goal of this paper is to assess the eco-efficiency o...

Urban agriculture (UA) is a strategic means of achieving sustainable urban food security now and into the future. While a number of different models of agriculture will be required to provide food for the concentrated number of people in urban spaces, UA can be key tool in helping urban residents meet micronutrient requirements, whose deficiency is...

Food security in cities is an increasing concern due to the impact of climate change and the concentration of world population in cities. Urban agriculture (UA) aims at enhancing food production in urban areas, providing potential environmental advantages by reducing food transport, packaging and waste generation. Among UA alternatives, rooftop gre...

In this chapter, selected cases of rooftop agriculture across the world will be presented, explaining their organisation, technical design and operation, their business model and main functions, lessons learned during establishment and operation, their productive and societal results and their policy relevance. The owner or manager of the rooftop g...

This chapter examines the community and social justice aspects of rooftop agriculture (RA), focusing on cities in the Global North. The goal is to provide an overview of the social aspects of diverse RA typologies and the potential community and social justice effects, from the individual level to the city scale. We show that, like urban agricultur...

Rooftop greenhouses (RTGs) can generate significant advantages provided RTGs and buildings are connected in terms of energy, water and CO2 flows. Beyond the production of high-value crops, environmental benefits such as re-use of waste water, application of residual heat and absorption of carbon dioxide are derived from urban RTGs. Social benefits...

This section focuses on the environmental dimension of implementing rooftop agriculture (RA) regarding energy efficiency, water footprint, use of residual CO2 from buildings and global environmental preservation. RA contributes to improving the energy performance of cities, buildings and food production systems. The selection of water-efficient tec...

This paper performs a multi-national assessment to provide a more comprehensive vision of the potential implementation of Rooftop Greenhouses in retail parks from a theoretical perspective. A geographic information system - life cycle assessment method is used to quantify both the potential and the expected benefits of implementing rooftop greenhou...

Rooftop gardens are a promising way to supplement the growing demand for local food production, and are especially relevant in large cities with acute space constraints. However, they face the challenge of achieving viable food productivity while minimizing their impacts on the environment, two priorities that often oppose one another. Also, the ac...

Defining sustainable cities is not straightforward. The main issues involved in urban sustainability are buildings, energy, food, green areas and landscape, mobility, urban planning, water and waste; and their improvement is promoted through different strategies. However, a quantitative method, such as life cycle thinking (LCT), is essential to eva...

Recently, urban agriculture (UA) has expanded throughout cities of the developed world as a response to social injustices and environmental gaps of the globalized food system (including food security, economic opportunities and community building). Due to the limiting factors of the urban environment (e.g., land availability), UA often occupies the...

Rooftop agriculture (RA) is an innovative form of urban agriculture that takes advantage of unused urban spaces while promoting local food production. However, the implementation of RA projects is limited due to stakeholders’ perceived risks. Such risks should be addressed and minimized in policymaking processes to ensure the sustainable deployment...

In recent years, urban agriculture has been asserting its relevance as part of a vibrant and diverse food system due to its small scale, its focus on nutrition, its contribution to food security, its employment opportunities, and its role in community building and social mobility. Urban agriculture may also be a tool to re-appropriate a range of ab...

Rooftopagriculturestatesthebondbetweenurbanarchitectureandfoodproduction.Beyondreducingfoodmilesandgeneratingsocialadvantages,rooftopagriculturemayimproveenvironmentalbenefitssuchasthereductionofurbanheatislandandrecyclingofresources; this harmonizes with the three dimensions of sustainability: social, economic and environmental.

The implementation of eco-design in industries and production processes is increasing because of the current environmental situation caused by the pressure of human activity on the environment, as well as, due to the inter-industry competition, supply-chain pressures and purchase criteria of the consumers. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is one of the...

The development and production of products in a more sustainable way has received special attention in recent years. In particular, packaging products range from single materials with simple designs as well as complex ones that include different materials (cardboard, woody boards, paper, plastics, etc.). A comprehensive assessment of the environmen...

During the last decades, food market has adapted to the consumers' year-round demand by increasing food importations and diversifying origins as well as by performing oo-season production. O-season production consists of cropping out of the optimal periods thereby decreasing eeciency (e.g., lower crop yields) or enlarging the resources requirements...

Eco-design has gained popularity in the industry sector towards a sustainable production. The need to consider the environmental consequences of products and production processes has been highlighted not only in policy but also in the market. Companies are making a shift towards eco-innovation by integrating tools such as eco-design into their prod...