Environmental impact assessment in agri-production: a comparative study of olive oil production in two European countries

Abstract Olive oil production is a significant agricultural activity for the European Union (EU), especially for the countries of Mediterranean basin. Four European countries, namely Spain, Italy, Greece, and Portugal, produce more than 95% of the total EU production of 12.5 million tons. At the same time, olive oil production involves the use of various resources (i.e., energy, water, fertilizers, chemicals, etc.) and it is responsible for a series of environmental impacts in terms of depletion of natural resources, air, water and soil emissions, land and freshwater degradation, and waste/residues generation. These environmental impacts are closely related to the olive oil production practice across the whole olive oil value chain, namely olive cultivation, transportation, olive oil production, and waste management. Moreover, significant differences are accounted in the practices and methods employed during olive oil production between different countries or even within the same country (from one region to another). Scientific tools such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) can assist in understanding and evaluating those impacts and identify possible areas for improvement. This study focuses on a comparative in-depth review analysis of the environmental burden of olive oil value chain in two different countries (Greece and Spain), where the olive oil production chains present significant degree of differentiation. The results of the LCA, according to the Eco-Indicator 99 methodology, denote that the environmental impacts are higher for the typical Greek case study for the Human Health and Ecosystem Quality categories, whereas the Spanish case study showed higher normalized impact value for the Resources Depletion category.