Life Cycle Assessment of apples at a country level: the case study of Italy.

Assomela, the Italian Association of apple Producers Organizations (POs), has financed the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the average apple produced in Italy. A study was carried out with the aim of providing an EPD certification and understanding the contribution of the different production phases to the carbon (C) footprint. For the cultivation phase data from several farms were sampled taking into account eight geographical areas and four main apple varieties cultivated in Italy. Data about the apples storage, processing, packaging and distribution phases were then collected from the POs. Four impact categories were considered: Global Warming Potential (GWP), Photochemical Ozone Creation Potential (POCP), Acidification Potential (AP) and Eutrophication Potential (AP).Results show that 1 kg of apple, in a cradle to retailer perspective, have a GWP of 0.20 kg CO2 eq., a POCP of 0.18 g C2H4-eq., a AP of 1.12 g SO2-eq and a EP of 0.62 g PO4-eq. The main contributor of the C footprint during the cultivation phase was the consumption of fuel for machinery, which significantly changed according to the distance from the farm center and the field size.