Environmental Sustainability in Beef Production and Life Cycle Assessment as a Tool for Analysis

• Main Authors: Pedro Henrique Presumido, Fernando Sousa, Artur Gonçalves, Tatiane Cristina Dal Bosco, Manuel Feliciano
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade do Porto 2020-04-01
• Series: U.Porto Journal of Engineering
• Subjects: life cycle assessment; circular economy; environmental management; environmental assessment; beef production
• Online Access: https://journalengineering.fe.up.pt/article/view/220

The sustainability of meat production systems has been highlighted by the impact on the environment and the conservation of natural resources. The aim of this manuscript is to provide a specific review of the environmental sustainability of beef production in a life cycle assessment (LCA) context. Questions about the main environmental impacts caused by beef production were discussed. The phases of the LCA were detailed as well as the main functional units, boundaries of the systems and categories of impacts used in recent studies. LCA is a fast, easy and intuitive method that correlates human activities and their environmental performance in different sectors, such as beef production.