Comparative life cycle assessment for conventional and organic coffee cultivation in Vietnam

Abstract

Coffee production has been a major source of income in Vietnam since the early twentieth century. This research aims to identify the hot spots, estimate and compare the environmental effects of conventional intensive, conventional moderate and organic intensive coffee cultivation methods in Vietnam. Life cycle assessment was used for the determination of environmental effects and carbon footprint for different coffee cultivation methods from cradle to gate. Functional unit was defined as 1 kg of green Robusta coffee bean in Tan Ha Commune, Lam Ha District, Lam Dong Province. The environmental effects of coffee cultivation were compared by SimaPro 8.3.0, and the two impact assessment methods used were IPCC 2013 v1.03 and ReCiPe v1.13. The life cycle assessment results in hotspot assessment for fertilizer and pesticide application showed that the conventional intensive contributed 85.5% to global warming owing to the high input of manure, whereas conventional moderate and organic intensive contributed 80.4% and 68% to global warming, respectively, throughout the 30 years of cultivation. Moreover, endpoint impact result indicated that human health is most affected by coffee cultivation compared to resources and ecosystem. The carbon footprint result of 1-year average productivity showed that the conventional intensive (0.935 kg CO2e) method had the highest global warming potential in comparison with conventional moderate (0.729 kg CO2e) and organic intensive (0.644 kg CO2e) due to the highest amount of fertilizer application. This study demonstrated that conventional intensive has the highest impact on the environment, followed by conventional moderate and organic intensive. Therefore, it is important to optimize Vietnamese coffee cultivation methods in order to reduce the impact on the environment and human health, while producing sustainable coffee for the international and domestic market.