Life Cycle Assessment in the olive oil sector

The olive oil industry is a significant productive sector in the European Union and the related production process is characterised by a variety of different practices and techniques for the agricultural production of olives and for their processing into olive oil. Depending on these different procedures, olive oil production is associated with several adverse effects on the environment, both in the agricultural and in the olive oil production phase. As a consequence, tools such as LCA are becoming increasingly important for this type of industry. Following an overview of the characteristics of the olive oil supply chain and its main environmental problems, the authors of this chapter provide a description of the international state of the art of LCA implementation in this specific sector, as well as briefly describing other life cycle thinking methodologies and tools (such as simplified LCA, footprint labels and Environmental Product Declarations). Then, the methodological problems connected with the application of LCA in the olive oil production sector are analysed in depth, starting from a critical comparative analysis of the applicative LCA case studies in the olive oil production supply chain. Finally, guidelines for the application of LCA in the olive oil production sector are proposed.