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Environmental implications of lettuce sourcing: Comparison of sourcing from vertical farms and conventional production
Inèdit, C/ Diputació 37-39, Interior passage, Local 6B, 08015, Barcelona, Spain, C/ Diputació 37-39, Interior passage, Local 6B; IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, Life Cycle Management, Sustainable Society, Vallhallavägen 81, 114 28, Stockholm, Sweden, Vallhallavägen 81.
KTH, School of Architecture and the Built Environment (ABE), Sustainable development, Environmental science and Engineering.ORCID iD: 0000-0003-3014-8930
2025 (English)In: Heliyon, E-ISSN 2405-8440, Vol. 11, no 1, article id e41503Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Today's globalised agricultural sector poses significant environmental challenges that are expected to worsen with population growth, increased urbanisation, and with the effects of climate change. In this context, vertical farming systems have gained traction as potential solutions to create a more resilient and sustainable food system. This study aims to evaluate the environmental performance of mixed salad bags from a conventional supply chain and compare it with that of mixed salad supplied by a large-scale vertical farm. Different locations for the vertical farm are also investigated. To compare the environmental impacts, life cycle assessment was conducted for various scenarios employing a cradle-to-grave perspective. The results suggest that the vertical-farmed supply can have lower environmental impacts compared to the conventional supply of mixed salad bags, e.g. having roughly 44 % lower CO2-eq emissions. However, in five of the eight impact categories assessed, the vertical farm was found to have higher emissions, notably for resource use. Furthermore, it was found that the location of the vertical farm can play a critical role in its sustainability due to varying electricity mix compositions and transportation distances to final processing or consumers. Furthermore, the results are sensitive to the conventional supply data for comparisons. The findings contribute to the growing field of vertical farming and provide valuable information for transitioning toward a more sustainable food system.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Elsevier Ltd , 2025. Vol. 11, no 1, article id e41503
Keywords [en]
Life cycle assessment, Logistics, Supply chain, Sustainable food systems, Vertical farming
National Category
Environmental Management
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-358417DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e41503Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85213952668OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kth-358417DiVA, id: diva2:1927892
Note

QC 20250117

Available from: 2025-01-15 Created: 2025-01-15 Last updated: 2025-01-17Bibliographically approved

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Martin, Michael

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