Water and carbon footprint as streamlined indicators for supply chain management in agrifood sector: Case study on soybean products

Abstract

How do corporate select and employ streamlined indictors to facilitate supply chain management on its products is an issue of interest and practical significance. Both water footprint and carbon footprint are popular indicators with sound public perception to assess product environmental performance and further undertake supply chain management. As a big contributor to water scarcity as well as greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, immense potential exists in agrifood sector for reducing environmental impacts exerted from humanity's production and consumption activities. In this paper, water and carbon footprints were calculated for three soybean products at brand level, under a process-based life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology to evaluate the applicability of the concept and method for food product. The results demonstrated well comprehensiveness and practicality of water and carbon footprints as streamlined indicators in product supply chain management for the selected products. Footprinting values were compared among different life cycle stages and possible mitigation strategies were put forward for water use and GHGs reductions throughout the supply chain.