Carbon Footprint Study of Korean Green Tea Industry Using the Methods of the Life Cycle Assessment and Calculating Carbon Absorption in Agricultural Land

Abstract

Due to recent global warming and climate change events, about 127 countries have declared themselves carbon neutral since the Paris Agreement was signed. Furthermore, agriculture is directly or indirectly affected by climate change. In particular, the importance of carbon neutrality is very high due to the high carbon absorption potential of forestry biomass. In the global beverage market, green tea is the second most consumed beverage after water, and the potential of tea tree biomass to absorb carbon during cultivation is quite high. Accordingly, major tea-producing countries such as China, Taiwan, India, and Sri Lanka are conducting life cycle assessment studies of tea which can be used to reference carbon neutrality in agriculture. In this study, net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions over the entire life cycle of the Korean green tea industry were calculated by considering the changes in biomass carbon accumulation in green tea plantations according to the life cycle evaluation method and IPCC’s Gain-loss method. The net GHG emission of green tea in Korea varies widely, with biomass carbon absorption as high as 59% and as low as 3% per year due to agricultural land maintenance, which significantly impacts the net GHG emission result. In other words, it is important to maintain the cultivation area for carbon neutrality in the future because the changes in the green tea cultivation area have a significant effect on biomass carbon stock, affecting the whole net GHG emission process.