The environmental effectiveness of the beverage sector in Norway in a Factor 10 perspective

Scope and Background

The environmental effectiveness of the Norwegian beverage sector has been studied in a Factor 10 perspective. The objective of the study was to identify strategies that could make the beverage sector radically more effective from an environmental and resource perspective, leading to a Factor 10 improvement. Another main purpose of the work was to test the potential for using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology on an economic sector with a network of product chains, rather than for a single product.

Methods

Life Cycle Assessment data from STØ’s own studies and literature studies have been used as a basis for analysis of the environmental status of the beverage sector in Norway. The functional unit was defined as the amount of beverage products consumed per capita in Norway in the year 2000. The study includes raw material production, production of the beverage product, packaging manufacture, distribution, use and waste management of the products. The study has, for practical reasons, been limited to the environmental impact indicators total energy consumption and global warming potential. This was done as other types of data have been difficult to obtain for all of the products that were studied (tap water, coffee, milk, soft drinks, beer, squash, juice and bottled water).

Results and Discussion

The study shows differences between the drinking products with respect to energy consumption and emissions that can contribute to global warming. Due to large uncertainties in the data, general conclusions regarding the differentiation of products based on environmental performance should be made with care. Production and distribution of tap water is, however, significantly less energy intensive than the other products. For the impact categories studied, production of raw materials was the most important part of the life cycle for most drinking products.

Conclusions and Perspective

The most significant contributions to achieving a Factor 10 development can be made by consuming more water, especially tap water, and through improving raw material production in the agricultural sector. Packaging and distribution is responsible for only a small part of the energy consumption and emissions leading to global warming. Optimal packaging sizes might however reduce loss of products in the user phase, which is important in order to improve the system. A Factor 10 level seems achievable only if the consumption of tap water is increased to a high level.