"Challenges in agri-food Life Cycle Assessment (and how to solve them)" - March 27, 2025, Thursday, 2:30 pm, Pavilhão de Mecânica II, amphitheatre AM

Date: March 27, 2025, Thursday
Time: 2:30 pm
Place: Pavilhão de Mecânica II, amphitheatre AM

• Speaker: Ricardo Teixeira (Scientific Area of Environment and Energy of DEM/IST; MARETEC - Marine, Environment & Technology Centre, LARSyS)

• Title: "Challenges in agri-food Life Cycle Assessment (and how to solve them)"

• Abstract:

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a critical method for determining the environmental impacts of products and services across entire supply chains. It is used today for research and by many businesses to evaluate their environmental performance, to improve continuously and to communicate with consumers. However, it is limited by several long-lasting problems that limit its applicability and scientific robustness. This Seminar will present unresolved issues in LCA, provide critical interpretations of their consequences, and highlight recent research that can help overcome them. The agrifood sector will be used as the main example, with general insights applicable for all sectors. The Seminar will tackle issues such as the multifunctionality of functional units, the consequences of impact allocation, temporal and spatial variability of impacts. It will then describe how emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, can help tackle those challenges in ways that were impossible until recently.

• Short Biographic Note:

Ricardo Teixeira is an Assistant Professor in the Scientific Area of Environment and Energy of the Department of Mechanical Engineering (DEM) at IST, and until recently, an Assistant Researcher at IST-ID. He has an MSc degree in Economics (ISEG) and a PhD in Environmental Science (IST). He specializes in sustainability of agrifood production. He has academic and consulting experience in the agri-food business. He is experienced with process-based modelling, remote sensing, machine learning and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). He was Principal Investigator of projects “LEANMeat - Lifecycle-based Environmental Assessment and impact reduction of Meat production with a novel multi-level tool” (PTDC/EAM-AMB/30809/2017) and “GrassData - Development of algorithms for identification, monitoring, compliance checks and quantification of carbon sequestration in pastures” (DSAIPA/DS/0074/2019) financed by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia. He was a member in UNEP/SETAC working groups on impact assessment in LCA, two EU focus group on environmental effects of livestock production, and is Técnico’s representative in the ULisboa’s F3 (Food, Farming and Forestry) college steering committee. He also co-founded the startup VirtuaCrop, which produces tech tools for agrifood sustainability.

This is another Seminar of the “Seminars@DEM” cycle.
Next Seminar, April 11, 2025, Friday, 3:00 pm.