Roadmap to net-zero carbon emissions in commercial microalgae-based products: environmental sustainability and carbon offset costs

The global ecological awakening has made carbon-neutral production an imperative. Ignoring the call of the mermaid to protect the environment does not seem to be an option. In this study, given the fundamental role of sustainability for stakeholders, we propose actions to reduce the carbon emissions from the most important commercial microalgae-based products. Beyond that, we calculate the offset costs of the remaining emissions. The life cycle assessment tool was used to estimate total carbon emissions from the production of whole dry biomass by Chlorella vulgaris and Arthrospira platensis, as well as astaxanthin, phycocyanin, beta-carotene, eicosapentaenoic acid, and docosahexaenoic acid by Haematococcus pluvialis, Arthrospira platensis, Dunaliella salina, Nitzschia laevis, and Crypthecodinium cohnii, respectively. The steps of the CarbonNeutral Protocol methodology were followed to achieve a final result of net-zero carbon emissions for the microalgal products. Our findings indicate that the electrical matrix replacement is the backbone for accomplishing carbon neutral operations in commercial microalgal facilities. The replacement of coal electricity by nuclear, followed by hydro, wind, biomass, and photovoltaic are the main forces to achieve low carbon emissions and lower environmental offset costs. The study results are the first step found in the literature to achieve carbon neutrality in consolidated biotechnological production routes of microalgae-based products.