The Application of Carbon Footprint in Agri-Food Supply Chain Management: Case Study on Milk Products

In the process of supply chain management, the environmental impact is one important concern. Carbon footprint is a popular metric to quantify a product's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and assist supply chain management. In this paper, carbon footprints were calculated for three common milk products, 180 g Yogurt, 250 mL Fluid milk and 400g Skim milk powder (SMP) at the product brand level (YiYi (R)). The results demonstrated the well comprehensiveness and practicality of carbon footprint as streamlined indicator in supply chain management for agri-food products. The carbon footprints were compared among different life cycle stages as well as different products, and possible mitigation strategies were put forward for GHGs reductions. The relative contributions that different phases over the supply chain make were highlighted. On-farm emissions from cropping and livestock subsystems made up the majority of the carbon footprint, which deserved special attention in agri-food sector.