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Sustainability
Volume 14
Issue 1
10.3390/su14010569
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Correction published on 21 March 2025, see Sustainability 2025, 17(7), 2798.
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Article

The RothC Model to Complement Life Cycle Analyses: A Case Study of an Italian Olive Grove

by
Valentina Fantin
1,
Alessandro Buscaroli
2,3,
Patrizia Buttol
1,
Elisa Novelli
4,
Cristian Soldati
3,
Denis Zannoni
2,3,
Giovanni Zucchi
4 and
Serena Righi
3,5,*
1
ENEA—Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, Laboratory for Valorisation of Resources in Productive and Territorial Systems (SSPT-USER-RISE), Via Martiri di Monte Sole 4, 40129 Bologna, Italy
2
Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences Department (BiGeA), Campus di Ravenna, Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, Via S. Alberto 163, 48123 Ravenna, Italy
3
Inter-Departmental Centre for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRSA), Alma Mater Studiorum—Università Bologna, Via S. Alberto 163, 48123 Ravenna, Italy
4
Oleificio Zucchi Spa, Via Acquaviva 12, 26100 Cremona, Italy
5
Physics and Astronomy Department (DIFA), Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, Viale Carlo Berti Pichat 6/2, 40127 Bologna, Italy
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sustainability 2022, 14(1), 569; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14010569
Submission received: 23 November 2021 / Revised: 22 December 2021 / Accepted: 30 December 2021 / Published: 5 January 2022 / Corrected: 21 March 2025
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Agriculture and Innovative Fertilizers for Sustainable Cropping Systems)
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Abstract

Soil organic carbon (SOC) plays a fundamental role in soil health, and its storage in soil is an important element to mitigate climate change. How to include this factor in Life Cycle Assessment studies has been the object of several papers and is still under discussion. SOC storage has been proposed as an additional environmental information in some applications of the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF). In the framework of wider activity aimed at producing the PEF of olive oil, the RothC model was applied to an olive cultivation located in Lazio region (Italy) to calculate the SOC storage and assess four scenarios representing different agricultural practices. RothC applicability, possible use of its results for improving product environmental performance, and relevance of SOC storage in terms of CO2eq compared to greenhouse gas emissions of the life-cycle of olive oil are discussed in this paper. According to the results, in all scenarios, the contribution in terms of CO2eq associated with SOC storage is remarkable compared to the total greenhouse gas emissions of the olive oil life-cycle. It is the opinion of the authors that the calculation of the SOC balance allows a more proper evaluation of the agricultural products contribution to climate change, and that the indications of the scenarios analysis are useful to enhance the environmental performance of these products. The downside is that the application of RothC requires additional data collection and expertise if compared to the execution of PEF studies.
Keywords: Life Cycle Assessment (LCA); product environmental footprint (PEF); carbon sequestration; cover crops; soil organic matter Life Cycle Assessment (LCA); product environmental footprint (PEF); carbon sequestration; cover crops; soil organic matter

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MDPI and ACS Style

Fantin, V.; Buscaroli, A.; Buttol, P.; Novelli, E.; Soldati, C.; Zannoni, D.; Zucchi, G.; Righi, S. The RothC Model to Complement Life Cycle Analyses: A Case Study of an Italian Olive Grove. Sustainability 2022, 14, 569. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14010569

AMA Style

Fantin V, Buscaroli A, Buttol P, Novelli E, Soldati C, Zannoni D, Zucchi G, Righi S. The RothC Model to Complement Life Cycle Analyses: A Case Study of an Italian Olive Grove. Sustainability. 2022; 14(1):569. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14010569

Chicago/Turabian Style

Fantin, Valentina, Alessandro Buscaroli, Patrizia Buttol, Elisa Novelli, Cristian Soldati, Denis Zannoni, Giovanni Zucchi, and Serena Righi. 2022. "The RothC Model to Complement Life Cycle Analyses: A Case Study of an Italian Olive Grove" Sustainability 14, no. 1: 569. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14010569

APA Style

Fantin, V., Buscaroli, A., Buttol, P., Novelli, E., Soldati, C., Zannoni, D., Zucchi, G., & Righi, S. (2022). The RothC Model to Complement Life Cycle Analyses: A Case Study of an Italian Olive Grove. Sustainability, 14(1), 569. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14010569

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