Carbon footprint as a tool to improve sustainability: evidence from the agri-food supply chain

Nowadays, companies are asked to adopt strategies to reduce their carbon emissions as to achieve the objectives and commitments of the European Union (EU) environmental policy and make Europe the first climate-neutral continent worldwide. Specifically, in the agri-food sector that is responsible for about 21% of the entire carbon emissions worldwide, companies must reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by implementing the carbon accounting. The current chapter illustrates the main characteristics of the carbon footprint (CF) assessment, focussing on the ISO 16067:2018 guidelines and describing the main software tools and the inventories available for practitioners and academics. Furthermore, it develops two case-studies in the agri-food supply chain in Italy, highlighting how the CF assessment works and how its results can be useful for companies to enhance their environmental, social and economic sustainability. Last, the chapter illustrates the CF role in the novel Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, which constitutes an environmental tax destined to the EU budget and whose aim is to obstacle the environmental dumping, so-called “carbon leakage”. The chapter provides practitioners and academics with useful insights for supporting the climate change mitigation strategies requested at the global level.