Nursery sustainability – undertaking a lifecycle assessment (NY22001)

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What is it all about?

This project is developing a benchmarking tool for the environmental performance of the Australian Nursery Industry. It aims to measure the industry’s carbon footprint, waste generation, materials recycling, water usage, energy usage, and overall environmental management. By establishing industry-average results, the project seeks to provide nurseries with insights into their environmental impact at each life cycle stage and develop future sustainability targets.

Challenge

The Australian Government has committed to Net Zero Greenhouse Gas emissions by 2050, with an interim goal of 43% emission reduction by 2030. However, businesses within the nursery industry currently lack benchmarking tools to measure their performance in energy and resource efficiency. As a result, they are unaware of their standing relative to industry peers and national sustainability targets.

The Australian Nursery industry has recognised the need for a sustainability program to enhance best management practices (BMPs) in climate change adaptation, waste management and recycling, water and energy efficiency, and overall environmental management. This need is reflected in Outcome 2 of the Australian Nursery industry Strategic Investment Plan (2022-2026).

Response

This project will establish a system that enables individual nursery businesses to benchmark their performance against an industry average. This benchmarking will allow the industry, and individual growers, to identify key areas for improvement and develop targeted sustainability strategies.

The project will engage the Australian Nursery Industry to measure Scope 1 and Scope 2 carbon emissions, select Scope 3 emissions, and other key environmental impacts. It will develop performance benchmarks and provide the industry with a tool to compare individual nursery performance against these benchmarks.

Key activities include:

Conducting a desk-based literature review to compile a life cycle inventory (LCI) for the nursery industry, including data on energy use, material use, packaging, waste production, and direct emissions.
Using the LCI to develop a life cycle assessment (LCA) model for nursery industry growing practices.

Outputs

A simplified industry benchmarking tool/calculator (in MS Excel) for nursery businesses to assess their Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions unique to their operational environment.
A calculated baseline carbon footprint for the nursery industry.
A final LCA report including:
- A plain English executive summary.
- An assessment of the environmental performance of the Australian nursery sector highlighting key improvement opportunities.

Benefit

Benchmarking data will be valuable for internal communication with business owners, investors, and staff, as well as for external communication to position the industry as a leader in sustainability.

The project will contribute to:

Developing trusted sustainability credentials for the nursery industry.
Raising awareness of the industry’s environmental sustainability efforts and achievements.
Increasing overall industry sustainability.

By benchmarking environmental performance against best practices, the nursery industry will gain a clearer understanding of its impact and opportunities for improvement. This will enable nurseries to adopt more sustainable practices, enhancing profitability and efficiency.