How can consumers effectively reduce their environmental footprint of everyday activities, such as showering and doing the laundry? How can farmers reduce the environmental footprint of crop production? What are the main drivers of variability between biodiversity footprints of nations and how can these footprints be reduced? What sources of uncertainty need to be addressed and prioritised to better understand the chemical footprint of consumer products? The RELIEF project not only answers these questions, but also provides tools to deal with the same type of questions for the large portfolio of products and services that are used in our society.
The energy ESR focused on quantifying the variability in greenhouse gas (GHG) footprints of energy-intensive consumer activities. First, the variability in GHG footprints of washing clothes associated with various detergent-related and washing machine-related parameters was quantified across 23 European countries. Second, a stochastic model was developed to quantify the energy, GHG and water consumption footprints of showering in four different countries. The most influential reasoned choices are the water heater type and showerhead flow rate, while shower duration is a habitual behaviour with the largest influence on the environmental footprints.
The water ESR demonstrated how data-driven methodologies are an important asset to develop spatial hydrological data at a global scale. First, a global-scale regression model was developed and tested to quantify mean annual streamflows (MAF), based on physiography and climate variables. MAFs were predicted at the global scale, which is essential for assessments of global water supply, ecosystem integrity and water footprints. In a further step, a consistent global streamflow dataset at a resolution of 30 arc seconds was created (FLO1K). These data are essential for freshwater ecology and water resources analyses at a global scale and yet high spatial resolution.
The chemical ESR developed models to predict chemical emissions from the use of down-the-drain personal care products (PCPs), which are washed off after use. In a first study, chemical emissions from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) were estimated with a newly developed methodology, based on consumer use surveys of PCPs. The second study was aimed at better understanding the drivers of variability in reported removal efficiencies (REs) from activated sludge WWTPs. A meta-analysis on RE data assessed the drivers of the variability relating to the properties of those chemicals and the operational parameters of activated sludge WWTPs.
The land ESR focused on quantifying the variability in GHG footprints of agricultural activities. The influence of bio-physical conditions on GHG footprints of field tomato production in a number of countries around the globe over three years was quantified using multi-level variability and regression analysis. The majority of the variance was caused by differences in farm-management practices. The second study considered palm oil production in Indonesia as a case study to investigate drivers of GHG footprints in a spatially explicit manner. It was found that GHG emissions can be reduced through better landscape management, improving yields and mill operations.
The macro-scale ESR quantified the biodiversity footprint of nations with three alpha diversity indicators and one indicator of gamma diversity. Although all footprints are positively correlated with rising household expenditure, this relationship is weaker and highly uncertain for gamma-based footprints. The results highlight the relevance of including both alpha and gamma diversity indicators in land-based biodiversity footprint calculations.
Dissemination occurred to a broad audience. So far, RELIEF project produced 8 peer-reviewed published articles and over 20 presentations at conferences. Three outreach workshops were organised within the project framework along with newsletters and media announcements. These were published at the RELIEF website, distributed through networks of researchers working in the RELIEF project and shared on social media sites: Linkedin and Researchgate. As a result of collaboration between Radboud University and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, a two-week summer school was organised. Results of the project were made publicly available through open access databases of GreenDelta – providers of the open source software OpenLCA.
