Climate
What is a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
Life Cycle Assessment, also known as LCA, is a method for measuring the environmental footprint of a product throughout its entire life cycle. For us as a company, LCA provides a clear understanding of how our products impact the environment — from the start of raw material production to distribution to retail.
Our LCA covers the key stages of the product’s life cycle, including:
- Raw material cultivation — Where resources and energy are used to grow the necessary ingredients.
- Transport — The resources and volume of greenhouse gas emissions associated with transporting the raw materials and the finished product.
- Production — Energy and resource consumption during the production process itself.
- Packaging — The environmental impact of packaging choices, including both production and handling.
- Distribution to retail — The resources and emissions associated with getting the product from the factory to the stores.
After collecting data for each stage, the total environmental impact is calculated by adding up the impact from each step. The results show where the greatest burden lies, which helps us take targeted steps to reduce our climate footprint.
Our LCA focuses specifically on the climate footprint of our products, and we measure greenhouse gas emissions throughout the entire product life cycle. This gives us precise insight into where the climate burden is greatest and helps us implement improvements.
Why are Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) important in food production?
The food industry is one of the largest contributors to climate change and resource consumption. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), agriculture and food production account for approximately 26% of global greenhouse gas emissions, with animal products alone contributing more than half. For example, the production of 1 kg of beef emits up to 60 kg CO₂-eq, while 1 kg of cheese emits around 6.6 kg CO₂-eq. This places cheese among the most climate-intensive foods, surpassed only by beef. This high level of emissions places a significant burden on the climate.
For companies in the food sector, it is therefore essential to understand and reduce their climate footprint. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) provides deeper insight into the environmental consequences across the production chain — from raw material production to distribution. By identifying the stages that are most resource-intensive, companies can not only reduce their climate impact, but also position themselves more strongly in a market where sustainability is increasingly becoming a competitive differentiator.
LCA is also a way of documenting the environmental benefits of plant-based products compared to animal-based alternatives. Our data shows that our plant-based cheese has a significantly lower climate footprint than conventional cheeses, and gives our B2B partners the opportunity to offer a more sustainable product to their customers.
WOW Offers an 80% Lower Climate Footprint!
Our plant-based cheese is created with the aim of reducing environmental impact and offering a sustainable alternative to dairy-based products.
According to our LCA, our product has a significantly lower climate footprint than traditional milk-based cheese.
To provide a concrete basis for comparison, our plant-based cheese in grated form has a climate footprint of 1.35 kg CO₂ per kg, while the block form has a footprint of 1.13 kg CO₂ per kg. By comparison, traditional mozzarella cheese has an average climate footprint of 6.63 kg CO₂ per kg. Our product therefore reduces the climate burden by more than 80% compared to conventional cheeses.
This difference makes our plant-based cheese an ideal solution for companies looking to minimise their climate footprint and offer their customers a more environmentally friendly product.
CONCITO. (2022). “Climate footprint per kg of mozzarella.” Retrieved from The Big Climate Database: denstoreklimadatabase.dk
How LCA Can Help Companies Make Climate-Friendly Choice
LCA is a valuable tool that enables companies to gain insight into the environmental impact of their product portfolio. With LCA data, companies can focus their efforts and identify areas of production with potential for improvement, which can lead to a reduced burden on the climate and greater efficiency.
By choosing our plant-based cheese, companies can significantly reduce their overall climate footprint. Our LCA data shows that our products emit far fewer greenhouse gases than conventional dairy products. This makes our products a valuable sustainability choice that you can offer to your customers.
How We Ensure Reliability in Our LCA
We place a strong emphasis on transparency and precision in our LCA, which is why we collaborate with reputable institutions. Our LCA was conducted by the Danish Technological Institute and third-party validated by the Nature Foundation in 2024, ensuring that our data is reliable and of high quality.
This thorough and independently verified LCA enables us to deliver a product that our B2B partners can trust. We not only offer a sustainable solution, but also documentation of our climate-friendly profile, which you can use to strengthen your own brand as an environmentally conscious choice.
Sources
- FAO. (2019). “The State of Food and Agriculture: Moving forward on food loss and waste reduction.” Retrieved from FAO.org
- CONCITO. (2022). “Climate footprint per kg of beef.” Retrieved from The Big Climate Database: denstoreklimadatabase.dk
- CONCITO. (2022). “Climate footprint per kg of mozzarella.” Retrieved from The Big Climate Database: denstoreklimadatabase.dk
The LCA report is available upon request for those interested.