February 11, 2016
Global Feed LCA Institute (GFLI) launched in US
The Global Feed LCA Institute (GFLI) was officially launched in Washington, US, during January this year. It aims to bring together a consortium of international companies and associations representing major feed producing regions.
The grouping is dedicated to measure and benchmark environmental impacts, including greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
GFLI will be led by its founding members including the International Feed Industry Federation (IFIF), the American Feed Industry Association (AFIA), the Animal Nutrition Association of Canada (ANAC) and the European Feed Manufacturers' Federation (FEFAC).
The institute functions as an independent body, which strives to develop a ground-breaking feed-specific life cycle analysis (LCA) database and tool, an important step in supporting the reduction of environmental impacts in the livestock production chain.
Mike Goble, Chair of the GFLI Management Board, explained that "following the official publication of the FAO-led Livestock Environmental Assessment and Performance (LEAP) / Global Feed LCA Guidelines methodology in April 2015, the mission of GFLI is to implement the widely recognised LEAP methodology". This step will be realised with the creation of a high quality and harmonised public database for feed ingredients, to support "meaningful LCAs" of livestock products.
"GFLI partners are committed to develop and build a feed-specific publicly available LCA tool to facilitate environmental assessments and the measurement of progress, which is both comparable and measurable across world regions," Goble added.
In the meantime, the GFLI has established a formal partnership with the FAO and LEAP, to ensure that the deliverables of GFLI are compliant with the FAO / LEAP methodological requirements.
Alexandra de Athayde, IFIF's executive director, said that, "through innovation and efficiency, animal feed has proven to be an essential part of the solution" to improve the sustainability and environmental friendliness of the livestock production chain.
Furthermore, GFLI will facilitate a well-coordinated, region specific and pre-competitive benchmarking to expedite the reduction of impacts, including GHG emissions.
"...given the diversity of livestock production systems around the world, it is important to find solutions that work locally, while ensuring food safety and quality from farm to fork," de Athayde added. "IFIF will continue to champion science-based decisions, the need for continued innovation and better technologies, as well as regulatory convergence and free and fair trade as a basis for sustainable production in the future."
