ACE Calculator

» How can we rapidly estimate the carbon footprint of a supplied food product without conducting a full life cycle assessment?
» How can we rapidly assess net GHG emission benefits of interventions for reducing food losses in a supply chain?

The Agro-Chain greenhouse gas Emissions calculator (ACE) was developed to address these questions. The ACE calculator is a tool for rapidly estimating GHG emission intensities of a food, feed or other biomaterial at farm-gate or further along a supply chain. Through scenario comparison, the approach facilitates e.g. the evaluation of trade-offs or synergies between product losses and GHG emissions for loss-reduction interventions.

• For agricultural production, the ACE tool enables the rapid assessment of the effects of interventions in harvesting and on-farm post-harvest operations.

For example, mechanization may increase GHG emissions through additional fuel use; however, it can also reduce losses during harvesting and post-harvest handling. Lower losses reduce the need for compensatory production, thereby lowering associated GHG emissions. The tool supports the evaluation of the net effect of such intervention on GHG emissions per unit product at the farm gate.

The assessment is based on a reference emission intensity value for the selected crop, whereas effects of fuel and energy use in harvesting and on-farm post-harvest operations, as well as effects of losses are quantified by the tool.

In the current version, this functionality is limited to rice production systems.

• For operations in supply chains, the ACE tool supports rapid assessment of total GHG emissions and the effects of supply-chain interventions on GHG emissions, expressed per unit of product supplied by the supply chain in scope. The assessment includes:
  • upstream GHG emissions along the chain: the GHG emission intensity of the products entering the supply chain in scope. For this purpose, the tool supports several approaches:
    • inserting a user-specified values, for example based on:
      • a carbon footprint assessment of the agricultural production system.
        When harvesting and on-farm post-harvest operations are not included in the original assessment, the ACE tool can be used to incorporate these effects into the crop production stage,
      • consequential GHG emissions associated with diverting a product or residue stream from its conventional destination, which can be quantified using the CAT-BREVIA tool,
      • a value - for a similar agricultural production system - obtained from e.g. an LCA dataset, scientific study or other information source;
    • using a default crop production GHG emission intensity from the datasets provided within the ACE tool;
  • GHG emissions associated with logistics operations, including transportation, refrigerated storage, and energy use in a range of common supply-chain activities for fresh and minimally processed products;
  • the effects of product losses at different stages of the supply chain, including:
    • additional production required to compensate for losses,
    • the effects of loss destinations, such as waste management pathways or valorisation options.

Diverse default parameter values are incorporated into the tool to facilitate rapid assessments. Users may modify these values to better reflect local conditions or specific scenarios.

Downloads

The ACE Calculator can be downloaded via the link below. Instructions are provided on the first worksheet.

ACE Calculator  a Microsoft Excel file containing the ACE Calculator

LINKS

The tool supports rapid evaluation of the overall GHG emission profile of supply chains, the mitigation potential through supply-chain interventions, and synergies or trade-offs between resource-use-efficiency (approached as product losses) and GHG emissions. E.g. in connection with ISO 20001:2026, the method can predict effects of loss reducing measures on GHG emissions (ISO 20001:2026 Food loss and waste management system — Requirements for the prevention and minimization of food loss and waste across the food supply chain).

ISO 20001:2026

Remarks

• Scientifically substantiated analyses can be conducted upon request.
• Additional customizations and methodological enhancements, including more detailed representations of specific supply chains, can be developed upon request.
• The method can support both consequential and attributional GHG emission accounting, depending on the specific modelling choices made by the user. For example, accounting standards differ in their requirements regarding the inclusion of GHG emission effects associated with renewable energy generation in waste management pathways.
• A dedicated version - tailored to a specific supply chain configuration - for estimating a product carbon footprints, with attributional GHG emission accounting in line with the GHG Protocol Product Life Cycle Standard, can be developed on request.