Cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment of Eucalyptus globulus short rotation plantations in Chile

The harvesting phase was the main contributor to almost all the impact categories with contributing ratios higher than 56%. Within the harvesting phase, fertilisation and forwarding were the main processes responsible for derived environmental impacts. The results in terms of climate change and terrestrial acidification were compared with those reported for Eucalyptus biomass production in European countries. The comparison was performed considering the same system boundaries and functional unit. Differences identified were related to different forest management activities carried out as well as different biomass yields. The LCA study remarked those stages where the researchers need to improve the environmental performance. The results suggested that both fertiliser dosage and fuel consumption in forest activities should be optimised in order to decrease most effectively the global environmental impacts.