The first minor update to the GFLI database is here. The minor update includes the integration of datasets that have been released separately since the publication of the previous version, as well as small error corrections and updates to impact assessment methods & versioning of the database in Simapro (ReCiPe 2016 midpoint (H) and EF 3.1 version that is available in SimaPro 9.6).
The following minor update has just been published, accessible for database licensees through the Blonk portal (URL). Those with a license to System Processes of Unit Processes will be contacted. What has changed?
New ingredients
Five new data projects have been included in this new version, this includes new datasets and updated datasets.
Type of ingredients | Regional representation: | Data source |
Wet by-products from the potato processing industry & beer yeast | Region of Europe (RER) | 5 new datasets from Duynie Group |
Processed by-products of animal by-products (beef, pork, poultry, fish) & cotton and maize distillers grain | United States national average | 14 new datasets from the American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) |
Processed byproducts from the egg industry | Region of Europe (RER) | 2 new datasets from the egg processing industries |
Processed animal by-products | Region of Europe (RER) | 11 updated datasets from the European Renders association EFPRA |
Processed blood-based animal by-products | Region of Europe (RER) | 2 updated datasets from the European Animal Protein Association EAPA |
Two new impact categories in ReCiPe
Two additional land use impact categories have been added for GFLI v2.2 through the ‘ReCiPe 2016 Midpoint (H) – Blonk version V3.0 V1.08’’ in order to clarify land use in two different aspects. “Land use – Transformation” to show the share of land transformations from the totals and “Land occupation” to show the land occupation without specific weighting factors and without land transformations. This is added to specify further the differences in land use.
This impact assessment method is globally applicable and has a wide range of impact categories.
The Impact Assessment Method (IAM) is adjusted to include IPCC’s latest Global Warming Potential (GWP) factors and disaggregating certain impact categories. These adjustments have been made by Blonk for the purpose of transparency, accuracy and consistency with LCA standards. In specific, the following adjustments are made:
- Global warming potential factors (considering a 100 year timeframe, and including climate carbon cycle effects) from IPCC’s Sixth assessment report (2021) (IPCC, 2021) replace the characterization factors in the original ReCiPe 2016 method in all impact categories related to global warming. Emission flows for which GWP were available in IPCC 2021, but did not exist in the original ReCiPe 2016 method are added.
- Emissions (carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide) from Land Use Change are reported separately in the ‘Global warming – only LUC’ category.
- Emissions (carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide) from peat drainage are reported separately in the ‘Global warming – only peat ox’ category.
- The ‘Land use’ impact category is renamed to ‘Land use (total)’. Please note that characterization factors used to calculate the land use in ReCiPe 2016 differentiate types of land occupation (e.g. grassland is characterized differently than cropland), and the result is expressed in the unit ‘m2a crop eq’. This category also includes impact of transformation on land use (as in the original ReCiPe method).
- Contributions to the Land use impact from transformations are reported separately in the ‘Land use (Transformation)’ category.
- Uncharacterized land occupation, excluding the effects of transformations are reported in an additional impact category named ‘Land occupation’. All land occupation types are characterized with the same factor (1 m2a / m2a) and results are expressed in the unit ‘m2a’.
Back-end changes
With the new update from Simapro, the GFLI database will be updated to align with version 9.6. This may give small changes to individual datasets, depending on the level of changes to the impact assessment methods
DQR Unchanged
Please note that the Data Quality Rating (DQR) has not been updated. The reference year of publication should be considered in reference to the time representativeness of the dataset. Due to the developments for clarification on the metrics by the European Commission, the methodology for DQR metrics may change in the near future.
Branded data (unchanged)
Branded datasets are currently not integrated into the overall database due to technical discussions ongoing for the quality assurance of models used for company-specific LCA modelling. For the GFLI major update, set to happen by summer of 2025, we hope to find a suitable solution for company-specific branded data to be part of the overall GFLI database.
The GFLI aims to have a minor update of the database every 6 months, depending on the amount of datasets ready for integration.
Relevant links:
- See the full overview of the ingredients in the GFLI database
- Clarifications about the LCIA and the new update are also included in the updated LCIA guidance document
- Log-in to the portal to access the updated database, then follow this webpage.
- Want access but haven’t got a license yet? Read this webpage.