Environmental Assessment of Beekeeping Products and Services – A Life Cycle Assessment Case Study Including Honey and Pollination

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has been increasingly used for the improvement of the environmental performance of products and services, amongst which food systems. Nevertheless, honey appears to have been rarely analysed. Furthermore, the role of honey bees as pollinators can be regarded as one of the functions of an apiculture system and is undoubtedly of utmost importance both for natural ecosystems and agriculture. When implementing an LCA of an apiculture system, the pollination service can be considered as one of the functions of a multifunctional system (other functions including, e.g., the provision of honey, beeswax, etc.). This paper explores the economic value of pollination and the proposed calculation methods, as a potential basis for managing multifunctionality in LCA modelling and its application in a case study.