This project hopes to calculate the carbon footprint of all the processes of the olive oil production chain in oil mills in two different geographical contexts and representative of the sector, in the provinces of Seville and Tarragona.

This project hopes to calculate the carbon footprint of all the processes of the olive oil production chain in oil mills in two different geographical contexts and representative of the sector, in the provinces of Seville and Tarragona.

Olive oil production currently forms a complex agro-industrial structure that, in recent years, has undergone significant technological evolutions. It includes activities of a very diverse nature: from the cultivation of the olive tree, the harvesting of the olives, the transport to the oil mill, the milling, the processing and packaging of the oil produced. In this way, the different activities linked to the production process each have a high interrelation with the environment and, specifically, with climate change.

It is a relationship that must be known about its effects, the best available techniques and the ways of working that can be put into practice to optimize these activities in the most sustainable way possible.

The calculation of the carbon footprint applied to the different production methods will contribute to increasing the knowledge of the energy impact in the olive oil sector, in addition to favouring the replicability of the project’s results in other areas.

The expected results are:

1. Calculation of the carbon footprint of the olive oil sector and recommendations for its mitigation and adaptation to the effects of climate change.
2. Manual of opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the olive oil sector.
3. Raising awareness among the key agents in the production of olive oil (farmers, managers of oil mills and bottling plants) about its contribution to the fight against climate change.
4. Reduction of between 10-12 percent in energy consumption and consequently in the CO2 emissions generated.