Analysis of opportunities for greenhouse emission reduction in the global supply chains of cashew industry in West Africa

Abstract Global supply chains (GSCs) have become common for industries, and companies seek to reduce their environmental impact, particularly greenhouse gas (GHG), through their GSCs. Guided by ISO 14044, we measure and compare GHG emission of 1000 kg of cashew kernels in 12 GSCs scenarios of West Africa cashew industry, and identify opportunities for reduction. The results show that transportation, cashew processing operation and nutshells waste management produce significant proportion of the total GHG emission. Such results highlight the fact that alternatives in process units and flows in life cycle systems can reduce GHG emission of a product. Thus, limitation of transportation of raw cashew nuts for primary processing, the use of energy-efficient processing methods, and processing on large-scale gives options to supply chain managers and decision makers in the industry to reduce GHG emission. Again, making use of co-product (nutshells) reduces cashew kernels GHG emission much more than it may have been considered by most stakeholders. The challenges of measuring and comparing GHG emission in the industry's GSCs such as non-existing or inadequate quality databases are also discussed.

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