Evaluating Environmental and Energy Performance Indicators of Food Systems, within Circular Economy and “Farm to Fork” Frameworks

This study proposes a framework of environmental and energy performance indicators 20 identified and critically evaluated within the scientific literature and the Agricultural European Da- 21 tabase for the monitoring and evaluation of the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Un- 22 ion. The identified set of performance indicators encompasses the whole life cycle of agri-food sys- 23 tems from primary production stage until end-of-life stage in agreement with the Circular Economy 24 and EU “Farm to Fork Strategy” frameworks. In particular, the practices/goals/targets suggested in 25 the latter (e.g. organic farming goals, more relevance assigned to plant-based diets, support to the 26 creation of short supply chains, reduction of food losses and waste) have guided the search for the 27 main topics of interest in our analysis and the associated environmental and energy indicators. The 28 results of this study evidence a proposed set of performance indicators selected from the literature 29 among LCA and non-LCA indicators (Midpoint LCA impacts, Cumulative energy use, EMergy Ac- 30 counting, Material Flow Accounting, among others) that could be helpful in integrating the EU CAP 31 indicators for monitoring and evaluating efforts and achieved results towards implementing and 32 controlling the effectiveness of the adopted “farm to fork” policy and related legislative measures 33 as well as the application of the Circular Economy model.