Marcela Porto Costa

Email

afpc76@bangor.ac.uk

Room Details

Thoday Building

PhD Title (or subject area)

Environmental Impact of introducing legumes into agricultural rotations and diet changes

Supervisors

  • Dr. James Gibbons – Bangor University
  • Dr. David Styles – University of Limerick
  • Prof. Dave Chadwick - Bangor University
  • Prof. Bob Rees – Scotland’s Rural College

My research is part of TRUE Project, and it aims to identify the Environmental Impact of introducing legumes into agricultural rotations and diet changes in Europe. For complementary information: https://www.true-project.eu/work-packages/environmental-lca-and-nutrient-quality-assessment/

Research Interests

  • Attributional and Consequential Life Cycle Assessment
  • Life Cycle Thinking
  • Sustainable Foods
  • Sustainable Agriculture
  • Sustainable Agricultural Intensification
  • Diet Change

Biography

I am an enthusiastic person and I enjoy working in multicultural environments. I am passionate about Sustainability, having worked in this field for 8 years, with businesses, academics, and the public sector. I like to engage with my colleagues, discussing improvements and best practices.

As an environmental engineer by training, I have worked for BASF (Chemical Company) for more than 4 years on the field of Environmental, Economic and Social Life Cycle Assessment and related approaches for different value chains, such as agriculture, paints (for domestic and automotive use) and its logistics, biofertilisers, among others.

Within this timeframe, I developed my master’s project regarding crop-livestock-forest integration systems for commodities in Brazil. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxLY8B46NA0).

Currently I work as an independent LCA consultant and I am finishing my PhD research under EU H2020 Project (https://www.true-project.eu/), which aims to identify the best routes, or “transition paths” to increase sustainable legume cultivation and consumption across Europe. The project involves an international partnership of 24 institutions (companies, universities, research centres, etc).

Journal Publications

Saget, S.; Costa, M. P.; Vasconcelos, M.; Santos, C.; Styles, D.; Williams, M. Are plant-based burger patties always more sustainable than beef patties? A comparative Life Cycle Assessment including carbon opportunity costs. Sustainable Production and Consumption. Submitted.

Saget, S.; Costa, M.; Styles, D.; Williams, M. Does Circular Reuse of Chickpea Cooking Water to Produce Vegan Mayonnaise Reduce Environmental Impact Compared with Egg Mayonnaise? Sustainability 13, 4726. (2021) https://doi.org/10.3390/su13094726

Costa M.P., Reckling M., Chadwick D., Rees R.M., Saget S., Williams M. and Styles D. Legume-Modified Rotations Deliver Nutrition With Lower Environmental Impact. Front. Sustain. Food Syst. 5:656005. (2021). doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2021.656005

Saget, S.; Costa, M. P.; Vasconcelos, M.; Santos, C.; Gibbons, J.; Styles, D.; Williams, M. Substitution of beef with pea protein reduces the environmental footprint of meat balls whilst supporting health and climate stabilisation goals. J. of Cleaner Production (2021). doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.126447
Costa, M.P., Chadwick, D., Saget, S. et al. Representing crop rotations in life cycle assessment: a review of legume LCA studies. Int J Life Cycle Assess (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-020-01812-x

Saget, S.; Costa, M. P.; Barilli, E.; Vasconcelos, M.; Santos, C.; Styles, D.; Williams, M.: Substituting wheat with chickpea flour in pasta production delivers more nutrition at a lower environmental cost. J. of Sustainable Production and Consumption, v.24 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2020.06.012.
Lyne, A., Ashley, P., Saget, S., Costa, M.P., Underwood, B., Duane, B. Combining evidence-based healthcare with environmental sustainability: using the toothbrush as a model. Br Dent J 229, 303–309 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41415-020-1981-0

Lienhardt, T.; Black, K.; Saget, S.; Costa, M. P; Chadwick, D.; Rees, R. M.; Williams, M.; Spillane, C.; Iannetta, P. M.; Walker, G.; Styles, D. Just the tonic! Legume biorefining for alcohol has the potential to reduce Europe's protein deficit and mitigate climate change. Environment International, v.130, (2019). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2019.05.064.

Lienhardt, T.; Black, K.; Saget, S.; Costa, M. P; Chadwick, D.; Rees, R. M.; Williams, M.; Spillane, C.; Iannetta, P. M.; Walker, G.; Styles, D. Data for life cycle assessment of legume biorefining for alcohol. Data in Brief, v.25, (2019). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2019.104242.

Costa, M. P.; Schoeneboom, J. C.; Oliveira, S. A.; Viñas, R.; De Medeiros, G. A. A socio-eco-efficiency analysis of integrated and non-integrated crop-livestock-forestry systems in the Brazilian Cerrado based on LCA. J. of Cleaner Production, v. 171, (2018). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.10.063.