Assessing the environmental impacts of three different types of accommodations in Portugal and Spain by using an LCA approach.

The tourism industry, affected by COVID-19, must reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This study evaluated the environmental impact of three hotels in coastal and mountainous regions of Spain and Portugal using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Data was gathered via surveys in the Greentour tool. Results indicate that the 2-star hotel (focused on cultural-urban tourism) has the highest impacts in most categories, except for CC, FRD, and POF indicators. The 3-star hotel (beach tourism) contributes the most to CC and FRD indicators, while the hostel (nature-religious tourism) has the highest value in the POF indicator. LCA findings reveal that diesel consumption in the hostel and electricity usage in both the 2-star and 3-star hotels are major contributors to environmental impacts across various categories. Overall, evidence suggests that fossil fuel and electricity usage significantly affect tourism activities environmentally. Interestingly, this study highlights that a 2-star hotel can have a higher carbon footprint (CC indicator) compared to a 3-star hotel, challenging the notion that higher star ratings imply lower environmental impact.

'Small-scale' tourism versus traditional tourism: Which will be the new key to achieve the desired sustainable tourism?

The tourism sector after COVID-19 has raised different concerns that have lead to a development towards a more sustainable model of tourism. After the health crisis, the increase in environmental awareness of tourists has become evident. In this context, the great paradigm of 'small-scale' tourism has been developed as opposed to traditional tourism. The present work seeks to contribute to sustainable development in the Spanish tourism sector, comparing a hostel in Cantabria (considered as 'small scale' /religious tourism) and a hotel in Lloret de Mar (considered as a traditional tourism) one using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology to verify advantages and disadvantages of both types of tourism. The functional unit (FU) used was 'per guest night with breakfast included'. The results have revealed similar results for both establishments in all impact categories, as can be seen in its contribution to Climate Change (4.41 kg CO2 eq./FU caused by the hotel and 4.78 kg CO2 eq./FU by the hostel). The electricity consumption and the impact of the breakfast in the hostel were identified as main contributors to environmental burdens (with 76.72 % of the hotel's impact to climate change and 77.36 % for the hostel); hence, improvement opportunities envisaged were focused on these critical points. On the one hand, a biomass boiler, a solar water-heating system and a hybrid solar/biomass heating are considered a more sustainable alternatives related to electricity. Natural gas and diesel Consumption, respectively. On the other hand, oatmeal, Greek yoghurt and berries are good options for a breakfast with a reduced environmental impact. It is also important to implement responsible and green practices in order to achieve more environmentally sustainable alternative and traditional accommodations. Therefore, it can be concluded by stating that LCA is a tool capable of identifying and studying the processes with the highest environmental impact in order to find out the most sustainable form of tourism.

Life cycle assessment to address the environmental impacts of tourism in a Spanish tourist destination: The case of Rias Baixas (Galicia) holidays.

Tourism has grown steadily in recent decades, becoming a strategic sector for the economy in many countries. However, the environmental impacts associated with tourism have also experienced an upward trend. In this sense, innovation is needed in the tourism sector, to move towards new models and strategies that integrate environmental sustainability with the social aspects of the sector. In this study, a holistic assessment of the environmental impact of tourism has been carried out using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method, considering all stages of tourism activity: transportation from the place of origin to destination and back, accommodation, catering, and activities conducted. For this purpose, a case study has been carried out based on a typical trip made from Madrid to Rías Baixas (Galicia), considering a four-night stay and the performance of two activities (music festival and cultural museum) at the destination. Two alternative transportation scenarios (train or plane) have been defined to analyze the influence of the type of transportation on the overall impact. Other touristic activities such as visiting gardens or thermal baths instead of visiting a cultural museum or attending a music festival have been analyzed and it has been found that the thermal baths and the museum have the greatest environmental impacts. Transportation was the biggest contributor to most of the environmental impacts in the selected categories. On the other hand, the stay at the destination has stood out due to the impact of the consumption of food and energy used at the accommodation facility. The impact of the activities conducted at the destination is also worth highlighting. Finally, alternative scenarios for transportation have shown that the mode of transportation selected is key for lowering the overall environmental impact of the stay at the destination, highlighting the public transportation alternative, such as the train, as the most environmentally friendly option.

Carbon accounting of negative emissions technologies integrated in the life cycle of spirulina supplements.

Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies are considered essential to accomplish the Paris Agreement targets. Given the important contribution of the food sector to climate change, this study aims to investigate the role of two carbon capture and utilization (CCU) technologies in decarbonizing the production of spirulina, an algae product commonly consumed for its nutritional characteristics. The proposed scenarios considered the replacement of synthetic food-grade CO2 in Arthrospira platensis cultivation (BAU scenario) with CO2 from beer fermentation (BRW) and CO2 from DACC (direct air carbon capture) (SDACC), representing two alternatives with great potential in the short and medium-long term, respectively. The methodology follows the Life Cycle Assessment guidelines, considering a cradle-to-gate scope and a functional unit equivalent to the annual production of spirulina in a Spanish artisanal plant. Results showed a better environmental performance of both CCU scenarios as compared to BAU, reaching a reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of 52 % in BRW and of 46 % in SDACC. Although the brewery CCU offers a deeper carbon mitigation of spirulina production, the process cannot reach net zero GHG emissions due to residual burdens across the supply chain. In comparison, the DACC unit could potentially supply both the CO2 needed in spirulina production and work as a CDR to compensate residual emissions, which opens the door for further research on its technical and economic feasibility in the food sector.

Methodological guidelines for the calculation of a Water-Energy-Food nexus index for seafood products.

Indicators from life cycle assessment methodologies (i.e., footprints) have emerged as useful tools for identifying and communicating the environmental impacts of a system thanks to they are accessible and intuitive and easy to understand to non-expert public. However, the focus on a single environmental problem is one of their main drawbacks. From this idea arises the concept of Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus, with the aim of raising awareness of the connections between the universal rights to water supply, energy security and food provision. Regarding the latter, the fisheries sector stands out as a fundamental pillar in the fight against malnutrition. In this sense, the European project "blue growth" aims to ensure that the development of the marine sector is not linked to the degradation of its ecosystems. However, although producers and authorities are willing to communicate the sustainability of products, there is still no standard methodology for reporting it. With the purpose of remedying this current situation, this paper aims to provide technical guidance to calculate a single WEF nexus index for ecolabelling seafood products in the European framework (Atlantic area). Therefore, through this, it is expected to create a useful communication channel between producers and consumers through an easy-to-read ecolabel. Nonetheless, certain aspects, such as the footprints selected or the calculation procedures selected have to be reconsidered to refine the methodology proposed, apart from broadening the approach to other food sectors with the aim that the proposed eco-certification can be present in major supply and retail chains.

Seafood consumers engagement in reducing environmental impacts from packaging.

Packaging is essential to protect food, inform consumers, and avoid food waste, yet it can also contribute to the environmental footprint of products. Recycling waste treatment potentially provides more environmental benefits than other options (e.g., landfill), but only 66 % of packaging waste goes to recycling in the European Union. However, the prevention of packaging production with greater reuse, while extending the lifetime or improving packaging design should be firstly encouraged. This highlights the need to assess the willingness of consumers in reducing the environmental impact of seafood products from packaging. An online questionnaire was conducted in three countries (Portugal, Spain, and Ireland), composed of four sections: (i) seafood consumption, (ii) waste separation to be sent recycling, (iii) willingness to purchase seafood products with packaging designed to reduce environmental impact, and (iv) sociodemographic characteristics. Findings revealed that respondents from Spain and Portugal reported a slightly higher frequency of waste sent to recycle compared to Ireland. Irish respondents appear to have more difficulties about the type of plastic materials that can be sent to recycling due to Irish waste management capabilities; whereas Spanish and Portuguese respondents were not fully aware that packaging does not need to be washed prior to recycling. The most popular alternatives to improve the sustainability of seafood packaging were the use of reusable packaging, compostable packaging material, glass jars for canned seafood instead of cans, and intelligent packaging. Most respondents were willing to pay more for seafood products that use more sustainable packaging (62 % for Spain, 68 % for Ireland, 70 % for Portugal) and half of the respondents intimated that they avoid seafood products due to excessive packaging. With more detailed information on the waste management of packaging, seafood consumers could actively contribute with their attitudes where commensurate changes can improve environmental assessment of seafood.

Environmental performance of Cantabrian (Northern Spain) pelagic fisheries: Assessment of purse seine and minor art fleets under a life cycle approach.

The perpetuation of fishing activity from an environmentally, socially and economically sustainable approach is essential to guarantee not only the future of coastal populations, but also the supply of high-value seafood for society and the safeguarding of cultural heritage. This article aims to assess the environmental performance associated with fishing fleet operations in Cantabria (northern Spain) under a life cycle thinking from a holistic approach. Thus, the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology was applied under a 'cradle-to-port' approach, setting the functional unit as 1 kg of fresh fish landed. Inventory data on the main inputs and outputs were collected from a sample of 57 vessels covering for the first time the main techniques, purse seine and minor art fisheries. The results identified that the vessel use stage was the responsible of most of the impacts. In line with the literature, diesel consumption stood as the chief hotspot in six of the seven impact categories analysed. Purse seiners got a value of 0.25 kg of fuel per kg of fish landed, while the performance of the minor art fleet showed significantly lower consumption (0.07). Regarding impacts on climate change, this study found a quantity of 1.00 and 0.34 kg CO2 eq. per FU, for purse seine and minor arts, respectively. These figures were consistent with the expected results for pelagic fisheries. For the remaining indicators, purse seiners generally performed worse. The LCA methodology provided outcomes that allow the proposal of potential improvements and measures to foster the transition towards a more sustainable smart-fishing sector. Further research efforts should focus on the development and implementation of renewable energy and low-carbon vessel propulsion technologies.

Climate change mitigation potential of transitioning from open dumpsters in Peru: Evaluation of mitigation strategies in critical dumpsites.

Waste management is a critical policy towards the reduction of environmental impacts to air, soil and water. Many Latin American countries, however, lack a correct waste management system in many cities and rural areas, leading to the accumulation of unmanaged waste in illegal or unregulated dumpsites. The case of Peru is of interest, as it hosts 5 of the 50 largest dumpsites in the world. An erratic waste management compromises climate actions for Peru to commit with the Paris Agreement, as no correct closure systems are established for these dumpsites. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to assess the contribution of the past and present biodegradable waste produced and disposed of in the most critical open dumpsters to the overall annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of Peru using the IPCC model. Thereafter, the climate change mitigation potential of possible dumpsite closure strategies based on a selection of technologies, including economic feasibility, were estimated. Results show that cumulative GHG emissions in 2018 for the 24 critical dumpsites evaluated added up to 704 kt CO2 eq. and a cumulative value of 4.4 Mt CO2 eq. in the period 2019-2028, representing over 40 % of solid waste emissions expected by 2030. Mitigation potentials for these emissions tanged from 91 to 970 kt CO2 eq. in the ten-year period depending on the mitigation strategies adopted. The costs of these strategies are also discussed and are expected to be of utility to complement Peru's waste management commitments in the frame of the Paris Agreement.

Tourism under a life cycle thinking approach: A review of perspectives and new challenges for the tourism sector in the last decades.

Sustainable tourism should be promoted as a new system for the sustainable management of resources from a socioeconomic and environmental point of view. For this purpose, it is necessary to develop a tool capable of assessing the impacts associated with the sector and to identify which actions are currently being addressed in order to achieve the desired sustainability. This timely study aims to describe the current framework of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and its application to the tourism sector. To address these questions, a total of 83 documents (77 reviews and 6 international reports) were evaluated, assessing the geographical distribution, the temporal evolution of the publications, as well as the most relevant characteristics of the tourism industry articles were evaluated such as, life cycle inventory (LCI), system boundaries, functional unit (FU), methods, environmental indicators and impact categories considered. The study identifies key recommendations on the progression of LCA in tourism sector. As important results, it stands out that 94 % of articles were from the last decade and 21 % of the articles reviewed cover sustainable tourism term, considering the three dimensions. This review showed that in LCA studies the most common method was CML 2001; the most widely used environmental indicator was the Carbon Footprint (CF) and the Global Warming Potential (GWP) was the impact category used in all the studies. Hence, LCA is a highly effective tool capable of assessing direct and indirect carbon emissions in tourism as well as the socioeconomic and environmental impacts generated in this sector. COVID-19 pandemic is also an object of discussion in the framework of the sustainable tourism together with advocating support for the eco-labelling and digitalisation of the tourism experiences as valuable tools to minimize environmental negativities, to promote mechanisms to access green markets and to frame successful synergies.

Water-Energy-Food Nexus and Life Cycle Thinking: A New Approach to Environmental and Nutritional Assessment of Potato Chips.

The water-energy-food (WEF) nexus has become a key concept to promote the cross-sectoral coordination toward sustainable development. In particular, understanding the interdependences of these pillars, as well as addressing a life cycle perspective, is essential when evaluating food production systems. This study explores the environmental impacts and nutritional quality of potato chips, addressing life cycle thinking and a WEF nexus approach. For this purpose, the combined application of life cycle assessment (LCA) and the Nutrient-Rich Food 9.3 (NRF9.3) index was considered to identify the main environmental hotspots and advanced opportunities. The results indicated a major contribution of the cultivation stage on water use, whereas the processing accounted for most of the impacts in energy-related indicators and eutrophication potentials. Improvement opportunities reside in the joint application of drip irrigation, allowing to achieve important water savings, as well as the use of natural gas or pellets instead of diesel, which constitute cleaner energy sources. On the other hand, a poor nutritional density of potato chips became evident from the quantification of the NRF9.3, which can be significantly improved if potatoes undergo a roasted process instead of frying.

Environmental sustainability of alternative marine propulsion technologies powered by hydrogen - a life cycle assessment approach.

Shipping is a very important source of pollution worldwide. In recent years, numerous actions and measures have been developed trying to reduce the levels of greenhouse gases (GHG) from the marine exhaust emissions in the fight against climate change, boosting the Sustainable Development Goal 13. Following this target, the action of hydrogen as energy vector makes it a suitable alternative to be used as fuel, constituting a very promising energy carrier for energy transition and decarbonization in maritime transport. The objective of this study is to develop an ex-ante environmental evaluation of two promising technologies for vessels propulsion, a H2 Polymeric Electrolytic Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC), and a H2 Internal Combustion Engine (ICE), in order to determine their viability and eligibility compared to the traditional one, a diesel ICE. The applied methodology follows the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) guidelines, considering a functional unit of 1 kWh of energy produced. LCA results reveal that both alternatives have great potential to promote the energy transition, particularly the H2 ICE. However, as technologies readiness level is quite low, it was concluded that the assessment has been conducted at a very early stage, so their sustainability and environmental performance may change as they become more widely developed and deployed, which can be only achieved with political and stakeholder's involvement and collaboration.

The fishing and seafood sector in the time of COVID-19: Considerations for local and global opportunities and responses.

This article provides an overview of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the fishing sector over the world, including several economic, social, environmental, and health challenges that the fisheries have had to face during the early days of the health crisis, and some of them still continue today. These problems, in short, are translated into a decrease in seafood demand, loss of jobs, changes in food consumption habits, economic losses, or increased vulnerability of the industry. As a consequence, governments have been forced to implement regulations and measures in support of this sector. However, a positive aspect of the pandemic also stands out, the opportunity to transform the food system to be greener, more inclusive, and resilient against future shocks.

Towards a Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus index: A review of nutrient profile models as a fundamental pillar of food and nutrition security.

The Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus approach should be promoted as a tool for sustainable management of resources through the interconnection of these three fundamental pillars. Particularly, food security must ensure healthy and balanced diets for everyone, but selecting individual indicators to assess all slants covered by this element is not an easy task. Hence, the objective of this paper is two-fold, to review nutrient profiling (NP) models that allow to categorize foods and evaluate diets based on their nutritional quality, and to choose the most appropriate model to be used within a WEF nexus index. To address this issue, a total of 159 documents were assessed, appraising the geographic distribution, and time evolution of the publications, as well as the characteristics and potential applications of the NP systems. The review concludes that the NRF9.3. model is the most liable option to be used in a WEF nexus index, presenting the best characteristics by means of the definition of scores and thresholds, and the use of an 'across-the-board' criteria and a reference quantity of 100 kcal, alongside offering higher ability to assess diets and foods than the other competitive model (HEI) through the evaluation of nutrients to encourage instead of foods. A secondary outcome of the review is the identification of the NP models as a useful tool to enable institutions with information to establish policies in the field of public health and facilitating the decision-making process according to the current healthy claims.

Life cycle assessment of fish and seafood processed products - A review of methodologies and new challenges.

Life cycle assessment (LCA) has been widely applied in many different sectors, but the marine products and seafood segment have received relatively little attention in the past. In recent decades, global fish production experienced sustained growth and peaked at about 179 million tonnes in 2018. Consequently, increased interest in the environmental implications of fishery products along the supply chain, namely from capture to end of life, was recently experienced by society, industry and policy-makers. This timely review aims to describe the current framework of LCA and its application to the seafood sector that mainly focused on fish extraction and processing, but it also encompassed the remaining stages. An excess of 60 studies conducted over the last decade, along with some additional publications, were comprehensively reviewed; these focused on the main LCA methodological choices, including but not limited to, functional unit, system boundaries allocation methods and environmental indicators. The review identifies key recommendations on the progression of LCA for this increasingly important sustaining seafood sector. Specifically, these recommendations include (i) the need for specific indicators for fish-related activities, (ii) the target species and their geographical origin, (iii) knowledge and technology transfer and, (iv) the application and implementation of key recommendations from LCA research that will improve the accuracy of LCA models in this sector. Furthermore, the review comprises a section addressing previous and current challenges of the seafood sector. Wastewater treatment, ghost fishing or climate change, are also the objects of discussion together with advocating support for the water-energy-food nexus as a valuable tool to minimize environmental negativities and to frame successful synergies.

Regionalized Strategies for Food Loss and Waste Management in Spain under a Life Cycle Thinking Approach.

Food loss and waste (FLW) has become a central concern in the social and political debate. Simultaneously, using FLW as a bioenergy source could significantly contribute to closing the carbon cycle by reintroducing energy into the food supply chain. This study aims to identify best strategies for FLW management in each of the 17 regions in Spain, through the application of a Life Cycle Assessment. To this end, an evaluation of the environmental performance over time between 2015 and 2040 of five different FLW management scenarios implemented in a framework of (i) compliance and (ii) non-compliance with the targets of the Paris Agreement was performed. Results revealed savings in the consumption of abiotic resources in those regions in which thermal treatment has a strong presence, although their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in a scenario of compliance with climate change targets are higher. In contrast, scenarios that include anaerobic digestion and, to a lesser extent those applying aerobic composting, present lower impacts, including climate change, suggesting improvements of 20-60% in non-compliance and 20-80% in compliance with Paris Agreement targets, compared to the current scenarios.

Multi-Objective Optimization of Nutritional, Environmental and Economic Aspects of Diets Applied to the Spanish Context.

Current food consumption patterns must be revised in order to improve their sustainability. The nutritional, environmental, and economic consequences of these dietary patterns must be taken into consideration when diet guidelines are proposed. This study applied a systematic optimization methodology to define sustainable dietary patterns complying with nutritional, environmental, and economic issues. The methodology was based on a multi-objective optimization model that considered a distance-to-target approach. Although the three simultaneous objectives (maximal nutritional contribution, minimal greenhouse gas emissions, and minimal costs) could be divergent, the proposed model identified the optimal intake of each food product to achieve the maximal level of nutritional, environmental, and economic diets. This model was applied to six different eating patterns within the Spanish context: one based on current food consumption and five alternative diets. The results revealed that dietary patterns with improved nutritional profiles and reduced environmental impacts could be defined without additional costs just by increasing the consumption of vegetables, fruits, and legumes, while reducing the intake of meat and fish.

Environmental and nutritional impacts of dietary changes in Spain during the COVID-19 lockdown.

The COVID lockdown has affected food purchases and eating habits. In this regard, this short communication assesses the nutritional and environmental impacts of these changes during the COVID lockdown in Spain, by applying Life Cycle Assessment and an energy- and nutrient-corrected functional unit. Three environmental impacts were studied (Global Warming Potential, Blue Water Footprint and Land Use) and a total of seven weekly diet scenarios were designed: two pre-COVID diets for March and April in 2019 (MAR19, APR19), one COVID diet (COVID) and two alternative diets, one based on the National Dietary Guidelines (NDG) and another one on the Planetary Health Diet (PHD). Results show that the COVID diet had larger energy intake and lower nutritional quality, as well as higher environmental impacts (between 30 and 36%) than the pre-COVID eating patterns. Further research is needed to account for food affordability within this assessment, as well as to analyze how eating patterns will evolve after the COVID lockdown. Finally, the definition of short guidelines for sustainable food behaviors for future possible lockdowns is suggested, as well as the introduction of sustainable indicators within NDGs.

Bringing value to the chemical industry from capture, storage and use of CO2: A dynamic LCA of formic acid production.

Low carbon options for the chemical industry include switching from fossil to renewable energy, adopting new low-carbon production processes, along with retrofitting current plants with carbon capture for ulterior use (CCU technologies) or storage (CCS). In this paper, we combine a dynamic Life Cycle Assessment (d-LCA) with economic analysis to explore a potential transition to low-carbon manufacture of formic acid. We propose new methods to enable early technical, environmental and economic assessment of formic acid manufacture by electrochemical reduction of CO2 (CCU), and compare this production route to the conventional synthesis pathways and to storing CO2 in geological storage (CCS). Both CCU and CCS reduce carbon emissions in particular scenarios, although the uncertainty in results suggests that further research and scale-up validation are needed to clarify the relative emission reduction compared to conventional process pathways. There are trade-offs between resource security, cost and emissions between CCU and CCS systems. As expected, the CCS technology yields greater reductions in CO2 emissions than the CCU scenarios and the conventional processes. However, compared to CCS systems, CCU has better economic potential and lower fossil consumption, especially when powered by renewable electricity. The integration of renewable energy in the chemical industry has an important climate mitigation role, especially for processes with high electrical and thermal energy demands.

Introducing the Green Protein Footprint method as an understandable measure of the environmental cost of anchovy consumption.

In a global framework of growing concern for food security and environmental protection, the selection of food products with higher protein content and lower environmental impact is a challenge. To assess the reliability of different strategies along the food supply chain, a measure of food cost through the environmental impact-protein content binomial is necessary. This study proposes a standardized method to calculate the Green Protein Footprint (GPF) index, a method that assesses both the environmental impact of a food product and its protein content provided to consumers. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was used to calculate the environmental impact of the selected food products, and a Life Cycle Protein Assessment (LCPA) was performed by accounting for the protein content along the supply chain. Although the GPF can be applied to all food chain products, this paper is focused on European anchovy-based products for indirect human consumption (fishmeal) and for direct human consumption (fresh, salted and canned anchovies). Moreover, the circular economy concept was applied considering the valorization of the anchovy residues generated during the canning process. These residues were used to produce fishmeal, which was employed in bass aquaculture. Hence, humans are finally consuming fish protein from the residues, closing the loop of the original product life cycle. More elaborated, multi-ingredient food products (salted and canned anchovy products), presented higher GPF values due to higher environmental impacts. Furthermore, the increase of food loss throughout their life cycle caused a decrease in the protein content. Regarding salted and canned products, the packaging was the main hotspot. The influence of the packaging was evaluated using the GPF, reaffirming that plastic was the best alternative. These results highlighted the importance of improving packaging materials in food products.

LCA of greywater management within a water circular economy restorative thinking framework.

Greywater reuse is an attractive option for the sustainable management of water under water scarcity circumstances, within a water circular economy restorative thinking framework. Its successful deployment relies on the availability of low cost and environmentally friendly technologies. The life cycle assessment (LCA) approach provides the appropriate methodological tool for the evaluation of alternative treatments based on environmental decision criteria and, therefore, it is highly useful during the process conceptual design. This methodology should be employed in the early design phase to select those technologies with lower environmental impact. This work reports the comparative LCA of three scenarios for greywater reuse: photocatalysis, photovoltaic solar-driven photocatalysis and membrane biological reactor, in order to help the selection of the most environmentally friendly technology. The study has been focused on the removal of the surfactant sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate, which is used in the formulation of detergents and personal care products and, thus, widely present in greywater. LCA was applied using the Environmental Sustainability Assessment methodology to obtain two main environmental indicators in order to simplify the decision making process: natural resources and environmental burdens. Energy consumption is the main contributor to both indicators owing to the high energy consumption of the light source for the photocatalytic greywater treatment. In order to reduce its environmental burdens, the most desirable scenario would be the use of solar light for the photocatalytic transformation. However, while the technological challenge of direct use of solar light is approached, the environmental suitability of the photovoltaic solar energy driven photocatalysis technology to greywater reuse has been demonstrated, as it involves the smallest environmental impact among the three studied alternatives.