UBC Okanagan and the National Research Council of Canada have launched publicly accessible data resources to help Canadian industries measure and improve their sustainability.
A new national database co-developed by researchers at UBC Okanagan and the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) aims to help Canadian industries better measure and manage sustainability.
Led by Dr. Nathan Pelletier, Associate Professor in UBCO’s Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science, the project creates a shared database that provides companies, industry groups and researchers with reliable data to assess the sustainability of their products and supply chains.
“Making informed decisions about sustainability is complex because it involves environmental, economic and social factors, all linked through global supply chains,” Dr. Pelletier says. “Until now, Canadian stakeholders have often relied on proxy data from Europe or the United States. This database begins to fill a crucial gap by providing Canadian-specific, quality-controlled data.”
The database builds on Pelletier’s previous work with the Canadian Agri-food Life Cycle Data Centre and is backed by the Sustainable Protein Production program.
The database includes detailed data for Canada’s agri-food sector—starting with plant-based protein crops like pulses—and will expand to other industries in the coming years.
The platform lets users both access data and add their own, helping it grow and improve over time.
Paul Wiebe, Director of the NRC’s Sustainable Protein Production program, calls the initiative a key success.
“This collaboration highlights how the NRC and UBC can create tools to benefit Canadian industry,” he says. “Access to transparent, Canada-specific data will help producers demonstrate the sustainability benefits of their products and attributes like low carbon and water footprints, which are increasingly important in global trade.”
The agri-food part of the public database is now live, with initial data from Pelletier’s Food Systems PRISM Lab on agriculture and food production.
Pelletier’s lab is working with national industry groups, including Pulse Canada, Egg Farmers of Canada and the Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre, to grow the database and promote its use across the sector.
Pelletier says the goal is to support businesses and researchers while also helping Canada follow international best practices.
“Using lifecycle data to measure sustainability is the global gold standard, and Canada should be involved in that conversation,” he says. “This resource gives us the tools to do it.”
Learn more and access the database at: eeecc.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/en/life-cycle-inventory-warehouse.
