projects and publications

Our work

Examples of our projects and publications

In this section, you’ll find a selection of projects and publications (including earlier work carried out in previous roles). These projects reflect our experience in areas such as life cycle assessment (LCA), environmental footprinting, sustainable food systems, and climate change adaptation.
Whether it’s helping companies quantify the carbon footprint of their products, supporting international development projects with climate risk assessments and life cycle assessments, or translating complex environmental data into clear insights—each project reflects our commitment to supporting informed decisions for a more sustainable future.
This page will be updated regularly with new work and recent collaborations, so feel free to check back for fresh insights and case studies!

Energy in the food system

The agri-food system accounts for nearly a third of global energy use, needed to produce, process, and deliver food from farm to fork. This journal article (to be published soon) explores the concept of embodied energy – the total energy input across a food product’s life cycle – and provides typical energy use ranges for each life cycle stage. It also examines key factors affecting energy consumption, such as the type of production system (e.g. plant- vs. animal-based), the level of processing, packaging, transportation, preparation, and consumer behaviour.

Climate risk assessment

In her previous role as Climate change adaptation & resilience advisor at Netherlands Development Organisation SNV, Caroline developed a climate risk assessment tool, to help address climate risks along agricultural value chains in developing countries. The tools identifies the main climate impacts, and the actors, resources and processes along the value chain that are most vulnerable. The climate risk assessment tool helps to integrate climate change adaptation options into SNV’s projects ensuring farmers are prepared for the climate challenges ahead.

Comparative LCA for Oatly Barista vs cow’s milk

As part of her previous work at Blonk, Caroline has conducted a critically reviewed (according to ISO 14040/14044) Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) comparing Oatly Barista against cow’s milk across multiple markets (NL, DE, SE, UK, FI, and US for Barista). The study quantified nine impact categories—from climate change to water use and land use—as well as the contribution of individual life cycle stages. Caroline has also contributed to several follow-up reports for additional products and regions (see publication list below).

full report

Nutrient Cycle Assessment Tool

The Nutrient Cycle Assessment Tool (NCAT) is a participatory instrument designed by Wageningen University (WUR) to evaluate how interventions in the agrifood system affect nutrient cycles and related sustainability themes. By combining stakeholder input with expert analysis, NCAT fosters shared understanding among diverse actors and helps identify balanced solutions. Caroline has supported several of the NCAT cases by providing relevant sustainability metrics and calculations. A reflection on the NCAT work can be found in this article (in Dutch), and links to individual cases can be found below.

read the report

Optimized diets for Belgium

This study conducted for WWF Belgium explores how Belgian diets can shift to become healthier, more climate-friendly, and more affordable. Using the Optimeal® tool, Caroline and colleagues from Blonk modelled a future diet that meets all nutritional guidelines and reduces carbon emissions, land use, and biodiversity loss—while cutting food costs by 9%. The optimised diet significantly lowers meat and processed food intake, increases fruit, vegetables and legumes, and creates room for sustainable (certified) product choices within the same budget.

WWF report

full report

Organic vs conventional agriculture

This journal article (based on Caroline’s dissertation from the University of Edinburgh) explores how organic farming compares to conventional practices in tropical and subtropical regions. Drawing on extensive literature, it examines differences in productivity, profitability, and soil health. The findings show that organic systems can offer clear environmental and economic benefits—especially in low-income and arid regions—highlighting their potential as a sustainable alternative for smallholder farmers.

read the article

Pastoralists & the SDGs

This paper, written by Caroline as former member of CELEP (Coalition of European Lobbies for Eastern African Pastoralism), examines how pastoralism can contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It outlines key challenges and identifies the policy and practice changes needed to further unlock pastoralism’s potential as a climate-resilient, food-producing, and livelihood-supporting system in drylands. The paper includes concrete intervention examples to illustrate how sustainable development in pastoral areas can be supported in practice.

read the paper

LCA of cashew & rice in West Africa

This study (presented at LCA Food 2020) shows that locally grown and processed rice and cashew in West Africa have significantly lower carbon footprints than importing rice from Vietnam or processing West African cashew in Vietnam, largely due to less intensive farming and reduced transport. Sustainable practices like field drainage (rice) and tree pruning (cashew) further reduce impacts. The findings highlight the environmental benefits of strengthening local food systems and processing capacity in West Africa.

read the article

Pastoralists and resilience

In this paper, Caroline describes SNV’s approach to strengthening the resilience of pastoralist and agro-pastoralist communities in Africa’s drylands, where climate change and resource pressures threaten livelihoods. SNV promotes sustainable, inclusive livestock systems through land and resource management, mobile data tools, strong market access, and gender-inclusive value chain development. By enhancing mobility, governance, and service delivery, SNV enables pastoralists to adapt, generate income, and sustainably manage ecosystems.

read the paper

Full list of publications

Bremmer, B., O.N.M. van Eijk, T.V. Vellinga, F.A.J. Gort, J. Scholten & C. te Pas (2025). Reflectie op 7 cases van de KringloopToets: Lessen van werken met een instrument om meer grip te krijgen op het sluiten van kringlopen. Wageningen Livestock Research, Openbaar Rapport 1549. (link)
te Pas, C., C. Dutilh, H. Blonk (2024) Energy in the food system, Reference Module in Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences, Elsevier, 2024 (link)
te Pas, C., G. Brussino, N. Goemans, V. Takou, E. Herrera (2024) LCA of Oatly Barista for Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Italy and Spain, and comparison with cow’s milk, Blonk Sustainability, Gouda, Netherlands (link)
te Pas, C., N. Goemans, V. Takou, E. Herrera (2024) LCA of Oatly Unsweetened and Super Basic Oatmilks and comparison to cow’s milk in the United States, Blonk Sustainability, Gouda, Netherlands (link)
te Pas, C., A. Vanier, V. Takou, E. Herrera (2024) LCA of chilled Oatly Oat Drink Semi for Sweden and Finland, and comparison with cow’s milk, Blonk Sustainability, Gouda, Netherlands (link)
te Pas, C., G. Brussino, N. Goemans, V. Takou, E. Herrera (2024) LCA of Oatly Barista for Poland, Ireland and France, and comparison with cow’s milk, Blonk Sustainability, Gouda, Netherlands (link)
Eijk, O. van, B. Bremmer, T. Vellinga, J. van Rooijen, C. te Pas, R. Vloet, L. Franke & F. Gort (2023). Toekomstbestendige landbouw Apeldoorn: Ontwikkeling van een gedeeld perspectief op de toekomst van de Apeldoornse landbouw met hulp van de KringloopToets. Rapport nr. 1406 – Wageningen UR: Wageningen. (link)
te Pas, C. (2022) LCA of Oatly “No” Sugars and Oatly Oat Drink (Whole/Semi/Light), and comparison with cow’s milk, Blonk Sustainability, Gouda, Netherlands (link)
te Pas, C., C. Westbroek (2022) LCA of Oatly Barista and comparison with cow’s milk, Blonk Sustainability, Gouda, Netherlands (link)
Bremmer, B., O.N.M. van Eijk, T.V. Vellinga, C. te Pas, J. Scholten, B.G. Meerburg & C. Verburg (2021). Effects of banning imports of animal feed raw materials from outside the EU on the circularity of the European agricultural and food system. Rapport nr. 1299 – Wageningen UR: Wageningen. (link)
Bremmer, B., O.N.M. van Eijk, J. Scholten, T.V. Vellinga, C. te Pas, B.G. Meerburg & C. Verburg (2021). Mogelijkheden voor een forse reductie van broeikasgassen vanuit de diervoederketen: Een multistakeholder zoektocht met hulp van de KringloopToets. Rapport nr. 1313. Wageningen UR: Wageningen. (link)
te Pas, C., J. Scholten, F. Frewer, K. Spantig, S. Solf (2020) The potential of local production and processing in West Africa: How does the environmental footprint of rice and cashew from Nigeria and Ghana compare to rice imported from and cashew processed in Vietnam? LCA Food Conference Proceedings (181): 519-523. (link)
te Pas, C., L. de Weert, R. Broekema (2021) Towards a sustainable, healthy and affordable Belgian diet, Blonk Sustainability, Gouda, Netherlands. (link)
te Pas, C., P. Dilthey, U. Schwarz, A. Waters-Bayer (2019) Pastoralism & the SDGs – How supporting pastoralism can help realise the Sustainable Development Goals, Coalition of European Lobbies for Eastern African Pastoralism (CELEP). (link)
te Pas, C.M., R. M. Rees (2014) Analysis of Differences in Productivity, Profitability and Soil Fertility Between Organic and Conventional Cropping Systems in the Tropics and Sub-tropics, Journal of Integrative Agriculture, Volume 13, Issue 10, 2014, Pages 2299-2310. (link)

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Others

A selection of online blogs and articles written by Caroline:

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