About Nathan Pelletier
I'm an Assistant Professor, jointly appointed in the Faculties of Arts and Sciences (Biology) and Management at the University of British Columbia - Okanagan. I currently hold the Endowed Chair in Bio-economy Sustainability Management / Egg Industry Chair in Sustainability and NSERC/Egg Farmers of Canada Industrial Research Chair in Sustainability.
My work is broadly situated in the fields of ecological economics and industrial ecology, emergent research areas focused on understanding and managing the sustainability dimensions of economic activity. My research vision is motivated by the recognition that promoting human well-being and social justice ultimately requires first that we maintain the integrity of the natural communities that provide the context in which human life and society become possible and upon which we depend for our basic needs.
Areas of research interest are the theory and practical application of ecological economic instruments in bio-economy (food, feed, and biomass) sustainability measurement, management and communication initiatives. I contribute to the development of methodological frameworks for evaluation and management of the scale, resource efficiency, and social dimensions of sustainability - in particular, life cycle-based product and organization-level accountancy tools for supply chain sustainability management. I subsequently apply these frameworks to scenario-model the sustainability implications of alternative bio-economy technologies and management regimes with respect to sustainability targets and thresholds. Specific domains of interest include climate change, energy use, reactive nitrogen, food security, social licence, and market access.
Listen to Dr. Nathan Pelletier speak at TEDx Kelowna 2018 on "The Future of Food and Sustainability"
Refereed Journal Articles and Reports:
Pelletier, N., Doyon, M., Muirhead, B., Widowski, T., Nurse-Gupta, J., Hunniford, M.
2018 Sustainability in the Canadian egg industry - Learning from the past, navigating the present, planning for the future. Sustainability 10:3524.
Pelletier, N.
2018 Social sustainability assessment of Canadian egg production facilities: Methods, analysis, and recommendations. Sustainability 10(5).
Pelletier, N., Klinger, D., Sims, N., Yoshioka, J., Kittinger, J.
2018 Nutritional attributes, substitutability, scalability, and environmental intensity of an illustrative subset of current and future protein sources for aquaculture feeds: Joint consideration of potential synergies and trade-offs. Environmental Science and Technology.
Pelletier, N.
2018 Changes in the life cycle environmental footprint of egg production in Canada from 1962-2012. Journal of Cleaner Production 176(1):1144-1153.
Pelletier, N., Sala, S., Ostaglu, E., Rosenbaum, E., Vasta, A., Benoit-Norris, C. and G. Norris.
2018 Social sustainability in trade and development policy. International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 23(3):629-639.
Pelletier, N.
2017 Life cycle assessment of Canadian egg products, with differentiation by hen housing system type. Journal of Cleaner Production 152:167-180.
Pelletier, N.
2015 Life cycle thinking, measurement and management for food system sustainability. Invited feature article. Environmental Science and Technology 49(13):7515-7519
Tuomisto, H., De Camillis, C., Leip, A., Nisini, L., Pelletier, N., Haastrup, P.
2015 Development and testing of a European Union-wide farm-level carbon calculator. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management 11(3):404-416.
McGrath, K., Pelletier, N. and P. Tyedmers.
2015 Life cycle assessment of a novel, closed-containment salmon aquaculture technology. Environmental Science and Technology 49(9):5628-5636.
Baranzelli, C., Vandecasteele, I., Ribeiro Barranco, R., Mari i Rivero, I., Pelletier, N., Batelaan, O. and C. Lavalle.
2015 Scenarios for shale gas development in the Baltic Basin, Northern Poland. Energy Policy 84:80-95.
Manfredi, S., Allacker, K., Pelletier, N., Schau, E., Pant, R. and D. Pennington.
2015 Developing the European Commission Product Environmental Footprint methods: Review of existing approaches and recommendations. International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 20(3):389-404.
Pelletier, N., Brandao, M., de Camillis, C., Ardente, F. and D. Pennington.
2015 Rationales for and criticisms of preferred multi-functionality problems in LCA: is increased consistency possible? International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 20(1):74-86.
Avadi, A., Pelletier, N., Aubin, J., Nunez, J., Ralite, S. and P. Freon.
2015 Comparative environmental performance of artisanal and commercial feed use in Peruvian freshwater aquaculture. Aquaculture 435(1):52-66.
Clair, T., Pelletier, N., Bittman, S., Leip, A., Arp, P., Moran, M., Dennis, I., Niemi, D., Stirling, S., Drury, C. and J. Yang.
2014 Interactions between reactive nitrogen and the Canadian landscape: A budget approach. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 28(11):1343-1357.
Allacker, K., Mathieux, F., Manfredi, S., Pelletier, N., de Camillis, C., Ardente, F. and R. Pant.
2014 Allocation solutions for secondary material production and end of life recovery: proposals for policy initiatives. Resources, Conservation and Recycling 88:1-12.
Pelletier, N., Maas, R., Goralcyk, M. and M. Wolf.
2014 Conceptual basis for the European Sustainability Footprint: Towards a new policy assessment framework. Environmental Development 9:12-23.
Pelletier, N., Andrae, J., Charef, A., Damalas, D., Green, B., Parker, R., Sumaila, R., Thomas, G., Tobin,
2014 R. and R. Watson. Energy prices and (sea)food security: Can fisheries and aquaculture adapt? Global Environmental Change 24:30-41.
Pelletier, N., Ibarbaru-Blanc, M., and H. Xin.
2014 Comparison of the U.S. egg industry’s environmental footprint in 1960 and 2010. Poultry Science 93:243-255.
Pelletier, N. and A. Leip.
2014 Quantifying anthropogenic mobilization, flows (in product systems) and losses of fixed nitrogen in process-based environmental life cycle assessment: Rational, methods and application to a life cycle inventory. International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 19:166-173.
Pelletier, N., Allacker, K., Pant, R. and S. Manfredi.
2014 The European Commission Organisation Environmental Footprint method: comparison with other methods, and rationales for key requirements. International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 19:387-404.
Pelletier, N., Ibarbaru-Blanc, M. and H. Xin.
2013 Life cycle assessment of greenhouse gas emissions for contemporary intensive egg production systems in the Upper Midwestern United States. Journal of Cleaner Production 54:108-114.
Henriksson, P., Pelletier, N., Troell, M. and P. Tyedmers.
2012 Life cycle assessment and its application to aquaculture production systems. In Meyers, R. (ed.). Encyclopaedia of Sustainability Science and Technology. Springer, pp. 5893-5909.
Pelletier, N. and P. Tyedmers.
2012 Response to Weinzettel. Journal of Industrial Ecology 16(3):456-458.
Ford, J., Pelletier, N., Ziegler, F., Scholz, A., Tyedmers, P., Sonesson, U., Kruse, S. and H. Silverman.
2012 Developing local ecological impact categories and indicators for life cycle assessment of salmon aquaculture. Journal of Industrial Ecology 16(2):254-265.
Pelletier, N., Audsley, E., Brodt, S., Garnett, T., Henrikkson, P., Kendall, A., Kramer, K., Murphy, D., Nemecek, T. and M. Troell.
2011 Energy intensity of agriculture and food systems. Annual Review of Environment and Resources 36:233-246.
Pelletier, N. and P. Tyedmers
2011 An ecological economic critique of the use of market information in life cycle assessment research. Journal of Industrial Ecology 15(3):342-354.
Rudd, M., Pelletier, N. and P. Tyedmers.
2011 Willingness to pay for health and environmental attributes of farmed salmon amongst southern Ontario salmon consumers. Aquaculture Economics and Management 15(1):18-45.
Pelletier, N. and P. Tyedmers.
2010 Forecasting potential global environmental costs of livestock production 2000-2050. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 107(43):18371-18374.
Pelletier, N., Lammers, P., Stender, D. and R. Pirog.
2010 Life cycle assessment of high- and low-profitability conventional and deep-bedded niche swine production systems in the Upper Midwestern United States. Agricultural Systems 103(9):599-608.
Pelletier, N.
2010 Environmental sustainability as the first principle of distributive justice: Towards a communitarian-based normative foundation for ecological economics. Ecological Economics 69(10):1887-1894.
Pelletier, N., Rasmussen, R. and R. Pirog.
2010 Comparative life cycle impacts of three beef production strategies in the Upper Midwestern United States. Agricultural Systems 103(6):380-389
Pelletier, N. and P. Tyedmers.
2010 A life cycle assessment of frozen Indonesian tilapia fillets from lake and pond-based production systems. Journal of Industrial Ecology 14(3):467-481.
Pelletier, N.
2010 Of laws and limits: An ecological economic perspective on redressing the failures of contemporary global environmental governance. Global Environmental Change 20(2):220-228.
Jacquet, J., Hocevar, J., Lai, S., Majluf, P., Pelletier, N., Pitcher, T., Sala, E., Sumaila, R. and D. Pauly.
2010 Conserving wild fish in a sea of market-based efforts. Oryx 44:45-56.
Pelletier, N., Tyedmers, P., Sonesson, U., Scholz, A., Zeigler, F., Flysjo, A., Kruse, S., Cancino, B. and H. Silverman.
2009 Not all salmon are create equal: Life cycle assessment (LCA) of global salmon farming systems. Environmental Science and Technology 43(23):8730-8736.
Pelletier, N., Arsenault, N. and P. Tyedmers.
2008 Scenario-modeling potential eco-efficiency gains from a transition to organic agriculture: Life cycle perspectives on Canadian canola, corn, soy and wheat production. Environmental Management 42:989-1001.
Pelletier, N. and P. Tyedmers.
2008 Life cycle considerations for improving sustainability assessments in seafood awareness campaigns. Environmental Management 42:918-941.
Pelletier, N.
2008 Environmental performance in the US broiler poultry sector: Life cycle energy use and greenhouse gas, ozone depleting, acidifying and eutrophying emissions. Agricultural Systems 98:67-73.
Pelletier, N. and P. Tyedmers.
2007 Feeding farmed salmon: Is organic better? Aquaculture 272:399-416.
Pelletier, N., Ayer, N., Tyedmers, P., N., Kruse, S., Flysjo, A., Robillard, G., Ziegler, F., Scholz, A., and U. Sonesson.
2007 Impact categories for Life Cycle Assessment research of seafood production: Review and prospectus. International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 12(6):414-421.
Ayer, N., Tyedmers, P., Pelletier, N., Sonesson, U., and A. Scholz.
2007 Allocation in Life Cycle Assessments of seafood production systems: Review of problems and strategies. International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 12(7):480-487.
Tyedmers, P., Pelletier, N., and N. Ayer.
2007 Marine aquaculture and the biophysical sustainability of seafood production systems: A comparative analysis. A report to the United States Marine Aquaculture Taskforce, convened by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.
Tyedmers, P. and N. Pelletier.
2006 Biophysical accounting in aquaculture: Insights from current practice and the need for methodological development. A technical report to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome.
Pelletier, N.
2004 Conspecific injury fluids induce an electrophysiological response in the clonal tunicate Clavelina huntsmani. Marine Biology 145(6):1159-1165.
Non-refereed Industry Reports:
Pelletier, N.
2016 Sustainable sourcing activities for agricultural products in Canada: Key features, commonalities and differences. Developed under contract for Agricultural Research and Extension Council of Alberta.
Pelletier, N.
2015 Environmental footprint of Canadian eggs: 1962 versus 2012. Developed under contract for Egg Farmers of Canada.
Pelletier, N.
2015 Environmental life cycle assessment of the Canadian layer egg industry: a national average benchmark, and performance by housing system type. Developed under contract for Egg Farmers of Canada.
Pelletier, N.
2015 Social life cycle assessment of the Canadian layer egg industry: a national average benchmark study. Developed under contract for Egg Farmers of Canada.
Pelletier, N.
2015 Review of Tosca LCA of Packaging Study for ISO 14044-compliance. Developed under contract for Tosca Ltd.
Pelletier, N.
2014 Carbon footprint analysis of Regal Springs Tilapia: Mexico and Honduras. Developed under contract for Regal Springs Tilapia.
Pelletier, N., Ibarbaru, M., and H. Xin.
2014 The environmental footprint of U.S. eggs: Comparison with animal products and egg replacer products. Developed under contract for the American Egg Board.
Pelletier, N., Ibarbaru, M., and H. Xin.
2013 A comparative assessment of the environmental footprint of the U.S. egg industry in 1960 and 2010. Developed under contract for the American Egg Board, United Egg Producers and Egg Industry Center.
Pelletier, N., Tyedmers, P. and D. Robb.
2012 Ecological Footprint modeling of EWOS feeds Phase V: UK, Norway, Canada, Chile and Vietnam. Developed under contract for EWOS Innovation, Scotland.
Pelletier, N., Ibarbaru-Blanc, M. and H. Xin.
2011 Carbon footprinting for contemporary egg production and processing supply chains in Iowa. Developed under contract for the American Egg Board, USA.
Tyedmers, P., Pelletier, N., Garret, A. and S. Anton.
2007 Greenhouse gas emissions for selected seafood species supplied to UK processors. Prepared in cooperation with SeaFish Industry Authority, UK.
Pelletier, N.
2004 Going organic: A new wave in aquaculture. Aquaculture Association of Canada Special Publication No. 8:77-79.
Selected Reports for Government
Pelletier, N.
2015 Sustainability indicators, tools and reporting systems for agri-food products. Developed under contract for Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development.
Pelletier, N.
2014 Life cycle assessment in agriculture: Applications, social license, and market access. Developed under contract for Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development.
Pelletier, N., Ostaglu, E., Benoit, C., and G. Norris.
2014 Social sustainability in trade and development policy: A life cycle approach to understanding and managing social risk attributable to production and consumption in the EU. Produced for Directorate General – Joint Research Centre, European Commission.
Pelletier, N., Maas, R., Goralcyk, M. and M.-A. Wolf.
2012 Towards a life cycle-based European Sustainability Footprint framework. Produced for Directorate General – Joint Research Centre, European Commission.
Nita, V., Benini, L., Ciupagea, C., Kavalov, B. and N. Pelletier.
2012 Bio-economy and sustainability: A potential contribution to the Bio-economy Observatory. Produced for Directorate General – Joint Research Centre, European Commission.
Baranzelli C., Vandecasteele, I., Barranco, R. and N. Pelletier.
2012 Towards spatially-resolved assessment of land and water use scenarios for shale gas development in Poland. Produced for Directorate General – Joint Research Centre, European Commission.
Kavalov, B. and N. Pelletier.
2012 Shale gas for Europe: Main environmental and social considerations. Produced for Directorate General – Joint Research Centre, European Commission.
Pelletier, N., Chomkamsri, K., Manfredi S. and R. Pant.
2012 Organisation Environmental Footprint Guide. Institute for Environment and Sustainability, European Commission Joint Research Center, Ispra, Italy. Produced for Directorate General – Joint Research Centre, European Commission.
Chomkamsri, K., Pelletier, N., Manfredi S. and R. Pant.
2012 Product Environmental Footprint Guide. Institute for Environment and Sustainability, European Commission Joint Research Center, Ispra, Italy. Produced for Directorate General – Environment, European Commission.
Chomkamsri, K., Pelletier, N. and R. Pant.
2011 Analysis of existing environmental footprint methodologies for products and organizations: Recommendations, rational and alignment. Institute for Environment and Sustainability, European Commission Joint Research Center, Ispra, Italy. Produced for Directorate General – Environment, European Commission.
Pelletier, N.
2003 Understanding proposed organic certification standards for farmed salmon. BC Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Victoria, BC.
Pelletier, N.
2003 Invertebrate type specimens of the Royal British Columbia Museum. Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria, BC.
Pelletier, N.
2001 Natural history profiles and life tables of BC wildlife species: A risk assessment tool for contaminated sites. Contaminated Sites Unit, Pollution Prevention and Remediation Branch, BC Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks, Victoria, BC.
