environmentally friendly food consumption: what does this...
TRANSCRIPT
Environmentally friendly food consumption:
What does this mean for consumers?
Dr. Niels Jungbluth ESU-services Ltd., Uster, Switzerland
USE USE44th LCA Discussion Forum
Lausanne, June 21st 2011
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Food and Environmental Impacts
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Contents
• Environmental impacts of food
consumption
• Conclusions concerning food purchases
from the consumers point of view
• Public interest
• Open research questions
Processing: salad or cooked?
One product: How is it packed?
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Which questions to be answered?
Levels of Consumer Decision Making (DML)
Variants of one product:
organic or greenhouse tomatoes? Fresh or chilled?
Product group: tomatoes or carrots?
Need field nourishing:
meat or vegetables?
All need fields (mobility, nourishing)
It is possible to address different types of questions, but not with one analysis
Several issues
LCIA method:
Impact category
Energy,non-renew able
Energy, renew able
Ore and minerals
Water
Biotic resources
Land occupation
Land-transformation
Only CO2
Climate change incl. CO2
Ozone depletion
Human toxicity
Particulate matter formation
Photochemical ozone formation
Ecotoxicity
Acidif ication
Eutrophication
Odours
Noise
Ionising radiation
Endocrine disruptors
Accidents
Wastes
Littering
Salinisation
Erosion
Resourc
es
Em
issio
ns
Oth
ers
One environmental issue
CEDCarbon
footprint
Ecological
footprint
Ecological
scarcity 2006
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Which Life
cycle impact
assessment
(LCIA)? Carbon Footprint, CED:
Easy to understand,
Internationally accepted,
Lower workload, Not
comprehensive
Ecological footprint:
easy to understand, low
workload,
globally known, only two
issues: CO2 and land use
Ecological scarcity:
Comprehensive, reflects
Swiss policy targets, used
for assessment of
products, companies and
for the whole economy
It is necessary to apply LCIA methods that cover a range of environmental impacts
For this presentation we use the Swiss ecological scarcity method 2006
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Overall importance of nutrition in total
consumption of households
Nutrition causes about 30% of total environmental impacts of consumption
Carbon footprint and energy demand underestimate the agricultural impacts
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
energy demand climate change ecological
scarcity
services
mobility
health care
housing, non-energy
energy use in house
clothing
nutrition
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Further evaluation of consumption
Nutrition and mobility most intensive per money spent
40% of the environmental impacts due to nutrition occurs abroad
Share of product groups
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Animal products (meat, milk, eggs) are most important
Stimulants like wine, coffee, alcoholics cannot be neglected
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Environmental impacts of meat purchases
Agricultural production dominates total impacts of meat products
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Environmental impacts of vegetable purchases
All characteristics are important for plant products
Air transports and heated greenhouse cause highest burdens for vegetables/fruits
We can buy aspargus the whole year?
Highest: Air transport
Middle: Greenhouse products
Lowest: Open-ground production in CH
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Meals at canteen kitchens: ecological scarcity 2006
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
9000
braised meat
beef, french
fries
chicken
drumstick,
courgette,
french fries
chop of pork,
carrots,
roesti
lambstew
and
vegetables,
carrots,
french fries
veal sliced in
cream,
carrots,
roesti
mean meat
meals
curry with
vegetables
and rice
risotto lasagne wit
vegetables
spaetzle with
vegetables
tofu in
cream,
carrots,
roesti
mean
vegetarian
meals
Eco
po
ints
/Meal
starch side dish
vegetable side dish
main dishø 6622 Pts.
ø 2085 Pts.
Canteen Meals:
comparison of vegetarian and meat based recipes
Vegetarian meals have considerably lower environmental impacts
1/3
for
vegetarian
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0
5'000
10'000
15'000
20'000
25'000
30'000
35'000
beef, frozen, 400g beef, chilled, 400g vegetarian, frozen, 400g beef, chilled, 400g beef, frozen, 400g
standard microwave long storage
Eco
-po
ints
20
06
pe
r kg
la
sa
gn
e
warm-up
storage in the Household
transport (supermarket to household)
distribution
packaging
lasagne production
Ready-to-Eat Lasagne and user behaviour
Important differences in the use phase need to be addressed
Differences in production less obvious if full life cycle is evaluated
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Conclusions for Consumers
Eat more vegetarian. Consumption of meat, fish and
animal products must be reduced
two meat portions a week (400-500 grams)
one portion fish per month
Avoid air transported products
Buy seasonal and no products from heated greenhouse
Reduce stimulants like alcoholics, coffee and chocolate
Consider energy savings in private transportation and the
household appliances
Reduce wastage and overconsumption
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Influencing consumers behaviour with LCA
• A lot of knowledge is available for consumers
• LCA studies are sometimes confusing if opposite results
• Less options for reducing environmental impacts
compared to other fields like mobility and housing
• People tend to follow the easy things and not the
important things, e.g. recycling of packages instead
reducing meat consumption
Stress the points that are really important and not what is
scientifically surprising
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Public interest on LCA studies of food
• High public interest allows to teach life cycle thinking
• Many people mix health aspects and environmental
aspects when looking at food
• Sensations, even if wrong, are more interesting than
confirmation of former research
• Detailed comparisons are more suited for producers and
distributors than for consumers
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Lessons learned so far
• Carbon footprinting is often misleading
• LCA covering a range of environmental impacts is
necessary to reduce burden shifting
• Reduced consumption of animal products helps
the climate and the environment
• There is always an exception from the general
rule
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Outlook and open research questions
• Good models to address regional variation and specific
types of emissions in agriculture
• Research on processed food, ready-to-eat meals and
restaurants is necessary (eating at home is phasing out)
• Determine the level of sustainable consumption for
animal products
• More case studies on food ingredients like flavours
• More data on wastage in all stages and its inclusion in
LCA are needed
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Today I can enjoy the local
asparagus,
But it took me 950 liters of oil to
travel 18'777 km to California!
Information about our studies www.esu-services.ch/publications/food/
Calculate the impacts of Your food consumption www.ulme.ethz.ch
Granted,
my car consumes a lot ...
But, Your Californian
asparagus needs also 5
liters per kg (in
Switzerland)!
Annexe
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Life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) methods
environmental impacts carbon footprint
(kg CO2-eq)
ecological
footprint (m2a)
ecological
scarcity
2006 (UBP)
ReCiPe
(points)
abiotic resources, incl. water
nuclear energy
fossil energy
land occupation
land transformation
climate change
ozone depletion
toxicity
summer smog
acidification
nutrification
endocrine disruptors
noise, odour, litter
ionising radiation
waste (incl. radioactive waste)
em
issio
ns
resourc
es
Carbon Footprint: Easy to understand, Internationally accepted, Lower
workload, Not comprehensive
Ecological footprint: easy to understand, low workload,
globally known, only CO2 and land, but not anymore nuclear energy Ecological scarcity: Comprehensive, high workload, high variability for
agricultural products, Swiss political focus but idea used elsewhere
ReCiPe: Dominated by GWP and fossil energy, European focus,
nuclear waste not assessed, land transformation for imports quite important
Matter of choice and values, but not of science (alone)
We recommend the Swiss ecological scarcity 2006 method
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Ecological Scarcity 2006
Result Weighting Characterisation Inventory
Swiss
environmental
legal targets
eco
points
Primary energy
Ozone depletion
Climate change
Biodiversity
Effectiveness
Estrogene potential
Cancer and hereditary e.
Acidification
Crude oil
Uranium
Wood
Land occupation
Fresh water
Hazardous waste
Nuclear waste
Carbon dioxide (CO2)
HCFC
SO2
NMVOC
I-129
N total
Endocrine disruptors
Heavy metals
Pesticides
Assessment of emissions to air, water and soil as well as resource uses
Aggregation of exchanges according to the environmental scarcity defined in Swiss politics
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• Land use: impacts on biodiversity used in characterisation
• Radionuclide emissions to the Sea included
• Phosphorus input into freshwater bodies:
regional differences are considered
• Emissions of endocrine disruptors to freshwater bodies
• Pesticides: Standard dose used in characterisation
Specific features of Swiss Version
Who uses UBP for biomass products? • LCA practitioners
– Carbotech (biomass materials)
– Climatop (cream, asparagus)
– EMPA (e.g. biofuels, coffee)
– ESU-services (food consumption)
– ETH (e.g. vegetables)
• Customers
– BFE, BLW, BAFU, WWF, Migros, Coop, McDonalds, City of
Zürich, Climatop and others
• Japanese version developed within biofuels research program
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www.esu-services.ch Page 25 Several emissions and resource uses must be considered
Total emissions by Swiss consumption
(Ecological Scarcity - UBP)
www.esu-services.ch Page 26 Fossil energy and CO2 account for more than 60% of impacts
Total emissions by Swiss consumption
(ReCiPe, World, endpoint (H,A))
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Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA)
Ecological scarcity vs ReCiPe
Quite different assessment of nuclear energy
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International acceptance of LCIA
• No acceptance of single score methods in the
international LCA community because not allowed by ISO
14040
• Different political views in different regions and
communities e.g. nuclear energy, water scarcity,
resources
• Ecological scarcity concept is being used in other nations
and world regions (e.g. Japan) and can be applied where
quantified environmental goals are available
LCIA method developed as combination of a scientific and political process
Different priorities set by different groups of people
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Combination of Product Characteristics
for Vegetables
Easy evaluation of consumption patterns
-
500
1'000
1'500
2'000
2'500
3'000
3'500
4'000
GH, Berne, fresh,
plastic
IP, Berne, fresh,
paper
IP, EU, DF,
cardboard
IP, world, fresh,
cardboard
Org., Berne, fresh,
no packaging
eco
-po
ints
pe
r kg
pu
rch
ase
d
Origin
Consumption
Packaging
Conservation
Agriculture
IP - Integrated Production
GH - Greenhouse
CH - Switzerland
EU - Europe
DF - Deep Frozen
Org. - Organic
past. - pasteurized
9'700
Fish or meat?
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Fish can cause as high environmental impacts as meat
Nutrients emitted during farming can be quite important
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Distribution of mineral water
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
Swiss bo
ttling
Eur
opea
n bo
ttling
glas
s bo
ttle,
refill s
yste
m
glas
s bo
ttle,
one
-way
PET-b
ottle
, 1.5
l, o
ne-w
ay
wat
er b
ottle
, 18.
9 l, re
fill s
yste
m
Trans
port,
lorry
, 100
km
Trans
port,
lorry
>16
t, 10
00km
Trans
port,
rail, 5
00km
supe
r mar
ket
Hom
e tra
nspo
rt, p
asse
nger
car
Hom
e tra
nspo
rt, van
cooling,
in re
frige
rato
r
cooling,
in cold
only b
ottle
d un
it
aver
age
miner
al in
CH
environm
enta
l scarc
ity 2
006 p
oin
ts p
er
litre
of w
ate
r
Deposited waste
Natural resources
Energy resources
Emission into top soil
Emission into ground water
Emission into surface water
Emission into air
Production
Distribution DeliveryUse phase
Impacts of distribution vary considerably by point of sale
Not feasible to assist comparisons without considering difference
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Importance of consumer decisions
0.00
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.10
0.12
0.14
0.16
0.18
0.20
Espresso Black Coffee White Coffee Black Instant Coffee White Instant Coffee
kg
CO
2-E
qu
iva
len
ts
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Espresso Black Coffee White Coffee Black Instant Coffee White Instant Coffee
Milk
Hot Water(Brewing)
Transports(roasteryto household)
Retail Packaging
CoffeeProduction
Coffee consumption
Recipe and way of preparation can be important
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Indicators of food purchases City of Zurich
Meat, milk and coffee are environmental hot spots
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
weigh
t
value
ecolog
ical sca
rcity
GW
P
non-
rene
wab
le e
nerg
y
cum
ulat
ive
ener
gy d
eman
d
snacks
tea
ice cream
beverages
coffee
colonials
frozen
convenience
poultry
fish
eggs
dairy products
bakery
bread
vegetables, prepared
fresh vegetables
meat