Does the Swedish consumer's choice of food influence greenhouse gas emissions?

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Abstract

Consumer's choice of food can influence the environment. In Sweden, in common with many other countries, consumers need to be given information so they can make environmentally informed shopping choices. However, what is the most advantageous dietary choice to lower greenhouse emissions? This study investigates the greenhouse gas emissions associated with food production for food consumed in Sweden annually. Specifically, this study compares greenhouse gas emissions associated with a nutritionally and environmentally sustainable diet with the average consumption of food in Sweden 1999. The study concludes that the change in energy use and greenhouse gas emission associated with this change of diet is negligible. Lowering greenhouse gas emissions by changing food production processes results in more profound changes than teaching consumers to make environmentally correct choices. There is a basic need for a reduction or a replacement of the use of fossil fuels to produce and distribute our food in order to reach any significant reduction in the emission of greenhouse gases. Swedish agricultural policy does not provide ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In Sweden therefore there is an immediate need to design policy instruments with the primary aim of reducing the greenhouse effect.

Introduction

One of Sweden's strategies to reach its environmental goals is to decrease the use of energy, especially fossil fuels, thereby decreasing the emission of greenhouse gases. According to the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (1997), the food sector uses between 15 and 20% of the total energy used in Sweden; for this reason, it is an important area to optimise.

This raises the question is it possible to decrease energy use and the emission of greenhouse gases by changing dietary habits? We use a three-step methodology to investigate whether changes in dietary choices will decrease the emission of greenhouse gases. Firstly, we use Dahlin and Lindeskog's work (1999). They studied the amount of food required to sustain proper nutrition without adversely affecting the environment. That is, they define a sustainable diet as a diet that sustains a healthy individual as well as a healthy environment. Secondly, we compare the amounts of different food consumed per capita today (Statistics Sweden, 2001) to determine, which food groups should be increased and which foods should be decreased using Dahlin and Lindeskog's definition of a sustainable diet. Thirdly, we calculate the emissions of carbon dioxide equivalents that are the result of food production needed for the today's food consumption and we calculate the emissions associated with Dahlin and Lindeskog's sustainable diet. Then we compare Dahlin and Lindeskog's suggested sustainable diet with today's diet with respect to emissions of carbon dioxide equivalents.

Section snippets

Definition of a sustainable diet

What makes a diet sustainable? An article in New Scientist (1997) defines sustainable diets with respect to energy use. This article concludes that potato crisps, white bread, and ice cream are preferred food items because of the low cost of production energy per energy content of the product. A larger intake of these foods, however, would not qualify as sustainable from a nutritional viewpoint because of their sparse nutritional value. For this reason, we refine the notion of sustainability.

Materials and methods

We limit attention to the economic and environmental concerns related to the cultivation and distribution of food; we do not include the means of purchasing, storing, and preparing food in private homes. For the purpose of this paper, the definition of food does not include dietary supplements such as vitamins. Although an important consumable in Sweden, we do not include municipal tap water as a food item. Reports on the consumption of alcoholic beverages are based on the sales figures;

Empirical results on energy use in Swedish food production

Data on energy use and data on the emission of carbon dioxide equivalents are mostly culled from published studies, but some information is taken directly from manufacturers because the availability of information for specific food items is limited. These studies have different scopes and it is sometimes difficult to make direct comparisons of data. For example, energy use in food production is sometimes accounted for as a total figure, and sometimes it is specified by categories.

A life-cycle

Discussion—is there any difference?

This study looks at the use of energy and related emissions of carbon dioxide equivalents needed for the production of the foods that are consumed in Sweden annually. Is it possible for the Swedish consumer today to make sustainable dietary choices that will lead to substantial decreases in the emissions of greenhouse gases? In a sustainable society, a sustainable diet should decrease the emission of carbon dioxide equivalents by 43% compared to today's level, by the year 2050 according to

Conclusions

Consumer's choice can influence the environment's health (Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, 1997). However, dietary choices, as they relate to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, will not produce any changes in the level of emissions without necessary changes in the existing production methods in farming, processing, and distribution. Existing production methods use fossil fuels, a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. Swedish agricultural policy provides no instruments with

Anna Wallén, BSc, Chemical engineering, earlier employed at Industrial Ecology, Department of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Royal Institute of Technology of Stockholm. Now working in the industrial sector.

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      Another increasingly important issue is the relationship between dietary patterns, resource consumption and environmental impacts (Tilman and Clark, 2014). Consumers need to be informed about the environmental sustainability of their purchasing options to identify the most environmentally friendly dietary choice (Wallén et al., 2004). The food system is considered one of the most important sectors in terms of negative environmental impacts, mainly associated with Greenhouse Gases (GHG) emission, water requirements and land use (Friel et al., 2009; Tukker et al., 2011; Wolf et al., 2011; Gustafson et al., 2016).

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    Anna Wallén, BSc, Chemical engineering, earlier employed at Industrial Ecology, Department of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Royal Institute of Technology of Stockholm. Now working in the industrial sector.

    Nils Brandt, MSc, Biologist, University Teacher and Director of studies at Industrial Ecology, Department of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Royal Institute of Technology of Stockholm.

    Ronald Wennersten, Professor, Head of Industrial Ecology, Department of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Royal Institute of Technology of Stockholm.

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