Does the Swedish consumer's choice of food influence greenhouse gas emissions?
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.
References (30)
Climate change and dietary choices
Food Policy
(1998)- Andersson, K., 1998. Life cycle assessment (LCA) of bread produced on different scales: a case study. Swedish...
- Berlin, J., 2002. Environmental systems analysis of dairy production. Licentiat avhandling. Department of Environmental...
- Bruce, Å., Egonsson, D., Karlsson, T., Petterson, O., 1997. Vegan, vegetarian, allätare? (Vegan, vegetarian,...
- Brännström-Norberg B.-M. et al., 1996. Livscykelanalys för Vattenfalls Elproduktion—Sammanfattande rapport (Life cycle...
- Carlsson-Kanyama, A., Boström-Carlsson, K.K., 2001. Energy use for cooking and other stages in the life cycle of food....
- Carlsson-Kanyama, A., Faist, M., 2000. Energy use in the food sector. Swedish Environmental Protection Agency,...
- Carlsson-Kanyama, A., Hagberg, M., 2001. Småskalig närproducerad mat i Grästorp: miljökonsekvenser av dagens och...
- Christensen, P., Ritter, E., 1999. Life cycle screening of pickled herrings in jars. Department of Development and...
- Dahlin, I., Lindeskog, P., 1999. Ett första steg mot hållbara matvanor (A first step towards sustainable dietary...
Greenhouse gas emissions related to dutch food consumption
Energy Policy
Soil fertility and biodiversity in organic farming
Science
Cited by (91)
Geographic variability in the Chilean dietary carbon footprint: Major food contributors and associated factors
2023, Journal of Cleaner ProductionA conceptual framework for understanding the environmental impacts of ultra-processed foods and implications for sustainable food systems
2022, Journal of Cleaner ProductionDiet-Related Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Brazilian State Capital Cities
2021, Environmental Science and PolicyOptimization of the environmental performance of food diets in Peru combining linear programming and life cycle methods
2020, Science of the Total EnvironmentMediterranean diet: A long journey toward intangible cultural heritage and sustainability
2020, The Mediterranean Diet: An Evidence-Based ApproachCarbon footprint and nutritional quality of different human dietary choices
2018, Science of the Total EnvironmentCitation Excerpt :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).
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.