Overall impact of the 40 most produced foods on the environment: Difference between revisions
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🔍📄[https://science.sciencemag.org/highwire/filestream/710905/field_highwire_adjunct_files/3/aaq0216_DataS2.xls/ Click link to download full original spreadsheet] | 🔍📄[https://science.sciencemag.org/highwire/filestream/710905/field_highwire_adjunct_files/3/aaq0216_DataS2.xls/ Click link to download full original spreadsheet] | ||
= | There’s not a lot of room for everyone in the world to increase their consumption of fish. | ||
<br>The “Food and Agricultural Organization” of the United Nations (FAO) estimates<ref name=FAO>Numbers given by the FAO in its 2018 report (numbers are often referring to 2016). Click [http://www.fao.org/3/i9540en/i9540en.pdf/ here] for report</ref> that: | |||
<ul> | |||
<li>60% of world fisheries are fully-fished.</li> | |||
<li>33% of fisheries are overfished.</li> | |||
</ul> | |||
If some fisheries can be sustainably managed it is important to take the type of fish, mollusk or crustacean you are buying as well as the fishing technic into account. But overall, wild fish often have a relatively small climate footprint, with the main source of emissions being the fuel burned by fishing boats. One recent analysis<ref>[https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/fee.1822/ “The environmental cost of animal source foods”]</ref> found that a number of popular wild fish — anchovies, sardines, herring, tuna, pollock, cod, haddock — have, on average, a lower carbon footprint than chicken or pork. | |||
On the other hand, crustaceans such as wild shrimp and lobster can have a much larger impact on the environment than chicken or pork. Indeed, crustaceans are often the product of [[🐟 Fishing series: From the fishing rod to ultra-productive fish farms|trawling boats]] which burn tremendous amounts fuel<ref>[http://www.ecomarres.com/downloads/GlobalFuel.pdf/ “Fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions of world fisheries” Nature Climate change]</ref> and permanentaly impacts the sea bed. The increasing demand however makes the prices skyrocket which leads fishermen/women to fish at greater distance and for longer periods of time. On these grounds, buying shrimp, prawns or lobster simply accentuates the effects of their fishery on the environment. | |||
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|Land use<br>(m<sup>2</sup> year) | |Land use<br>(m<sup>2</sup> year) | ||
|Acidification<ref name=acid>The acidity of a soil is defined by its hydrogen potential (pH). Below a certain threshold (~ 6 on the pH scale), the soil is too acidic for most cultivated plants: it limits biological activity (fertility) and its structure is degraded. Indeed, acidity influences the uptake of nutrients and trace elements by a plant, as well as the presence of deep roots or earthworms that structure and aerate the soil.</ref><br>(kg SO2eq.<ref>soils or waters (ex: ocean acidification due to fish and crustacean water farming)</ref>) | |Acidification<ref name=acid>The acidity of a soil is defined by its hydrogen potential (pH). Below a certain threshold (~ 6 on the pH scale), the soil is too acidic for most cultivated plants: it limits biological activity (fertility) and its structure is degraded. Indeed, acidity influences the uptake of nutrients and trace elements by a plant, as well as the presence of deep roots or earthworms that structure and aerate the soil.</ref><br>(kg SO2eq.<ref>soils or waters (ex: ocean acidification due to fish and crustacean water farming)</ref>) | ||
|Eutrophisation<ref name=eutro>Excessive intake of nutrients into the water, resulting in overgrowth, oxygen depletion and ecosystem imbalance. | |Eutrophisation<ref name=eutro>Excessive intake of nutrients into the water, resulting in overgrowth, oxygen depletion and ecosystem imbalance. e.g. nitrogen + phosphorus</ref><br>(g PO2eq.) | ||
|Use of water<br>(kL equivalent) | |Use of water<br>(kL equivalent) | ||
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| style="text-align:right;" | 402 | | style="text-align:right;" | 402 | ||
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== Notes == | |||
== Notes == | == Notes == | ||
Revision as of 16:59, 25 February 2020
Getting to know the actual impact of food on the environment is a tricky business. Indeed, depending on the source[1], the farming system at play in the research[2] or the parameters investigated in the study, the overall results may vary tremendously. Furthermore, the “impact on the environment” is more than often restricted to CO2 emissions. Water scarcity, the degradation of the soils[3] or the destruction of ecosystems[4] are to be considered also in relation to the CO2 emissions, as well as the impact of the food chain (farm, packaging, transport, retail) on the overall environmental print of the production of food stuffs. All of these elements do, indeed, contribute to the health of the planet and one cannot be favored in relation to another (a low level of CO2 in the atmosphere would be of little help if the majority of our soils would be too acidic to be used for cultivation).
Why go through the numbers?
Researching the matter may be a tremendous, easily biased and forever evoluting task, the spreadsheet below is thus here published to allow us, as consumers and climate conscious citizens, to take a first step towards understanding the complex “environmental impacts” of food. This step may therefore allow us to realize that there is no systematic relationship between land use, CO2 emission, soil depletion or water use. For instance, the document challenges popular believes that “dairy is better for the planet than meat” or ”sea food has less impact than meat”. The numbers confirming that dairy production would produce more than 2x CO2, and contribute 4x more to the eutrophisation of the soil than pig meat as well as that crustaceans would produce nearly 3x more C02 and contribute 2x more to the eutrophisation of the waters.
Note
As it gathers data from worldwide sources, this spreadsheet is not a set answer which should drastically impact your diet. Depending on the region where you live and the farming practices which the products you buy supports, the numbers may greatly vary.
About the study
This comparative spreadsheet is based on 2 documents[5] included in the research study titled “Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers” published by J. Poore[6] and T. Nemecek[7] in February 2019 (first publication June 1st 2018) in the american magazine Science.
We will here be able to compare the overall CO2 emissions, the land use, the acidification[8], the eutrophisation[9] as well as the water scarcity impacted by the 40 most produced foods in the world. These numbers are gathered from the largest database to date: 38,700 farms, across 119 countries includes high impact industrials as well as small scale, organic or bio dynamic farms. This study includes all data from farming to point of sale (meaning that it takes the whole food chain (including waste) into consideration).
We greatly recommend reading the document in its entirety (see download link below — 6 pages).
Links & details
🔍📄Click link to read original article
🔍📄Click link to have a look at the graph
🔍📄Click link to download full original spreadsheet
There’s not a lot of room for everyone in the world to increase their consumption of fish.
The “Food and Agricultural Organization” of the United Nations (FAO) estimates[10] that:
- 60% of world fisheries are fully-fished.
- 33% of fisheries are overfished.
If some fisheries can be sustainably managed it is important to take the type of fish, mollusk or crustacean you are buying as well as the fishing technic into account. But overall, wild fish often have a relatively small climate footprint, with the main source of emissions being the fuel burned by fishing boats. One recent analysis[11] found that a number of popular wild fish — anchovies, sardines, herring, tuna, pollock, cod, haddock — have, on average, a lower carbon footprint than chicken or pork.
On the other hand, crustaceans such as wild shrimp and lobster can have a much larger impact on the environment than chicken or pork. Indeed, crustaceans are often the product of trawling boats which burn tremendous amounts fuel[12] and permanentaly impacts the sea bed. The increasing demand however makes the prices skyrocket which leads fishermen/women to fish at greater distance and for longer periods of time. On these grounds, buying shrimp, prawns or lobster simply accentuates the effects of their fishery on the environment.
| OVERALL IMPACT OF THE 40 MOST PRODUCED FOODS ON THE ENVIRONMENT | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Protein rich products[13] (for a 100g protein) |
GHG emissions (kg CO2 equivalent[14]) |
Land use (m2 year) |
Acidification[8] (kg SO2eq.[15]) |
Eutrophisation[9] (g PO2eq.) |
Use of water (kL equivalent) | |
| Beef (meat) 🥩 | 50 | 164 | 0,189 | 0,177 | 871 | |
| Lamb & Mutton 🐑 | 20 | 185 | 0,087 | 0,060 | 1082 | |
| Beef (dairy) 🥛 | 17 | 22 | 0,209 | 0,209 | 1650 | |
| Crustaceans[16] 🦐 | 18 | 2 | 0,060 | 0,098 | 1394 | |
| Cheese 🧀 | 11 | 41 | 0,149 | 0,089 | 4735 | |
| Pig meat 🐖 | 7,6 | 11 | 0,083 | 0,044 | 1073 | |
| Fish[17] 🐟 | 6,0 | 3.7 | 0,025 | 0,092 | 1315 | |
| Poultry meat 🐓 | 5,7 | 7,1 | 0,064 | 0,030 | 402 | |
Notes
Notes
- ↑ Depending on the various ties that the researchers or institute funding their research may have with the industry.
- ↑ The research may, more than often, exclusively focus on the american farming industry and its leaders, not taking into account small scale, alternative farming, or legislation at play in Europe or other parts of the world.
- ↑ For information, food production creates ~32% of global terrestrial acidification and ~78% of eutrophication.
- ↑ e.g Deforestation, destruction of “submarine forests” such as coral reefs and algae, annihilation of insect and animal species.
- ↑ A graph and a spreadsheet, to be downloaded in the “Links & Details” section
- ↑ Zoologist from the School of Geography & Environment, The Queen's College& University of Oxford
- ↑ Agroecology and Environment specialist, Zurich, Switzerland
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 The acidity of a soil is defined by its hydrogen potential (pH). Below a certain threshold (~ 6 on the pH scale), the soil is too acidic for most cultivated plants: it limits biological activity (fertility) and its structure is degraded. Indeed, acidity influences the uptake of nutrients and trace elements by a plant, as well as the presence of deep roots or earthworms that structure and aerate the soil.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Excessive intake of nutrients into the water, resulting in overgrowth, oxygen depletion and ecosystem imbalance. e.g. nitrogen + phosphorus
- ↑ Numbers given by the FAO in its 2018 report (numbers are often referring to 2016). Click here for report
- ↑ “The environmental cost of animal source foods”
- ↑ “Fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions of world fisheries” Nature Climate change
- ↑ Includes production of food to feed the animals
- ↑ Including methane for instance
- ↑ soils or waters (ex: ocean acidification due to fish and crustacean water farming)
- ↑ 🦐 farmed
- ↑ 🐟 farmed