Environmental impacts of changes to healthier diets in Europe

Tukker, Arnold; Goldbohm, R. Alexandra; Koning, Arjan de; Verheijden, Marieke W.; Kleijn, René; Oliver, Wolf; Pérez‐Domínguez, Ignacio; Rueda‐Cantuche, José M.

doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2011.05.001

Cited by 316 publications

(246 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Every attempt has been made to calculate as accurately as possible the GHGE associated with food consumption by using full LCA while also accounting for misreporters. Tukker et al (28) used food balance sheets from the FAO to estimate 7·1 kg CO 2 eq/d as the average GHGE associated with food consumption in the EU. Although the method used by Tukker et al overestimates per capita consumption, it is an accurate procedure for calculating food-related environmental impacts such as dietary emissions (26) .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The climatic impact of food consumption in a representative sample of Irish adults and implications for food and nutrition policy

Hyland

Henchion

McCarthy

et al. 2016

Public Health Nutr.

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To evaluate the greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) associated with the diet of Irish adults. GHGE were estimated by applying conversion factors to habitual food consumption data taken from the National Adult Nutrition Survey, which was representative of the population. Descriptive analyses were undertaken for GHGE for the total population, as well as accounting for energy misreporting and across categories of sociodemographic and socio-economic factors and tertiles of emissions. Republic of Ireland. Adults aged 18–87 years (n 1500). The GHGE derived from daily dietary intakes was estimated as 6·5 kg of CO2 equivalents (CO2eq) per person. Males, younger consumers, those with secondary education and student employment status were associated with significantly higher GHGE. Red meat was the highest contributor to GHGE with 1646 g CO2eq arising from a mean intake of 47 g/d. Dairy and starchy staples were the next largest dietary GHGE sources, with mean daily emissions of 732 g CO2eq and 647 g CO2eq, respectively. The lowest emissions were associated with consumption of vegetables, fruits and legumes/pulses/nuts. Based on profiling using actual food consumption data, it is evident that one single measure is not sufficient and a range of evidence-based mitigation measures with potential to lower emissions throughout the food chain should be considered. The research contributes towards an improved understanding of the climatic impact of the dietary intakes of Irish adults and can serve to inform a sustainability framework to guide action in food and nutrition policy development

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The climatic impact of food consumption in a representative sample of Irish adults and implications for food and nutrition policy

Hyland

Henchion

McCarthy

et al. 2016

Public Health Nutr.

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“…Typically, food drives 20-30 % of the life-cycle environmental impacts of final household consumption (5) . To reduce the current burden of food consumption on the environment, food consumption patterns need to change (6,7) .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…GHGE for a day's consumption was estimated to be 4·7 (SD 1·2) kg CO 2 e for men and 3·7 (SD 0·9) kg CO 2 e for women in a population-based survey in France (12) . In Western diets, meat and dairy are the most important contributors to GHGE (5,7,(13)(14)(15)(16) . Changing from a meat-and dairy-based diet towards a more plantbased diet may reduce GHGE by 20-35 % on a daily basis (17)(18)(19) .…”

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confidence: 99%

Greenhouse gas emission of diets in the Netherlands and associations with food, energy and macronutrient intakes

Temme

Toxopeus

Kramer

et al. 2014

Public Health Nutr.

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Objective: To evaluate the greenhouse gas emission (GHGE) of diets in Dutch girls, boys, women and men and to explore associations with diet composition. Design: Descriptive analyses for the total population as well as stratified for gender, age and dietary environmental load. Setting: The Netherlands. Subjects: Dutch children and adults aged 7-69 years (n 3818). Results: The GHGE of daily diets was on average 3·2 kg CO 2 -equivalents (CO 2 e) for girls, 3·6 kg CO 2 e for boys, 3·7 kg CO 2 e for women and 4·8 kg CO 2 e for men. Meat and cheese contributed about 40 % and drinks (including milk and alcoholic drinks) 20 % to daily GHGE. Considerable differences in environmental loads of diets existed within age and gender groups. Persons with higher-GHGE diets consumed more (in quantity of foods and especially drinks) than their counterparts of a similar sex and age with low-GHGE diets. Major differences between high-and low-GHGE diets were in meat, cheese and dairy consumption as well as in soft drinks (girls, boys and women) and alcoholic drinks (men). Of those, differences in meat consumption determined the differences in GHGE most. Diets with higher GHGE were associated with higher saturated fat intake and lower fibre intake Conclusions: GHGE of daily diets in the Netherlands is between 3 and 5 kg CO 2 e, with considerable differences between individuals. Meat, dairy and drinks contribute most to GHGE. The insights of the study may be used in developing (age-and gender-specific) food-based dietary guidelines that take into account both health and sustainability aspects.

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“…A landmark study acknowledging the multiple impacts of meat production on ecosystems is the report Livestock's Long Shadow by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) (Steinfeld et al 2006; see also Steinfeld, 2009). With respect to meat consumption-which is not Livestock's Long Shadow's primary focus-there is a strong scholarly consensus that plant-based foods are much better from both environmental and energyefficiency perspectives than animal-based foods (e.g., Pimentel & Pimentel, 2003;2008;Duchin, 2005;Baroni et al 2007;McMichael et al 2007;Marlow et al 2009;Tukker et al 2011). Therefore, reducing the consumption of meat and dairy products (we will not focus on the latter here) is crucial for making our diets more sustainable and reducing the ecological footprint of food systems (Lang & Barling, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainability and meat consumption: is reduction realistic?

Dagevos

Voordouw

2013

Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy

128

129

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Meat is critical with respect to sustainability because meat products are among the most energy-intensive and ecologically burdensome foods. Empirical studies of the meat-consumption frequency of Dutch consumers show that, apart from meat-avoiders and meat-eaters, many people are meat-reducers that eat no meat at least one day per week. Meat-consumption frequencies provide empirical evidence for different modes of "flexitarianism," including light, medium, and heavy flexitarians. In particular, the existence of heavy flexitarians suggests that the customary position of meat and other animal-based dietary products in the food hierarchy is not inviolable. To improve our understanding of meat reduction, cluster analysis adds information about differences across flexitarians. Given the enormous environmental impact of animal-protein consumption and the apparent sympathy of consumers for meat reduction, it is surprising that politicians and policy makers demonstrate little, if any, interest in strategies to reduce meat consumption and to encourage more sustainable eating practices.

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Environmental impacts of changes to healthier diets in Europe

Cited by 316 publications

References 41 publications

The climatic impact of food consumption in a representative sample of Irish adults and implications for food and nutrition policy

The climatic impact of food consumption in a representative sample of Irish adults and implications for food and nutrition policy

Greenhouse gas emission of diets in the Netherlands and associations with food, energy and macronutrient intakes

Sustainability and meat consumption: is reduction realistic?

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