[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/climat/v129y2015i1p73-87.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Nutrient density as a metric for comparing greenhouse gas emissions from food production

Author

Listed:
  • Natalie Doran-Browne
  • Richard Eckard
  • Ralph Behrendt
  • Ross Kingwell
Abstract
Dietary Guidelines for many countries recommend that people should eat ‘nutrient dense’ foods, which are foods with a high nutrient to energy ratio; and that people should limit their intake of saturated fat, added salt or added sugar. In addition, consumers and environmentalists increasingly want their food to be produced with a low impact on the environment, including reduced greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE), yet agriculture is a major source of CH 4 and N 2 O emissions, as well as producing CO 2 emissions. Current research on GHGE from agriculture does not incorporate the nutritional value of the foods studied. However, the nutritional content of food is important, given the prevalence of malnutrition, including obesity (due to over-consumption of foods high in energy yet low nutritional density), and the negative health impacts they produce. This paper introduces the metric, emissions/unit nutrient density, and compares the results with three other metrics: emissions intensity (t CO 2 e/t product), emissions/t protein and emissions/GJ. The food products examined are wheat flour, milk, canola oil, lean lamb, lean beef, untrimmed lamb and untrimmed beef. The metric t CO 2 e/unit nutrient density was the preferred metric to use when examining GHGE from food production because it compares different types of products based on their nutritional value, rather than according to singular nutrients such as protein, or specific attributes such as product weight or energy content. Emissions/unit nutrient density has the potential to inform consumer choices regarding foods that have a higher nutritional content relative to the GHGE generated. Further analysis would be useful to develop and expand the use of this metric further. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Natalie Doran-Browne & Richard Eckard & Ralph Behrendt & Ross Kingwell, 2015. "Nutrient density as a metric for comparing greenhouse gas emissions from food production," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 129(1), pages 73-87, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:climat:v:129:y:2015:i:1:p:73-87
    DOI: 10.1007/s10584-014-1316-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10584-014-1316-8
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10584-014-1316-8?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Browne, Natalie & Kingwell, Ross & Behrendt, Ralph & Eckard, Richard, 2013. "The relative profitability of dairy, sheep, beef and grain farm enterprises in southeast Australia under selected rainfall and price scenarios," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 35-44.
    2. González, Alejandro D. & Frostell, Björn & Carlsson-Kanyama, Annika, 2011. "Protein efficiency per unit energy and per unit greenhouse gas emissions: Potential contribution of diet choices to climate change mitigation," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 562-570, October.
    3. Moore, A. D. & Donnelly, J. R. & Freer, M., 1997. "GRAZPLAN: Decision support systems for Australian grazing enterprises. III. Pasture growth and soil moisture submodels, and the GrassGro DSS," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 55(4), pages 535-582, December.
    4. Beauchemin, Karen A. & Henry Janzen, H. & Little, Shannan M. & McAllister, Tim A. & McGinn, Sean M., 2010. "Life cycle assessment of greenhouse gas emissions from beef production in western Canada: A case study," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 103(6), pages 371-379, July.
    5. Gordon Conway & Gary Toenniessen, 1999. "Feeding the world in the twenty-first century," Nature, Nature, vol. 402(6761), pages 55-58, December.
    6. Gadema, Zaina & Oglethorpe, David, 2011. "The use and usefulness of carbon labelling food: A policy perspective from a survey of UK supermarket shoppers," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 815-822.
    7. Garnett, Tara, 2011. "Where are the best opportunities for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the food system (including the food chain)?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(S1), pages 23-32.
    8. Tukker, Arnold & Goldbohm, R. Alexandra & de Koning, Arjan & Verheijden, Marieke & Kleijn, René & Wolf, Oliver & Pérez-Domínguez, Ignacio & Rueda-Cantuche, Jose M., 2011. "Environmental impacts of changes to healthier diets in Europe," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(10), pages 1776-1788, August.
    9. Garnett, Tara, 2011. "Where are the best opportunities for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the food system (including the food chain)?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(Supplemen), pages 23-32, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Elinor Hallström & Quentin Gee & Peter Scarborough & David A. Cleveland, 2017. "A healthier US diet could reduce greenhouse gas emissions from both the food and health care systems," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 142(1), pages 199-212, May.
    2. Marta Bianchi & Anna Strid & Anna Winkvist & Anna-Karin Lindroos & Ulf Sonesson & Elinor Hallström, 2020. "Systematic Evaluation of Nutrition Indicators for Use within Food LCA Studies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-17, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Morena Bruno & Marianne Thomsen & Federico Maria Pulselli & Nicoletta Patrizi & Michele Marini & Dario Caro, 2019. "The carbon footprint of Danish diets," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 156(4), pages 489-507, October.
    2. Vázquez-Rowe, Ian & Villanueva-Rey, Pedro & Moreira, Mª Teresa & Feijoo, Gumersindo, 2013. "The role of consumer purchase and post-purchase decision-making in sustainable seafood consumption. A Spanish case study using carbon footprinting," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 94-102.
    3. Oriana Gava & Fabio Bartolini & Francesca Venturi & Gianluca Brunori & Alberto Pardossi, 2020. "Improving Policy Evidence Base for Agricultural Sustainability and Food Security: A Content Analysis of Life Cycle Assessment Research," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-29, February.
    4. Hunter, Erik & Röös, Elin, 2016. "Fear of climate change consequences and predictors of intentions to alter meat consumption," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 151-160.
    5. Oriana Gava & Fabio Bartolini & Francesca Venturi & Gianluca Brunori & Angela Zinnai & Alberto Pardossi, 2018. "A Reflection of the Use of the Life Cycle Assessment Tool for Agri-Food Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-16, December.
    6. Peter Scarborough & Paul Appleby & Anja Mizdrak & Adam Briggs & Ruth Travis & Kathryn Bradbury & Timothy Key, 2014. "Dietary greenhouse gas emissions of meat-eaters, fish-eaters, vegetarians and vegans in the UK," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 125(2), pages 179-192, July.
    7. Nathalie Gröfke & Valérie Duplat & Christopher Wickert & Brian Tjemkes, 2021. "A Multi-Stakeholder Perspective on Food Labelling for Environmental Sustainability: Attitudes, Perceived Barriers, and Solution Approaches towards the “Traffic Light Index”," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-23, January.
    8. Erica Doro & Vincent Réquillart, 2020. "Review of sustainable diets: are nutritional objectives and low-carbon-emission objectives compatible?," Review of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Studies, INRA Department of Economics, vol. 101(1), pages 117-146.
    9. Santini, Fabien & Ronzon, Tevecia & Perez Dominguez, Ignacio & Araujo Enciso, Sergio Rene & Proietti, Ilaria, 2015. "What if meat consumption would decrease more than expected in the developed countries?," 2015 Fourth Congress, June 11-12, 2015, Ancona, Italy 207352, Italian Association of Agricultural and Applied Economics (AIEAA).
    10. Reynolds, Christian John & Piantadosi, Julia & Buckley, Jonathan David & Weinstein, Philip & Boland, John, 2015. "Evaluation of the environmental impact of weekly food consumption in different socio-economic households in Australia using environmentally extended input–output analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 58-64.
    11. Doro, Erica & Réquillart, Vincent, 2018. "Sustainable diets: are nutritional objectives and low-carbon-emission objectives compatible?," TSE Working Papers 18-913, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    12. Johanna Ruett & Lena Hennes & Jens Teubler & Boris Braun, 2022. "How Compatible Are Western European Dietary Patterns to Climate Targets? Accounting for Uncertainty of Life Cycle Assessments by Applying a Probabilistic Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-21, November.
    13. Van Loo, Ellen J. & Hoefkens, Christine & Verbeke, Wim, 2017. "Healthy, sustainable and plant-based eating: Perceived (mis)match and involvement-based consumer segments as targets for future policy," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 46-57.
    14. Xiaoke Yang & Zhihang Zhang & Huangyixin Chen & Rongrong Zhao & Zhongyue Xu & Anguo Xie & Qiuhua Chen, 2019. "Assessing the Carbon Emission Driven by the Consumption of Carbohydrate-Rich Foods: The Case of China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-15, March.
    15. Bonnet, Céline & Bouamra-Mechemache, Zohra & Réquillart, Vincent & Treich, Nicolas, 2020. "Viewpoint: Regulating meat consumption to improve health, the environment and animal welfare," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    16. Castiglione, Concetta & Mazzocchi, Mario, 2019. "Ten years of five-a-day policy in the UK: Nutritional outcomes and environmental effects," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 185-194.
    17. Allan, Grant & Comerford, David & McGregor, Peter, 2019. "The system-wide impact of healthy eating: Assessing emissions and economic impacts at the regional level," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 1-1.
    18. van Dooren, Corné & Douma, Annely & Aiking, Harry & Vellinga, Pier, 2017. "Proposing a Novel Index Reflecting Both Climate Impact and Nutritional Impact of Food Products," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 389-398.
    19. Alexandria Moxley & Roland Ebel & Cathy L. Cripps & Caroline Graham Austin & Mary Stein & Meaghan Winder, 2022. "Barriers and Opportunities: Specialty Cultivated Mushroom Production in the United States," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-33, October.
    20. Rosemary Green & James Milner & Alan Dangour & Andy Haines & Zaid Chalabi & Anil Markandya & Joseph Spadaro & Paul Wilkinson, 2015. "The potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the UK through healthy and realistic dietary change," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 129(1), pages 253-265, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:climat:v:129:y:2015:i:1:p:73-87. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.