How can the EU climate targets be met? A combined analysis of technological and demand-side changes in food and agriculture

Bryngelsson, David; Wirsenius, Stefan; Hedenus, Fredrik; Sonesson, Ulf

doi:10.1016/j.foodpol.2015.12.012

Cited by 197 publications

(151 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…In terms of average CO 2 equivalents (CO 2 e) emitted per kg of meat sold in Sweden, 1 kg of beef causes the highest emissions, followed by lamb, mixed meats (such as minced meat), pork, chicken, and fish (Bryngelsson et al, 2016). Thus, if consumers substitute vegetarian meals for fish and chicken as a result of the nudge, emissions reductions will be lower than if they reduce their consumption of red meat.…”

Section: Substituted Dishesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Changing diets to reduce consumption of meat and dairy is seen as an important part of mitigation efforts to reach a 2-degree climate target (Bryngelsson et al, 2016;Girod et al, 2014). The livestock sector contributes approximately 14.5 percent of global human-induced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions yearly (Gerber et al, 2013), and meat consumption is causing about one-third of foodrelated GHG emissions emerging from consumption in Western countries such as Sweden and the United States (Jones and Kammen, 2011;Naturvårdsverket, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Nudging to Reduce Meat Consumption: Immediate and Persistent Effects of an Intervention at a University Restaurant

Kurz

2017

SSRN Journal

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Changing dietary habits to reduce the consumption of meat is considered to have great potential to mitigate food-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. To test if nudging can increase the consumption of vegetarian food, I conducted a field experiment with two university restaurants. At the treated restaurant, the salience of the vegetarian option was increased by changing the menu order, and by placing the dish at a spot visible to customers. The other restaurant served as a control. Daily sales data on the three main dishes sold were collected from September 2015 until June 2016. The experiment was divided into a baseline, an intervention, and a reversal period where the setup was returned to its original state. Results show that the nudge increased the share of vegetarian lunches sold by around 6 percentage points. The change in behavior is partly persistent, as the share of vegetarian lunches sold remained 4 percentage points higher than during the baseline period after the original setup was reinstated. The changes in consumption reduced GHG emissions from food sales around 5 percent.

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Section: Substituted Dishesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nudging to Reduce Meat Consumption: Immediate and Persistent Effects of an Intervention at a University Restaurant

Kurz

2017

SSRN Journal

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“…Monogastric (single stomach) livestock (pigs and poultry) emit fewer GHGs, and fruits, vegetables and grains have the lowest carbon footprint. (Tilman and Clark 2014;Bryngelsson et al 2016).…”

Section: Great Potential For Reductionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Moral Justification Behind a Climate Tax on Beef in Denmark

Lykkeskov¹,

Gjerris

2017

Food ethics

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This paper discusses the moral justification behind placing a tax on foods in correlation with their greenhouse gas emissions. The background is a report from 2016 by the Danish Council of Ethics promoting a national tax on the consumption of meat from ruminants as an initial step to curb the 19-29% of total anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions stemming from the food sector. The paper describes the contribution of food production and consumption to climate change and how a change in diet, away from ruminant meat in particular, could lead to substantial reductions in GHG emissions from food production and consumption. We discuss whether, given the anticipated effects on humans and the nature of climate change, individual consumers have a moral responsibility to change their diet and/or whether governments are justified in restricting the individual consumer's freedom of choice through taxation in order to effectively reduce emissions. The paper concludes that such an intervention is warranted and necessary, both from an efficiency perspective and from an ethical perspective.

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“…Often, emphasis is placed on the impacts associated with European food consumption and the potential climate impacts related to meat consumption, as this has been shown to be a large source of emissions from food consumption [3,[19][20][21]. Recently, a number of studies have focused on the role of dietary choices, the role of farming practices and seasonal availability for reducing environmental impacts [11,15,[22][23][24][25][26].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating the Environmental Consequences of Swedish Food Consumption and Dietary Choices

Martin

Brandão

2017

Sustainability

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Abstract:In recent years, a growing interest from consumers to know the origins and contents of foods has put alternative choices, such as organic foods and dietary changes, on the agenda. Dietary choices are important to address, as many studies find that activities related to food production account for nearly 20-30% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Nonetheless, while GHG emissions are important, often other environmental impact categories are not considered in the assessment of the sustainability of different foods, diets and choices. This study aims to quantify the implications of dietary choices for Swedish food consumption on a broad range of environmental impact categories using life cycle assessment to provide insight into the impacts, and potential tradeoffs, associated with certain food products and dietary choices. Scenarios are used to assess the implications of diets with reduced meat, increased Swedish food consumption, increased organic foods, vegan and semi-vegetarian diets. The results indicate that tradeoffs could be possible with certain dietary choices. Increasing Swedish food production and consumption may lead to lower impacts for all impact categories by reducing imports, although limitations in growing season and availability of foods in Sweden allows only for minor increases. The results also indicate that large reductions of greenhouse gas emissions are possible by reducing meat consumption, i.e., by halving meat consumption and through vegan and vegetarian diets. Nonetheless, an increase in vegetable, legume and fruit products may lead to a potential increase in human and ecosystem toxicity. Diets based on nutritional guidelines, show reductions in all impact categories, as these guidelines call for an increase in vegetables and fruits and a reduction in meat consumption. An increase in organic foods showed no significant change in climate impact, although toxicity potential was reduced significantly. Increasing consumption of organic foods may also lead to a reduction in biodiversity damage potential, and if all food is produced organically, it risks increasing eutrophication and land use.

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How can the EU climate targets be met? A combined analysis of technological and demand-side changes in food and agriculture

Cited by 197 publications

References 41 publications

Nudging to Reduce Meat Consumption: Immediate and Persistent Effects of an Intervention at a University Restaurant

Nudging to Reduce Meat Consumption: Immediate and Persistent Effects of an Intervention at a University Restaurant

The Moral Justification Behind a Climate Tax on Beef in Denmark

Evaluating the Environmental Consequences of Swedish Food Consumption and Dietary Choices

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