Investigating the carbon footprint and life cycle impacts of meals as a basis for environmentally friendly food consumption
ESU-services investigated several types of meals provided at home, in restaurants or canteens from an environmental point of view. The life cycle assessment of meals helps also to better understand the reduction potentials for environmental impacts due to organic products or vegetarian diet better than the comparison of single food items.
The environmental impacts of avocados
The aim of the "Avocado Life Cycle Assessment" is to provide a more differentiated picture of the environmental impact and water consumption in the production and consumption of avocados. On behalf of the company Satori, life cycle assessments were drawn up for avocados in Swiss supermarkets from the countries of origin Chile, Peru and Spain. One kilogramme of avocado sold in Swiss supermarkets was used as the functional unit. In order to be able to compare avocados with other foods, a bread topped with avocado was also analysed and compared with bread topped with other foods. The functional unit for this is a loaf of bread with various topping options. The life cycle assessment covers agricultural production in the country of origin, transport by ship and lorry to Switzerland, storage and sale. For the sandwiches, the journey to the consumer and the bread itself were also analysed. To assess the environmental impact, the ecological scarcity method is used, and the total impact is analysed in "environmental impact points". The water footprint is calculated using the AWARE method. The climate change potential for the sandwiches is also assessed using the carbon footprint method.
The data was collected in collaboration with the client, who is the producer of the avocados. The corresponding inventory data records were taken from ESU-services' internal database. Where no data was available, standard values were used.
Avocados from Peru have the lowest environmental impact, followed by Chile and then Spain with the highest value. Most of the impact is caused by the cultivation of the avocado. In second place is transport, while packaging and the rest only play a subordinate role in the overall impact. Although transport by ship from overseas causes more environmental pollution than transport from Spain, it is only of minor importance for the overall impact. The high impact of Spanish avocados during cultivation is due to the increased water stress in Spain. As a result, although the actual water requirement is highest in Peru, Spanish avocados perform worse. Air transport is not necessary for the three sample regions. However, they would lead to significantly higher impacts.
A comparison of avocado with other food products is only possible for a defined use. In a comparison of sandwiches, bread topped with avocado performs better than bread topped with animal products (dried meat, poultry lyonnaise, cheese). However, it has a higher environmental impact than the sweet variants (honey, Nutella, jam). The environmental impact of the sandwiches was also analysed in relation to their nutritional content. In terms of nutritional value (kcal), the avocado bread lies between the animal-based and sweet variants. In terms of protein, the avocado topped bread scored slightly lower, and in terms of fat slightly higher. However, these results should be treated with caution, as they depend heavily on the individual toppings of the bread. In general, it can be said that avocado does not stand out negatively in comparison to alternative products.
Niels Jungbluth, Martina Eberhart, Martin Ulrich, Christoph Meili ( 2020) Ökobilanz Avocado: Analyse und Beurteilung im Vergleich mit anderen Produkten. ESU-services GmbH im Auftrag von Satori S.A., Schaffhausen, Schweiz
Panda-Lunch
In 2009, 2.4 Earths would be required if everybody would live with our Swiss standards. This way of living has no future because we consume more resources than what the earth can provide us. It is time to make our lifestyle more sustainable. Easier said than done? You can reduce your foodfootprint by 20% by eating meat only three times a week. If you eat meat 6 times a week, you can reduce it by 10%. The reason is that a vegetarian meal causes only half the impacts of a meal with meat.
WWF organised in September 2009 a Panda-lunch national day during which a vegetarian meal is offered at lunch in hospitals, kindergartens, schools and rest homes. In total, over 36'000 persons have decided to take part in this event. Individual person can also take part.
This action day is based on a study made by ESU on the environmental impacts of different canteen meals. The conclusion from this study is that vegetarian meals have lower impacts than a meal with meat.
LCA of two menues
ESU-services calculated the energy demand of two similar menus for a TV show. The only difference of the menus is the origin of ingredients. Once they come from Switzerland, for the other menu they are all imported. Watch the Kassensturz show "Weitgereiste Lebensmittel: Essen mit Beigeschmack." , Swiss TV SF1, 20.03.2007. Further information on LCA studies of food products can be found in several of our publications and in other media reports.
