TY - JOUR

T1 - The carbon footprint of Danish diets

AU - Bruno, Morena

AU - Thomsen, Marianne

AU - Pulselli, Federico Maria

AU - Patrizi, Nicoletta

AU - Marini, Michele

AU - Caro, Dario

PY - 2019/10

Y1 - 2019/10

N2 - The Danish diet is characterized by a high content of sugar, fat dairy products and red meat, and a low content of fruits and vegetables. As it is considered unhealthy and environmentally unfriendly, various alternatives to the standard Danish diet have been investigated and promoted in Denmark, such as the New Nordic Diet. By using a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), this study estimates the carbon footprint (CF) of four different diet scenarios in Denmark: standard, carnivore, vegetarian and vegan. The LCA is applied to build a dataset of the 47 most widely eaten food and beverage products, which represent the average Danish eating habits and grouped into six food categories. Unlike most past LCA-based studies, where system boundaries are limited to the farm gate, this study covers all activities and relative use of materials and energy, from the food production phase to the final consumption (namely ‘from-cradle-to-fork’). We find that the highest CF value is associated with the carnivore diet, which has the highest impact (1.83 t CO 2eq person −1 year −1). The vegan and vegetarian diets record the best profiles (0.89 and 1.37 t CO 2eq person −1 year −1, respectively), whereas the standard Danish diet has a CF value of 1.59 t CO 2eq person −1 year −1. We find that the food production phase is the most significant in terms of CF (65–85%). This study confirms that dietary preferences are a strong driver of CF. A comparison with CF associated with other diets suggests that a further research could provide a guidance to promote healthy eating patterns with adequate nutritional values and better environmental performances.

AB - The Danish diet is characterized by a high content of sugar, fat dairy products and red meat, and a low content of fruits and vegetables. As it is considered unhealthy and environmentally unfriendly, various alternatives to the standard Danish diet have been investigated and promoted in Denmark, such as the New Nordic Diet. By using a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), this study estimates the carbon footprint (CF) of four different diet scenarios in Denmark: standard, carnivore, vegetarian and vegan. The LCA is applied to build a dataset of the 47 most widely eaten food and beverage products, which represent the average Danish eating habits and grouped into six food categories. Unlike most past LCA-based studies, where system boundaries are limited to the farm gate, this study covers all activities and relative use of materials and energy, from the food production phase to the final consumption (namely ‘from-cradle-to-fork’). We find that the highest CF value is associated with the carnivore diet, which has the highest impact (1.83 t CO 2eq person −1 year −1). The vegan and vegetarian diets record the best profiles (0.89 and 1.37 t CO 2eq person −1 year −1, respectively), whereas the standard Danish diet has a CF value of 1.59 t CO 2eq person −1 year −1. We find that the food production phase is the most significant in terms of CF (65–85%). This study confirms that dietary preferences are a strong driver of CF. A comparison with CF associated with other diets suggests that a further research could provide a guidance to promote healthy eating patterns with adequate nutritional values and better environmental performances.

U2 - 10.1007/s10584-019-02508-4

DO - 10.1007/s10584-019-02508-4

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85070111172

VL - 156

SP - 489

EP - 507

JO - Climatic Change

JF - Climatic Change

SN - 0165-0009

IS - 4

ER -