Z-squared: The impact of food

About the report

This report is an assessment of the changes that consumers could make to reduce the ecological footprint of their diet, with the most effective approach being a diet without any animal-based food and with no wastage.

The report is one of ten in our Z-squared research report series.

Published July 2005
Pages 32

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BioRegional is a registered charity – if you would like to make a donation for this report please visit www.justgiving.com to do so securely on-line – suggested donation £4.00.  

Your support will help us to continue developing vital solutions for sustainable living.

Executive summary

Z-squared is a concept design for a 2000-home mixed use community within the Thames Gateway which aims to reduce the environmental impacts of its residents’ lifestyles by designing in features that make sustainable living easy and attractive. As food is responsible for over 25% of the ecological footprint of a resident of the South East of the UK this is clearly an important area to tackle. Currently residents of the UK are consuming three times more of the world’s resources and therefore we need to reduce the impact of the food we eat by about two thirds. This report aims to assess the impact of the different foods that we eat and suggest strategies that could help to reduce their impact – especially those that are relevant to the Z-squared community.

The focus of this report has been on how a consumer can reduce the environmental impact of the food they eat through a change in diet and more ecological minded purchasing procedures. It has not assessed the savings that can be made in other areas of the food chain, i.e. wastage in the processing and through discarding of misshaped vegetables, nor has it looked at pollution benefits of low input agriculture. The approach taken was to calculate the ecological footprint of the average diet and then assess the impact on the footprint of the following changes:

• No waste; a 30% reduction in food waste is assumed
• Organic agriculture; balances the impact of reduced artificial inputs against reduced yields
• Low transport; assumes that where possible food is sourced locally
• Dietary change; as meat and dairy can have an ecological footprint ten times that of vegetables for the same weight this option assesses the impact of both a low meat diet and also an animal free diet.

The results illustrate that the most effective method of reducing the environmental impact of the food we eat is to follow an animal free diet and not to waste any food. As a vegan diet is not likely to be popular with all of the UK population it is interesting to note that if a low meat organic diet is followed then there is little difference between the low meat and vegan diets. Overall it would be possible to reduce the impact of the food we eat by over 55% simply by changing our diets and being more careful about where the food we eat has come from and how it has been produced.

Finally this report has demonstrated that consumer choice is not sufficient to reduce our ecological footprint by the two thirds required. Even if all the strategies listed above are implemented, the reduction is still less than 60%. Therefore changes are needed elsewhere in the food production system not just in the food that consumers choose to purchase. This would involve reducing food waste throughout the production and distribution system.

Again this demonstrates that any strategies that do not promote a diet that shifts away from meat and dairy will have minimal impact in terms of ecological footprint reduction. Raising awareness of the impact of the food we eat and waste is likely to be the most effective method of reducing its impact. One strategy could be to have an ecological footprint rating or carbon rating on produce so that consumers can understand the larger impact of meat. This would obviously not be a straightforward policy to implement but the success of energy ratings on white goods demonstrates its possible effectiveness, likewise Z-squared would be well placed to implement such a strategy as it could be written in to the contracts of onsite retailers that they need to display this information along side the price of the goods.

Download report PDF 
........................................................................................................
BioRegional is a registered charity – if you would like to make a donation for this report please visit www.justgiving.com to do so securely on-line – suggested donation £4.00.  

Your support will help us to continue developing vital solutions for sustainable living.