The carbon emissions generated in all that we consume, a report by The Carbon Trust, sets out how the UK's CO2 emissions are broken down into different categories of consumption. The report is interesting in that it takes as it starting point not what we produce but what we consume - and this includes products and services bought in from overseas.
The report, which is based on work carried out by the University of Surrey's Centre for Environmental Strategy, calculates that out of a total of 164.5 MT carbon generated in the UK (excluding aviation), the foods and drinks we consume account for 22.4 MTC. This works out at about 13.5% of the UK's total carbon emissions.
NOTE: the calculation is for carbon only. Methane and nitrous oxide emissions are omitted from the calculation; when these are included the proportion of the UK's greenhouse gas emissions attributable to our food and drink consumption increases substantially.
Post a new comment »