The Validity of Food Miles As an Indicator of Sustainable Development
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The Validity of Food Miles as an Indicator of Sustainable Development Paul Watkiss AEA Technology Environment [email protected] Background – Food Miles ¾ Food miles = distance from farm to plate ¾ Concerns over increasing food miles ¾ Environmental, social & economic impact ¾ Study commissioned by Defra (2004 - 2006) by ¾ Potential use of food miles as sustainability indicator ¾ http://statistics.defra.gov.uk/esg/reports/foodmiles Study Objectives ¾ To compile a food miles dataset covering the supply chain from farmer (both UK and overseas) to consumer ( 1992, 1997 and 2002 ) ¾ To assess the main trends leading to increases in food miles around the UK and overseas ¾ To identify and quantify the economic, environmental and social impacts of food miles ¾ To develop a set of key indicators which relate food miles to their main impacts on sustainability ¾ Aim - easily available statistics, updated annually, linked to wider FISS Why the Increase in Food Miles? ¾ Globalisation of food industry - wider sourcing, imports & exports ¾ Concentration of the food supply base - fewer, larger suppliers (yr) ¾ Major changes in delivery patterns ¾ Food through supermarket regional distribution centres, more use larger HGVs ¾ Centralisation and concentration of sales in supermarkets ¾ Switch from frequent food shopping (on foot), to weekly shopping by car ¾ Processing and packaging Measurement metric Tonne km Vehicle km Air short haul Air long haul 0% Rail Air short haul 1% HGV UK Sea Air long haul 20% HGV UK 19% HGV UK to overseas HGV UK to overseas Car 5% 6% 48% HGV overseas HGV overseas 7% 7% Sea 65% LGV UK 1% Car LGV overseas LGV UK 0% 0% 16% LGV overseas Rail 5% 0% Modal variation with metric Measurement Metric Tonnes CO2 Sea 12 % Air long haul Rail 10 % 0% Air short haul 0% Car 13 % LGV overseas 2% ` HGV UK 33% LGV UK 6% HGV overseas 12 % HGV UK to overseas 12 % Key Findings – Significance of Food Miles Environmental, social & economic burdens from food transport are significant ¾ Food transport accounted for estimated 30 billion vehicle km in 2002 ¾ Food transport 25% of all HGV vehicle kilometres in the UK ¾ Food transport produced 19 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2002 (2%) ¾ Significant emissions of air pollutants And significant in economic terms ¾ Direct environmental, social and economic costs of food transport ¾ Costs of congestion ¾ Accidents ¾ Infrastructure ¾ Emissions (CO2, Air Pollutants) ¾ Noise Estimated at £9 billion / year ! Social costs - Split by Mode and by Impact Mode Impact Overseas LGV, Sea, 138 239 CO2, 364 Overseas HGV, Air, 41 Air quality, 809 Infrastructure, UK LGV, 1303 815 439 UK to overseas Noise, 283 road, 443 Accidents, 2036 UK HGV, 2480 UK car, 3662 Congestion, 5187 HGV dominates infrastructure, noise and pollution, car high congestion and accidents Study Recommendations ¾ Recommend indicator is needed, but food miles alone is too simplistic ¾ Urban food kilometres – captures car use ¾ HGV food kilometres – captures lorry transport ¾ CO2 emissions – captures many emissions missing in current inventories ¾ Air food kilometres ¾ Air transport highest CO2 emission per tonne – 1% tonne km but 11% of CO2 emissions ¾ Growing extremely quickly Government accepted recommendations, working to collate indicators Trends - Higher Car Shopping Urban car shopping (millions km) 8,000 7,000 6,000 5,000 4,000 3,000 2,000 1,000 0 1992 1997 2002 Urban food kilometres – increase 27% on 1992 – ownership & patterns Trends - Higher HGV Tonne kilometres Total tonne kilometres (billions) 250 200 150 100 50 0 1992 1997 2002 Up 36% since 1992, over 100% since 1974 HGV tonne and vehicle kilometres 50,000 6,400 6,200 40,000 6,000 30,000 5,800 20,000 5,600 5,400 10,000 5,200 0 5,000 1992 1997 2002 tonne km vehicle km Vkm - Efficiency improvements – larger vehicles and higher load factors Increased CO2 emissions - Food Transport 19.5 19 18.5 18 17.5 million tonnes CO2 17 16.5 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 Increased by 12% in ten years –opposite of target Increased Aviation Transport for Food 30 25 20 15 10 million vehicle km 5 0 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 Fastest growing mode - > doubled over ten years (140%) Which means? ¾ Valid indicator - that should be measured ¾ In like for like systems, with identical food supply chains, reducing food transport will improve sustainability ¾ But…. ¾ Transport mode is important. Aviation disproportionately high impact ¾ Trade-offs between distance, vehicle size and efficiency ¾ And variation in food chains …..need to consider the wider environmental social and economic issues and trade-offs with food miles ……(complexities) ¾ Depends on the sustainability of food production ¾ Energy balance Spanish tomatoes < UK out of season ¾ Imported organic (1000 km) < conventional UK ¾ Depends on wider social, environmental and economic issues ¾ Consumer choice and nutrition ¾ Trends affecting UK producers – UK rural economy ¾ International trade and developing countries - - - Potential policies ¾ Sourcing food more locally where appropriate ¾ Consumer awareness/labelling, public procurement, support local food initiatives ¾ Reducing car food shopping ¾ Home delivery, Support for local and in-town shops, Provision of cycle/pedestrian access ¾ Reducing transport impacts ¾ Cleaner vehicles, Improved logistics, Rail freight ¾ Internalising the social costs of transport ¾ Improving the wider sustainability of the food chain ¾ From energy efficiency to ethical trading Conclusions ¾ Food transport has increased over the past 20 years ¾ Has direct negative impacts on sustainability through transport burdens ¾ These impacts are significant, and are poorly captured by existing indicators ¾ Single indicator is too simplistic – need to capture a range of impacts ¾ Food transport has a complex relationship to food chain sustainability ¾ Can be valid trade-offs between food chains and food transport ¾ Need to ensure balanced policy, consider ESE across whole food chain.