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3 - Carbon footprint and nutritional quality of diets in France
- Edited by Catherine Esnouf, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Paris, Marie Russel, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Paris, Nicolas Bricas, Centre de Co-opération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD), Paris
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- Book:
- Food System Sustainability
- Published online:
- 05 April 2013
- Print publication:
- 25 April 2013, pp 51-68
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Summary
This chapter presents some original findings based on a study of the carbon footprint of food in France. Factors that are liable to explain the inter-individual variability of the carbon footprint associated with the usual food consumption of a representative sample of French adults were explored. By analysing the relationship between the nutritional quality of food and its carbon footprint, this chapter also addresses the more general issue of the compatibility of two of the pillars of sustainability.
The authors would like to thank the ADEME and INRA for their financial support that enabled this study to be conducted.
Introduction
Initial observations of the environmental impact of food demonstrated a broad inter-individual variability of this impact (even when taking account of variations in energy consumption). This contributed to the suggestion that dietary choices could simply be altered (i.e. replacing certain foods) to reduce the environmental impact of food (Carlsson-Kanyama et al., 2003; Coley et al., 1998). In particular, a reduction in the consumption of red meat from ruminants was suggested, because it is the production of these foods that generates the most greenhouse gas emissions per kilocalorie (kcal) (approximately 11 g eqCO2/ kcal) (Kling and Hough, 2010).
10 - A critical panorama of methods used to assess food sustainability
- Edited by Catherine Esnouf, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Paris, Marie Russel, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Paris, Nicolas Bricas, Centre de Co-opération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD), Paris
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- Book:
- Food System Sustainability
- Published online:
- 05 April 2013
- Print publication:
- 25 April 2013, pp 198-232
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Summary
The duALIne project chose to examine the methods used to assess food sustainability in a chapter of its own, separate from the sectorial approaches presented previously, so that this examination could be as open as possible. This chapter focuses in particular on the specific issues posed by food vis-à-vis the methods currently used to measure sustainability. Under this approach, this chapter looks firstly at the complexity of food systems, then how the associated challenges of sustainability could be structured and finally presents some methods and indicators and the research questions they raise.
Introduction
Measuring performance has become a widespread activity in modern societies. It is the benchmark by which political and economic choices are regularly backed and/or justified. Performance indicators, whatever their objective, have seen exponential development, as have the operators who construct them. Assessing the performance of food systems through the prism of sustainable development is still a recent concern that requires in-depth reflection, both in terms of its scope and of the issue(s) to be assessed on the one hand, and regarding the choices of the sustainable challenges targeted or the assessment methods to be used on the other.