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