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Food Chain Programme: Measuring Embedded Greenhouse Gases (GHG)

Aim

Direct greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions – such as from homes, factories and transport – are relatively easy to measure. But a large quantity of GHGs are also ‘embedded’ in the products and services we consume. This project aims to make measuring embedded GHG emissions across supply chains considerably easier. Once these emissions become measurable, their reduction also becomes more straightforward.
 
To this end, Defra is working with the Carbon Trust, to co-sponsor the development of a Publicly Available Specification (PAS) by the British Standards Institute. Together they will deliver a robust and industry-wide standard to measure embedded GHGs in all products and services by June 2008. 

In the longer term the project aims to influence future standards development at European Union and International Standards level.

Food products are a major focus of this work, given the complexities of their production; for example, agriculture involves significant emissions of greenhouse gases besides carbon dioxide. In addition, there is a high level of public and retailer interest surrounding them.

Research

A number of key research projects are ongoing in 2008. These will inform the development of the PAS, test the draft measurement method, and provide valuable data on the greenhouse gas impacts of different sections of the food chain. The projects are:

  • ‘Scenario Building to Test the PAS’ (Defra research project FO0404). This will trial the draft PAS process on a number of food products during the farm and manufacturing stages, including: beef, lamb, pork, milk, potatoes, and bread wheat.
  • ‘Greenhouse Gas impacts of Food Retailing’ (Defra research project FO0405). This will assess the retail phase of a product’s lifecycle, studying the energy expended for lighting, freezing, chilling and heating food in different store types.
  • ‘Understanding the Greenhouse Gas Impacts of Food Preparation and Consumption in the Home’ (Defra research project FO0406). This project will examine the in-use, ‘consumer’ phase of various products’ lifecycles.

A further study, ‘Comparative life-cycle assessment of food commodities procured for UK consumption through a diversity of supply chains’ (Defra research project FO01303), is looking at the impacts of various imported foods, such as Brazilian beef, New Zealand lamb and Spanish strawberries. This project began in June 2007 and will report in September 2008, inputting to the ongoing work of the Food Chain Programme in determining the environmental impacts of our food consumption.

Progress

The first draft of the PAS was issued in September 2007, with the first consultation round conducted in October. The results of this are being used to develop a second draft of the PAS, for approval by the project’s Steering Group in January 2008. This new draft will then be circulated in a second, broader consultation between February and March 2008.

In addition, a number of Working Groups have been convened on specific issues surrounding the PAS. The Food Chain Programme is involved with the Agricultural Working Group.

The final PAS will be published in June 2008.  

See also

 

Page last modified: 4 March 2008

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs