Summary
This work presents EDGAR-FOOD, a comprehensive global emissions database quantifying greenhouse gas outputs across the entire food system from 1990–2015. In 2015, food-system emissions totalled 18 Gt CO₂ equivalent annually (34% of global GHG emissions), with agriculture and land use/land-use change accounting for 71% and supply chain activities for the remainder. The database provides detailed, spatially and temporally consistent sectoral data intended to support evidence-based mitigation policy design.
UK applicability
The EDGAR-FOOD database enables the UK to benchmark its food-system emissions against global and regional averages, and to identify which sectoral interventions (agriculture, supply chain, or consumption-side) offer the greatest mitigation potential. The dataset's inclusion of detailed regional and temporal trends facilitates UK-specific policy design, though application to UK conditions would require disaggregation from the global dataset.
Key measures
Total food-system GHG emissions (Gt CO₂ equivalent per year); sectoral breakdown (agriculture, land use/land-use change, processing, transport, packaging, retail, consumption, waste management, industrial processes, fuel production); temporal trends 1990–2015; regional contributions
Outcomes reported
The study quantified greenhouse gas emissions (CO₂, CH₄, N₂O, fluorinated gases) across the entire global food system from production to consumption for 1990–2015. It mapped sectoral and regional contributions to food-system emissions and provided temporally and spatially consistent data for mitigation policy design.
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