The impact of voluntary sustainability adjustments on greenhouse gas emissions from food consumption – The case of Denmark

Abstract

In this study we ask how a range of environmental sustainability adjustments that consumers find it easy to adopt affect the carbon footprint of their food consumption. The study is based on information about real purchases of food products and responses to a questionnaire about the various sustainability adjustments that the study participants apply and their concern about climate change. Based on principal component and regression analysis the results from the study indicate that sustainability adjustments such as organic consumption, buying domestically produced food and eating seasonal produce, as well as concern about climate change, are associated with a reduced carbon footprint from food consumption. The largest reductions were found for organic consumers. The results suggested that most committed organic consumers have a carbon footprint that is about one third smaller than that of consumers who seldom buy organic food products. The results also indicate that these voluntary sustainability adjustments are not sufficient to secure conformity with today’s goals for reduced greenhouse gas emissions.