Estimation of the Contribution to the GWP of Food Loss and Waste (FL&W) in Argentina

ARENA, A.P.; CIVIT, B.; PIASTRELLINI, R.; CURADELLI, S.

University Initiatives on Climate Change Education and Research

Springer Cham

Año: 2024; p. 1 - 26

The food system is very complex: food needs to be grown and processed,transported, distributed, prepared, consumed, and disposed of. The systemstrongly contributes to many environmental impacts that concern humanity. Notall the produced food serves to feed a human being, because its quality is notsuitable enough, or because its quantity has decreased along the supply chain.Therefore, a portion of the environmental impact caused is associated with lostand wasted food. In this chapter, as a contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals SDG2 (zero hunger), SDG12 (responsible consumption andproduction), and SDG13 (climate action), a first estimate of the greenhouse gasemission reductions that could be obtained by eliminating Food Losses andWastes in Argentina is presented. The estimation was performed applying LifeCycle Assessment to the main food products consumed in the country andspecific FL&W coefficients by food category. The final impact was obtained foreach stage of the productive chain (primary and industrial production, transport,and consumption) of 44 food products grouped into six categories: meat andanimal protein, fruits, milk and dairy products, vegetables, oils, cereals, and rootsand tubers. The food category with the highest Global Warming Potential (GWP)value is meat and animal protein, followed by milk and dairy products. A 16%reduction in the impact of Argentine food on climate change could be achieved bysimply reducing FL&W at different stages of the production chain.