food Environmental impact
Real greenhouse gas emissions and environmental pollution in Switzerland today
Today, the Swiss officially consumes only about 5.8 t of greenhouse gas emissions per person. If, however, the emissions caused by imported goods abroad are added up, the total per capita emissions amount to more than double the figure.
Source: https://www.bafu.admin.ch/bafu/de/home/themen/klima/inkuerze.html
A study conducted by the Federal Statistical Office on Feb. 2018 shows that today we consume an average of around 14 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions (or CO2eq) per person and year.
Source: https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfsstatic/dam/assets/4322942/master
Environmental pollution via diet
If we first consider nutrition only, greenhouse gas emissions today are around 20%, or almost 3 tonnes of CO2eq per year and person.
If we consider other important aspects of environmental pollution, such as the Ecological Footprint, where we consider water, soil, air and waste, the impact increases by around 50%. If we also take into account the aspects of food, restaurant and hotel, the nutritional content of the so-called Swiss Footprint is around 33%.
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In the context of a master thesis of the HSLU, with clarifications from (e.g. ETHZ, BUFU, WWF, UNEP, ESU services, fao.org, foodnetwork.org, eaternity.org, myclimate.org, one-two-we.ch) it was possible to scientifically estimate the costs for compensation or the so-called compensation for food and beverages.
These current investigations show that the necessary CO2eq. Compensation costs for a lunch only need about 0.8 to 4.2 centimes.