Food production accounts for 74% of Brazil’s emissions – 10/24/2023 – Environment

Linked to deforestation, food production in Brazil accounts for almost 74% (73.7%) of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. Of this total, the majority (78%) is generated by the beef chain. The estimate was released this Tuesday (24) by the Climate Observatory.

It is the first time that a study has mapped greenhouse gas emissions from the entire food production chain in the country, calculating everything from the gases generated when opening new land for planting and reaching the fuel used in transporting and cooking food, as well as in the electricity used in supermarkets.

Despite the complexity of food systems, the main villain behind their emissions is the same as the country’s total emissions: deforestation. This is because a large part of the deforested areas are converted into pasture and planting areas.

Of the total 1.19 billion tons of carbon emitted by deforestation in Brazil in 2021, at least 1.01 billion are linked to food systems, with beef production alone accounting for 0.98 billion tons of carbon emitted due to deforestation.

The study, which is part of Seeg (Estimated Gas Emissions System),
Greenhouse Effect of the Climate Observatory), considered the emissions generated in deforestation to convert land use to agricultural areas and pastures, the burning of vegetation residues and also organic carbon emissions from the soil, after conversion to agricultural areas or pastures .

Just behind deforestation, the second largest emitter from food systems is the agricultural sector itself, which in 2021 emitted 600 million tons of carbon equivalent (which includes other gases). Two thirds (400 MtCO_two) are emissions from livestock farming.

The enteric fermentation process alone — popularly known as ox burp — accounts for 382.6 million tons of CO_twoor almost 64% of total food system emissions.

The study calculated two emissions estimates: a general one on food systems in the country, which in 2021 emitted a total of 1.78 billion tons of CO_twoand another dedicated to beef, which alone contributed 1.38 billion tons.

From the inside out, researchers also sought to estimate emissions from food transport, industrial processes and product use, energy expenditure in commerce and food preparation, even calculating emissions from waste.

All these steps, however, add up to just 10.8% of food system emissions. The use of energy (electricity and fuel) accounts for 5.6% of emissions from food systems, while waste emits 4.2% of the total. Industrial processes represent less than 1% of emissions.

Calculations use different strategies for each sector depending on data availability.

In transport, for example, the researchers started from the participation of each type of cargo —fertilizers, agricultural products, beverages, meat, etc.— in each mode of cargo (road, rail or waterway), concluding that cargoes from food systems use 30 % of road transport, 28% of rail and 18% of water transport. Emissions were calculated based on the percentage of participation in the transport sector, whose total emissions are already inventoried.

The electricity used in supermarkets and even their indirect emissions — which increase if the energy comes from thermoelectric plants, for example — also entered the bill, as did the use of cooking gas and refrigerators.

The study concludes that deforestation increases emissions in the food sector and recommends the implementation of traceability in the production chain, in addition to agricultural decarbonization plans.

“The discussion about the impact that changing diets, with the consumption of healthier and more sustainably produced foods, could have on reducing emissions is also very relevant,” says the report.