F4 environnement

What share of total environmental impact does food and beverage consumption represent in Switzerland?

About 25% of total environmental impact (eco-points) and about 20% of climate impact (GWP).

How much CO₂e does food and beverage consumption generate per person per year in Switzerland?

Approximately 2 tonnes of CO₂e per person per year — equivalent to driving a car from Switzerland to Afghanistan.

What is the political CO₂ target for Swiss society, and how does food consumption compare to it?

The political target is 1 tonne CO₂e per person for all of society combined — yet food consumption alone already exceeds this target at ~2 t CO₂e/year.

Which food categories contribute the most to environmental impact in Switzerland?

Meat accounts for over 35% of nutrition-related environmental impact. Animal products (dairy, eggs, etc.) contribute a further 12–17%.

Why is a life cycle perspective important when assessing Switzerland's environmental impact?

Because Switzerland's environmental impact is largely driven by imported goods (indirect/virtual emissions). Around 50% of CO₂e, 70% of material consumption, and 90% of land use come from abroad. Domestic emissions alone give an incomplete picture.

Per capita, how does Switzerland's environmental footprint compare globally?

Switzerland is among the 20 countries worldwide with the highest per-capita environmental impact. Its consumption of CO₂e, water, land, and materials is more than twice the global average.

What is the definition of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)?

LCA is a method for estimating the environmental impacts connected with a product over its entire life cycle — from cradle to grave.

What are the three main functions of LCA?

1) Analyses mass and energy flows across all life cycle stages.

2) Quantifies impacts to human health and the environment.

3) Helps decision-makers understand the size and sources of environmental impacts.

What are the four phases of an LCA according to ISO 14040/14044?

A) Goal & Scope Definition →

B) Life Cycle Inventory Analysis (LCI) →

C) Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) →

D) Interpretation. The phases are iterative (feed back into each other).

What is defined in the Goal & Scope phase of an LCA?

The purpose of the study, its intended application and audience, the functional unit (comparison unit), the system boundaries, and the impact categories to be assessed.

What is the Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) phase?

The "data phase" — it involves compiling and quantifying all inputs (resources, energy) and outputs (emissions to air/water/soil, waste) for each process step across the product system's life cycle.

What is the Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) phase?

The "results phase" — it evaluates the significance of the potential environmental effects using the data from the LCI. It converts inventory data into impact category scores (e.g., climate change, land use, water use).

What is a functional unit in LCA, and why does it matter?

The functional unit is the comparison unit — it defines what is being compared (e.g., "1 kg of product ready for consumption"). Results can change significantly depending on the chosen functional unit (e.g., per kg vs. per gram of protein).

For what applications is LCA used?

Product development, environmental planning, political decision-making, and marketing.

What is the Ecological Scarcity Method and what unit does it use?

An aggregating LCA method that weights different environmental impacts according to Swiss political targets using the "distance-to-target" principle. The further a target is from being achieved, the higher the weighting. Unit: eco-points (UBP).

Why is the Ecological Scarcity Method useful for comparing food items?

Because different impact categories (e.g., land use vs. GHG emissions) can give conflicting results. The Ecological Scarcity Method aggregates all categories into a single score, enabling overall comparison.

What does the AWARE method assess in LCA?

AWARE (Available WAter REmaining per area in a watershed) assesses the potential for water deprivation. It calculates water Availability Minus Demand (AMD) relative to the area and normalizes against the world average. Values range from 0.1 to 100 (value 1 = world average; value 10 = 10× less available water than global average).

How is the AWARE water footprint calculated?

mount of blue water consumed by the product (m³) × a region-specific scarcity factor (m³ world-eq./m³). Result unit: m³ world-eq.

What was the goal of the Smetana et al. (2015) case study on meat alternatives?

To conceptually compare the main meat analogue types and identify the most promising substitutes for technological improvement.

What meat alternatives were compared in the Smetana et al. study?

Animal-based: chicken, dairy-based, lab-grown, insect-based. Plant-based: gluten-based, soy meal-based, mycoprotein-based (Quorn).

What were the two functional units used in the Smetana et al. case study, and why does this matter?

a) 1 kg ready-for-consumption product;

b) 0.3 kg protein corrected by PDCAAS (protein quality score). The choice of FU significantly changed the results, showing soy and insect-based options as having the lowest impact.

What is PDCAAS and why is it used as a functional unit correction?

Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score — it adjusts protein quantity by digestibility/quality.

E.g., chicken = 1.00, soy = 1.00, wheat (gluten) = 0.40, insects = 0.86, mycoprotein = 0.99.

It ensures fair comparison of actual nutritional value delivered.

What were the main conclusions of the Smetana et al. meat alternatives LCA?

Results were highly dependent on the functional unit chosen. Soy meal-based and insect-based substitutes showed the lowest overall impact. Lab-grown meat and insect-based options have potential for further improvement with more advanced production technologies.

In terms of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), how do animal proteins compare to plant proteins?

Beef has the highest GHG emissions per 100g, followed by pork, then chicken. Plant-based alternatives (soy-based, gluten-based, mycoprotein) have a fraction of the emissions of meat.

Which protein sources have the highest land use per 100g of product?

Beef, followed by pork and chicken. Plant-based proteins (gluten, mycoprotein, soy) have significantly lower land use.

Why do expensive cuts of beef have a higher environmental footprint than cheap cuts?

Because in LCA calculations, environmental impacts are allocated by market value — more expensive cuts (e.g., tenderloin) receive a larger share of the total production impact.

What plant-based protein alternatives are recommended to replace meat?

Soy-based options (tofu, okara, tempeh), legumes (chickpeas, fava beans, lupins, lentils), and meat substitutes such as seitan or Quorn (mycoprotein). All have only a fraction of the environmental impact of meat.

How do vegan milk alternatives compare environmentally to cow's milk products?

Vegan alternatives have significantly lower environmental impact: reductions of around 45–61% compared to cow's milk products.

What is the issue with overfished seafood in LCA?

Overfished species (e.g., sole, halibut, tuna) carry a large additional environmental burden due to the ecological scarcity of fish stocks. Farmed fish (perch, pangasius, trout) and farmed pike-perch have considerably lower environmental impact.

What are the main strategies recommended to reduce the environmental impact of diet?

a) Choose a Planetary Health Diet (plant-based).

b) Avoid air-freighted products.

c) Reduce meat, fish, and animal products.

d) Avoid vegetables from heated greenhouses out of season.

e) Consider organic farming.

f) Packaging (low priority).

g) Reduce food waste.

h) Reduce semi-luxury foods (coffee, alcohol, chocolate).

i) Optimize food preparation / use green electricity.

What is the Planetary Health Diet (EAT-Lancet, 2019)?

A diet defined by the EAT-Lancet Commission that is predominantly plant-based, healthy for people and the planet — it emphasizes vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts, and limited animal products.

Why should air-freighted produce be avoided, and what is the scale of the difference?

Air freight for produce like pineapple creates ~90% more environmental impact than sea freight. Transport mode can dominate the total footprint for exotic fresh produce.

Why should vegetables from heated greenhouses be avoided in winter?

Fossil fuel-heated greenhouses produce dramatically higher environmental impacts. For example, tomatoes bought in Switzerland in January have a much higher eco-point score than in summer. Affected crops: tomatoes, bell peppers, eggplant, lettuce, cucumber, radishes.

What are the pros and cons of organic farming in environmental terms?

Pros: no synthetic pesticides, no synthetic fertilisers, no heated greenhouses, no air transport (Bio Suisse label). Cons: often lower yield per hectare; some crops use copper as a substitute pesticide. Overall, organic tends to have lower impact per area but similar or higher impact per unit mass.

What is the environmental impact of packaging in nutrition?

Very small — packaging accounts for only about 1% of the total environmental impact of food consumption. Changing packaging is not a priority reduction lever.

How much food is wasted along the Swiss food value chain?

37% of food is lost along the value chain. In Switzerland, 2.8 million tonnes of food waste per year are avoidable.

What reduction in climate impact could be achieved by cutting out alcohol, coffee, and chocolate?

Approximately −19% reduction in CO₂e (GWP100) and −10% in eco-points from abstaining from these semi-luxury goods.

What are the three key conclusions of the Environment chapter?

1) Life cycle thinking is essential — it gives the full picture including indirect impacts from imports.

2) Animal products (meat, eggs, dairy) have the highest environmental impacts per serving.

3) Local, organic, vegetarian, and mainly vegan diets can significantly reduce one's environmental footprint.