Global Food Production Hotspot and Mitigation Analysis

The project evaluates the environmental impacts of global food production, specifically with respect to land use, water consumption, global warming, and eutrophication. It also ranks individual food commodities by total global impact and provides mitigation strategies for high-impact food commodities. Our analysis focused on the top 14 primary commodities (crops and livestock) that were ranked based on their global climate change impact. The ranking was achieved by multiplying the global production quantity of each commodity with its average greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity. Data for global food production was taken from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) database for 2022. Data for the GHG intensities was taken from peer-reviewed publications with the most complete existing top level footprints. To identify hotspots we conducted a contribution analysis leveraging life cycle inventory data from the Agri-footprint 6.0 database developed by Blonk for country-level cradle-to-gate production of the 14 chosen commodities. Finally, a mitigation analysis was conducted through a literature review of research studies that identify strategies to reduce the environmental impacts of the ranked food products.

Acknowledgements

UC Santa Barbara Bren School: Roland Geyer, Professor; David Tilman, Distinguished Professor

United Nations Environmental Programme: Llorenç Milà i Canals, Programme Officer; Clementine O’Connor, Programme Management Officer; Helena Rey de Assis, Programme Officer