[en] The Danish diet is characterized by a high content of sugar, fat dairy products and red meat, and a low content of fruits and vegetables. As it is considered unhealthy and environmentally unfriendly, various alternatives to the standard Danish diet have been investigated and promoted in Denmark, such as the New Nordic Diet. By using a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), this study estimates the carbon footprint (CF) of four different diet scenarios in Denmark: standard, carnivore, vegetarian and vegan. The LCA is applied to build a dataset of the 47 most widely eaten food and beverage products, which represent the average Danish eating habits and grouped into six food categories. Unlike most past LCA-based studies, where system boundaries are limited to the farm gate, this study covers all activities and relative use of materials and energy, from the food production phase to the final consumption (namely ‘from-cradle-to-fork’). We find that the highest CF value is associated with the carnivore diet, which has the highest impact (1.83 t CO₂eq person⁻¹ year⁻¹). The vegan and vegetarian diets record the best profiles (0.89 and 1.37 t CO₂eq person⁻¹ year⁻¹, respectively), whereas the standard Danish diet has a CF value of 1.59 t CO₂eq person⁻¹ year⁻¹. We find that the food production phase is the most significant in terms of CF (65–85%). This study confirms that dietary preferences are a strong driver of CF. A comparison with CF associated with other diets suggests that a further research could provide a guidance to promote healthy eating patterns with adequate nutritional values and better environmental performances.

[en] The allocation of emissions embodied in international trade is crucial to evaluate the real impact that each country has on climate change and its responsibility in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In this paper, we develop a new theoretical framework recently proposed by Caro et al. (2014) that computes the carbon emissions embodied in international trade according to a consumption-based accounting. The method uses the value of the goods traded internationally and the respective carbon intensity as a coefficient of national efficiency. To provide an example of application of the proposed methodology and assess its difference with respect to the current producer-based GHG accounting, we analyze a trilateral trade system composed by three countries (Sweden, Italy, and Poland) with large differences in terms of carbon intensity (low, medium, and high carbon intensity, respectively). From the analysis of the data during the period 2000–2008, it emerges that the proposed consumption-based accounting would imply an increase of Italian and Swedish emission responsibility by 1.4 and 11.8%, respectively, with respect to the conventional GHG accounting, and a decrease of the Polish responsibility by 2.81%. To assess the possible consequences deriving from the application of this new methodology, we also consider the effects of a shift of the Italian imports from Poland to Sweden of Machinery and Transport Equipments, a crucial sector in the trade relations among the three countries, which accounts for about 45% of total exports from Poland and Sweden to Italy. Finally, we discuss some policy implications deriving from the application of the consumption-based accounting, devoting particular attention to the results emerging from its hypothetical adoption in the EU-27. The analysis performed in the paper suggests that the adoption of a consumption-based accounting could be an important tool in the climate change challenge to reduce global emissions.

[en] The Kyoto protocol has established an accounting system for national greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions according to a geographic criterion (producer perspective), such as that proposed by the IPCC guidelines for national GHG inventories. However, the representativeness of this approach is still being debated, because the role of final consumers (consumer perspective) is not considered in the emission allocation system. This paper explores the usefulness of a hybrid analysis, including input–output (IO) and process inventory data, as a complementary tool for estimating and allocating national GHG emissions according to both consumer- and producer-based perspectives. We assess the historical GHG impact profile (from 1995 to 2009) of Luxembourg, which is taken as a case study. The country's net consumption over time is estimated to generate about 28,700 Gg CO_2e/year on average. Compared to the conventional IPCC inventory, the IO-based framework typically shows much higher emission estimations. This relevant discrepancy is mainly due to the different points of view obtained from the hybrid model, in particular with regard to the contribution of imported goods and services. Detailing the GHG inventory by economic activity and considering a wider system boundary make the hybrid IO method advantageous as compared to the IPCC approach, but its effective implementation is still limited by the relatively complex modeling system, as well as the lack of coordination and scarce availability of datasets at the national level. - Highlights: • GHG emissions for Luxembourg are assessed using hybrid input–output (IO) modeling. • Consumer and producer perspectives are compared for the period 1995–2009. • IO-based GHG profiles are remarkably higher than traditional IPCC inventorying. • IO-based GHG accounting presents some advantages but is limited in implementation. • Key-aspects of IPCC and IO-based methods are extensively investigated and compared