Abstract
This paper reviews the potential and barriers of demand-side mitigation options in the agricultural sector based on the recent academic literature and on a survey conducted on a sample of 788 respondents living in France. The mitigation potential of such measures as reducing losses in the food supply chain and shifting diets toward less animal products is estimated to be particularly high, higher, in particular, than supply-side mitigation options. However, to ensure that these measures do not entail a reduction in protein intake, these estimations should consider both caloric and protein units, and take into account the digestibility differentials between protein sources. Our survey shows that people are relatively reluctant to eat more sustainably, preferring to reduce their emissions in other areas such as housing or equipment. This relative reluctance is mainly due to individual perceptions linked to health concerns, taste or habits. Some obstacles could easily be overcome through well-designed policies aiming to, for example, advertise a lower consumption of red meat for health benefits. National governments are, however, rather inactive on this topic, leaving the initiative to the civil society.
Highlights
The following three main avenues are listed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): reductions of losses in the food supply chain, changes in human diets toward less animal products, and increased carbon stocks in long-lived wood products (Smith et al, 2014)
Parfitt et al (2010) identified the following three interrelated global drivers of post-harvest losses: (i) urbanization and the contraction of the agricultural sector may increase the generation of food waste by extending food supply chains and disconnecting consumers from how food is grown; (ii) dietary transition implies a diversification of food consumption towards vulnerable, shorter shelf-life items; (iii) increased trade globalization could open up opportunities, such as driving investments in storage, transport and distribution infrastructures, while representing a threat by increasing the supply of inexpensive food, spurring food wasting behaviours
Wirsenius et al (2011) studied the impact of a greenhouse gas (GHG) weighted consumption tax equivalent to 60€ per ton CO2-eq on the following products: ruminant meat, pork, poultry, eggs and dairy products. Their results show that such a tax scheme would lead to a net reduction of 32 million ton CO2-eq, which corresponds to a 7% reduction of emissions in EU agriculture
Summary
As emphasized by Weber and Matthews (2008), “food represents a unique opportunity for consumers to lower their personal impacts due to its high impact, high degree of personal choice, and a lack of long-term “lock-in” effects. The following three main avenues are listed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): reductions of losses in the food supply chain, changes in human diets toward less animal products, and increased carbon stocks in long-lived wood products (Smith et al, 2014). Each of these options raises specific issues, as they are associated to profound changes in patterns of production and lifestyles. This topic is important for the protein crop sector as it could become a major player in the transition towards sustainable diet by promoting the substitution of meat with leguminous crops
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