Environmental efficiency and sustainability of food production and consumption in the EU

Abstract

About 88 million tons of food is wasted in Europe every year, which makes it one of the most serious regions for food waste in the world. This research uses a two-stage undesirable dynamic data envelopment analysis (DEA) model to explore the environmental efficiency of food production and food consumption in 25 countries of the European Union (EU) from 2010 to 2018. It addresses two issues: (1) greenhouse gas emissions from food production in European countries (greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture and fisheries) and (2) food loss from food production and food waste from food consumption in European countries. The research results are as follows. 1) The greenhouse gas emission efficiency of agriculture and fisheries in most countries has improved year by year. 2) The problem of food waste caused by food consumption in most countries is more serious than the problem of food loss caused by food production; thus, most food waste is generated by consumers. 3) France, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Malta, and the Netherlands have better environmental efficiency and better environmental sustainability in food production and consumption. Ireland, Portugal, and Slovenia are less environmentally efficient and less environmentally sustainable in food production and consumption. This study suggests that local governments, firms, and consumers in EU countries should work together to reduce food waste and improve the sustainability of food production and consumption.