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Environmental impact of dietary change: a systematic review

Hallström, Elinor LU ; Carlsson-Kanyama, Annika LU and Börjesson, Pål LU (2015) In Journal of Cleaner Production 91. p.1-11
Abstract
Global food production is identified as a great threat to the environment. In combination with technical advances in agriculture, dietary change is suggested to be necessary to reduce the environmental impact of the food system. In this article a systematic review assessing the environmental impact of dietary change is performed. The aims are to i) evaluate the scientific basis of dietary scenario analysis, ii) estimate the potential environmental effects of dietary change, iii) identify methodological aspects of importance for outcome and iv) identify current gaps in knowledge. The review includes 14 peer-reviewed journal articles assessing the GHG emissions and land use demand of in total 49 dietary scenarios. The results suggest that... (More)
Global food production is identified as a great threat to the environment. In combination with technical advances in agriculture, dietary change is suggested to be necessary to reduce the environmental impact of the food system. In this article a systematic review assessing the environmental impact of dietary change is performed. The aims are to i) evaluate the scientific basis of dietary scenario analysis, ii) estimate the potential environmental effects of dietary change, iii) identify methodological aspects of importance for outcome and iv) identify current gaps in knowledge. The review includes 14 peer-reviewed journal articles assessing the GHG emissions and land use demand of in total 49 dietary scenarios. The results suggest that dietary change, in areas with affluent diet, could play an important role in reaching environmental goals, with up to 50% potential to reduce GHG emissions and land use demand associated with the current diet. The choice of functional unit, system boundaries and methods for scenario development and accounting for uncertainties are methodological aspects identified to have major influence on the quality and results of dietary scenario analysis. Further understanding of dietary change as a measure for more sustainable food systems requires improved knowledge of uncertainty in dietary scenario studies, environmental impact from substitutes and complements to meat and the effect of dietary change in different groups of populations and geographical locations. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. (Less)
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author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Review, LCA, Diet, Scenario, Climate, Land use
in
Journal of Cleaner Production
volume
91
pages
1 - 11
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • wos:000350940400001
  • scopus:84923071232
ISSN
0959-6526
DOI
10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.12.008
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
0b41c829-9658-4e57-b146-0737929b40b9 (old id 5287826)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 13:29:32
date last changed
2022-04-21 21:47:18
@article{0b41c829-9658-4e57-b146-0737929b40b9,
  abstract     = {{Global food production is identified as a great threat to the environment. In combination with technical advances in agriculture, dietary change is suggested to be necessary to reduce the environmental impact of the food system. In this article a systematic review assessing the environmental impact of dietary change is performed. The aims are to i) evaluate the scientific basis of dietary scenario analysis, ii) estimate the potential environmental effects of dietary change, iii) identify methodological aspects of importance for outcome and iv) identify current gaps in knowledge. The review includes 14 peer-reviewed journal articles assessing the GHG emissions and land use demand of in total 49 dietary scenarios. The results suggest that dietary change, in areas with affluent diet, could play an important role in reaching environmental goals, with up to 50% potential to reduce GHG emissions and land use demand associated with the current diet. The choice of functional unit, system boundaries and methods for scenario development and accounting for uncertainties are methodological aspects identified to have major influence on the quality and results of dietary scenario analysis. Further understanding of dietary change as a measure for more sustainable food systems requires improved knowledge of uncertainty in dietary scenario studies, environmental impact from substitutes and complements to meat and the effect of dietary change in different groups of populations and geographical locations. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.}},
  author       = {{Hallström, Elinor and Carlsson-Kanyama, Annika and Börjesson, Pål}},
  issn         = {{0959-6526}},
  keywords     = {{Review; LCA; Diet; Scenario; Climate; Land use}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{1--11}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Journal of Cleaner Production}},
  title        = {{Environmental impact of dietary change: a systematic review}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.12.008}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.12.008}},
  volume       = {{91}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}