Food consumption is amongst the main drivers of environmental impacts. On one hand, there is the need of fulfil a fundamental human need related to nutrition and on the other hand this is posing critical threats to the environment. In order to assess the impact associated to food consumption, a LCA based methodology has been applied to a basket of products, selected as representative of EU consumption. Firstly, a food basket of products has been identified in order to represent the average food and beverage consumption in Europe, reflecting relative importance of the products in terms of mass and economic value. The products in the basket are: pig meat, beef, poultry, milk, cheese, butter, bread, sugar, sunflower oil, olive oil, potatoes, oranges, apples, mineral water, roasted coffee, beer, pre-prepared dishes. For each product in the basket, an inventory model has been developed, highly disaggregated and based on a modular approach, built on statistical data. The environmental impact of the average food consumption of a European citizen has been characterised using ILCD methodology for the life cycle impact assessment. The overall results indicate that in the majority of the impact categories the most burdening consumed foods are meat products (beef, pork and poultry) and dairy products (cheese, milk and butter). The agricultural phase is the most impacting lifecycle stage of the basket food, due to the contribution of agronomic and zoo-technical activities. Food processing and logistics follow in importance, due to their energy intensity and the related emissions to atmosphere, occurring during the production of heat, steam and electricity and during transport. Regarding the end of life, human excretion and wastewater treatments are posing burdens related to euthrophying substances which are higher than that of the agriculture, transports and processing. Moreover, food losses which occur during the whole life cycle, during agricultural/industrial phases and at home, in terms of food waste, have to also be taken in consideration, since they can contribute up to 60% of the initial weight of the food. The results of the study go beyond the assessment of possible impacts associated to food consumption. In fact, the overall methodology may represent a baseline for testing eco-innovation scenarios for impact reduction as well as for setting targetsJRC.D.3-Land Resource

Sustainable and responsible production and consumption are at the heart of sustainable development, explicitly mentioned as one of the sustainable development goals (SDG12). Life cycle assessment, with its integrated holistic approach, is considered a reference method for the assessment of the environmental impact of production and consumption. This paper presents a study on the environmental impacts of final consumption in Europe in five areas of consumption: food, mobility, housing, household goods, and appliances. Based on the selection of a set of representative products to meet food, mobility, housing, and other consumers’ needs, environmental impacts of products are assessed over their full life cycle: from raw material extraction to production, distribution, use, and end-of-life phase. Life cycle inventories of representative products are multiplied by consumption statistics to assess the impact of an average European citizen in 2010 and 2015. Impacts are assessed considering the sixteen impact categories of the Environmental Footprint method. Results reveal that food is the most relevant area of consumption driving environmental impacts. Use phase is the most important life cycle stage for many impact categories, especially for the areas of consumption housing, mobility, and appliances. For the areas of consumption food and household goods, the most important life cycle phase is related to upstream processes, which corresponds to agricultural activities for food and manufacturing of products components for household goods. Apart from the results, the paper includes a detailed discussion on further methodological improvements and research needs to make use of the Consumer Footprint as an indicator for monitoring SDG 12 and for supporting sustainable production and consumption policies.