The DOI matches its Crossref record; 3 of the 3 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Food-Miles and the Relative Climate Impacts of Food Choices in the United States
Open accessAbstract
Despite significant recent public concern and media attention to the environmental impacts of food, few studies in the United States have systematically compared the life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with food production against long-distance distribution, aka "food-miles." We find that although food is transported long distances in general (1640 km delivery and 6760 km life-cycle supply chain on average) the GHG emissions associated with food are dominated by the production phase, contributing 83% of the average U.S. household's 8.1 t CO2e/yr footprint for food consumption. Transportation as a whole represents only 11% of life-cycle GHG emissions, and final delivery from producer to retail contributes only 4%. Different food groups exhibit a large range in GHG-intensity; on average, red meat is around 150% more GHG-intensive than chicken or fish. Thus, we suggest that dietary shift can be a more effective means of lowering an average household's food-related climate footprint than "buying local." Shifting less than one day per week's worth of calories from red meat and dairy products to chicken, fish, eggs, or a vegetable-based diet achieves more GHG reduction than buying all locally sourced food.
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
Aviation radiative forcing in 2000: an update on IPCC (1999)
Sausen, R., Isaksen, I., Grewe, V., Hauglustaine, D., Lee, D. S., Myhre, G., Köhler, M. O., Pitari, G., Schumann, U., Stordal, F., et al. (2005) · Meteorologische Zeitschrift · doi:10.1127/0941-2948/2005/0049 · Cited by 318
An Environmental Assessment of Food Supply Chains: A Case Study on Dessert Apples
JONES, A. (2002) · Environmental Management · doi:10.1007/s00267-002-2383-6 · Cited by 202
Williams, E., & Tagami, T. (2002) · Journal of Industrial Ecology · doi:10.1162/108819802763471816 · Cited by 100
Cited by
The Systems View of Life: A Unifying Vision
Capra, F., & Luisi, P. L. (2014) · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511895555 · Cited by 1,347
Garnett, T. (2011) · Food Policy · doi:10.1016/j.foodpol.2010.10.010 · Cited by 1,046
Clark, M., & Tilman, D. (2017) · Environmental Research Letters · doi:10.1088/1748-9326/aa6cd5 · Cited by 989
Drivers of food waste and their implications for sustainable policy development
Thyberg, K. L., & Tonjes, D. J. (2016) · Resources, Conservation and Recycling · doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2015.11.016 · Cited by 928
Nijdam, D., Rood, T., & Westhoek, H. (2012) · Food Policy · doi:10.1016/j.foodpol.2012.08.002 · Cited by 734
Energy use and life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of drones for commercial package delivery
Stolaroff, J. K., Samaras, C., O’Neill, E. R., Lubers, A., Mitchell, A. S., & Ceperley, D. (2018) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-017-02411-5 · Cited by 518
Eshel, G., Shepon, A., Makov, T., & Milo, R. (2014) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1402183111 · Cited by 466
Quantifying Carbon Footprint Reduction Opportunities for U.S. Households and Communities
Jones, C. M., & Kammen, D. M. (2011) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es102221h · Cited by 450
Strawberry fields forever? Urban agriculture in developed countries: a review
Mok, H.-F., Williamson, V. G., Grove, J. R., Burry, K., Barker, S. F., & Hamilton, A. J. (2014) · Agronomy for Sustainable Development · doi:10.1007/s13593-013-0156-7 · Cited by 441
Energy Intensity of Agriculture and Food Systems
Pelletier, N., Audsley, E., Brodt, S., Garnett, T., Henriksson, P., Kendall, A., Kramer, K. J., Murphy, D., Nemecek, T., & Troell, M. (2011) · Annual Review of Environment and Resources · doi:10.1146/annurev-environ-081710-161014 · Cited by 339
Local food systems: Reviewing two decades of research
Enthoven, L., & Van den Broeck, G. (2021) · Agricultural Systems · doi:10.1016/j.agsy.2021.103226 · Cited by 339
Garnett, T. (2014) · Journal of Cleaner Production · doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.07.045 · Cited by 337
Greenhouse Gas Emission Estimates of U.S. Dietary Choices and Food Loss
Heller, M. C., & Keoleian, G. A. (2015) · Journal of Industrial Ecology · doi:10.1111/jiec.12174 · Cited by 329
Global food-miles account for nearly 20% of total food-systems emissions
Li, M., Jia, N., Lenzen, M., Malik, A., Wei, L., Jin, Y., & Raubenheimer, D. (2022) · Nature Food · doi:10.1038/s43016-022-00531-w · Cited by 318
Climate-smart agriculture global research agenda: scientific basis for action
Steenwerth, K. L., Hodson, A. K., Bloom, A. J., Carter, M. R., Cattaneo, A., Chartres, C. J., Hatfield, J. L., Henry, K., Hopmans, J. W., Horwath, W. R., et al. (2014) · Agriculture & Food Security · doi:10.1186/2048-7010-3-11 · Cited by 313
Wasted food, wasted energy: The embedded energy in food waste in the United States
Cuéllar, A. D., & Webber, M. E. (2010) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es100310d · Cited by 306
A Systematic Review of the Measurement of Sustainable Diets
Jones, A. D., Hoey, L., Blesh, J., Miller, L., Green, A., & Shapiro, L. F. (2016) · Advances in Nutrition · doi:10.3945/an.115.011015 · Cited by 299
Stoessel, F., Juraske, R., Pfister, S., & Hellweg, S. (2012) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es2030577 · Cited by 269
Beitzen-Heineke, E. F., Balta-Ozkan, N., & Reefke, H. (2017) · Journal of Cleaner Production · doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.09.227 · Cited by 267
The logistics of the short food supply chain: A literature review
Paciarotti, C., & Torregiani, F. (2021) · Sustainable Production and Consumption · doi:10.1016/j.spc.2020.10.002 · Cited by 262
The impacts of household consumption and options for change
Tukker, A., Cohen, M. J., Hubacek, K., & Mont, O. (2010) · Journal of Industrial Ecology · doi:10.1111/j.1530-9290.2009.00208.x · Cited by 249
Negotiating food waste: Using a practice lens to inform design
Ganglbauer, E., Fitzpatrick, G., & Comber, R. (2013) · ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction · doi:10.1145/2463579.2463582 · Cited by 239
Local food crop production can fulfil demand for less than one-third of the population
Kinnunen, P., Guillaume, J. H. A., Taka, M., D’Odorico, P., Siebert, S., Puma, M. J., Jalava, M., & Kummu, M. (2020) · Nature Food · doi:10.1038/s43016-020-0060-7 · Cited by 233
A Decision Support System for Urban Agriculture Using Digital Twin: A Case Study With Aquaponics
Ghandar, A., Ahmed, A., Zulfiqar, S., Hua, Z., Hanai, M., & Theodoropoulos, G. (2021) · IEEE Access · doi:10.1109/access.2021.3061722 · Cited by 182
Food miles, local eating, and community supported agriculture: putting local food in its place
Schnell, S. M. (2013) · Agriculture and Human Values · doi:10.1007/s10460-013-9436-8 · Cited by 164
Re-framing the climate change debate in the livestock sector: mitigation and adaptation options
Rivera‐Ferre, M. G., López‐i‐Gelats, F., Howden, M., Smith, P., Morton, J. F., & Herrero, M. (2016) · WIREs Climate Change · doi:10.1002/wcc.421 · Cited by 157
Subhadra, B., & Grinson‐George (2011) · Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture · doi:10.1002/jsfa.4207 · Cited by 135
Capper, J. L., & Bauman, D. E. (2013) · Annual Review of Animal Biosciences · doi:10.1146/annurev-animal-031412-103727 · Cited by 121
Aschemann-Witzel, J. (2015) · Current Opinion in Food Science · doi:10.1016/j.cofs.2014.08.002 · Cited by 121
Grebitus, C., Steiner, B., & Veeman, M. (2015) · Food Policy · doi:10.1016/j.foodpol.2014.06.011 · Cited by 107
Operationalizing local food: goals, actions, and indicators for alternative food systems
Cleveland, D. A., Carruth, A., & Mazaroli, D. N. (2015) · Agriculture and Human Values · doi:10.1007/s10460-014-9556-9 · Cited by 95
GHG emissions of supply chains from different retail systems in Europe
Rizet, C., Cornélis, E., Browne, M., & Léonardi, J. (2010) · Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2010.04.027 · Cited by 58
Ferguson, B., & Thompson, C. (2021) · Journal of Applied Philosophy · doi:10.1111/japp.12459 · Cited by 39
Wang, X., Cai, H., & Florig, H. K. (2016) · Energy Policy · doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2016.04.044 · Cited by 34
Metadata
- Authors
- Weber, C. L., & Matthews, H. S.
- Venue
- Environmental Science & Technology
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2008-05
- Volume
- 42
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 3508-3513
- ISSN
- 0013-936X (ISSN-L)
- 1520-5851
- OpenAlex
- W2023077867
- Cited by
- 1,147
- References
- 3
- Type
- other
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
Data sources
Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.
Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.
