3FOOD

Third Industrial Revolution Consulting Group
Sources of Energy embedded in the JRC food basket
Source: EC
Figure
JRC (2015)
1.5 Sources
Figure
of energy
1.5 Sources
embedded
of
in
energy
each of the
embedded
products making
in each
up the
of
JRC
the products making up the JRC
food basket in absolute (top panel) and relative (bottom panel) terms. *Units in MJ/kg
food basket or in MJ/l relative (for beer, terms. milk and *Units mineral in water). MJ/kg Source: or MJ/l Authors’ (for own beer, analysis. milk and mineral water).
1.3.3 GHG emissions from the JRC food basket
When all the Figure energy 1.6 shows costs the GHG associated emissions related with to food the whole production, life cycle of the distribution, products and recycling are
composing the JRC food basket in units of kg of CO
added up, EU agricultural food production is
2e per EU citizen, again broken down
for the 17 products represented and their production steps.
a whopping
Figure 1.7 shows
26%
the same
of the EU’s total energy
data per kilogram of product.
consumption annually, making it a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. The food
sector has lagged woefully behind other commercial sectors in increasing renewable energies,
with only 7% of total energy used coming from renewable sources, in sharp contrast to 15% in
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the overall energy mix. Weaning Luxembourg’s food sector off of petrochemical based farming
is a formidable task.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions Per Product & Production Step
Source: EC JRC (2015) Figure 1.6 Annual GHG emissions related to the average EU citizen’s consumption of the JRC
food basket, detailed per product & per production step. Units in kg of CO2equivalent/capita.
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