Cargando…

Food Banks against Climate Change, a Solution That Works: A Case Study in Navarra, Spain

Worldwide, more than 1.3 billion tonnes of food are wasted each year, which is equivalent to releasing 4.4 Gt of CO(2) equivalents (CO(2)e). In this context, the Food Bank of Navarra (FBN) annually avoids the waste of approximately 3000 tons of perfectly consumable food. The aim of this study was tw...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Penalver, Josemi G., Armijos, Alejandra, Soret, Beatriz, Aldaya, Maite M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9689619/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36429237
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/foods11223645
_version_ 1784836581014634496
author Penalver, Josemi G.
Armijos, Alejandra
Soret, Beatriz
Aldaya, Maite M.
author_facet Penalver, Josemi G.
Armijos, Alejandra
Soret, Beatriz
Aldaya, Maite M.
author_sort Penalver, Josemi G.
collection PubMed
description Worldwide, more than 1.3 billion tonnes of food are wasted each year, which is equivalent to releasing 4.4 Gt of CO(2) equivalents (CO(2)e). In this context, the Food Bank of Navarra (FBN) annually avoids the waste of approximately 3000 tons of perfectly consumable food. The aim of this study was twofold: on the one hand, to analyse the carbon footprint of the FBN and, on the other hand, to perform a comparative analysis of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in two scenarios, “with” and “without” the actions of the FBN, in order to identify and quantify the environmental benefits, in terms of GHG emissions reduction, associated with the reduction in food waste. The analyses were conducted in two different years. The carbon footprint associated with the FBN’s activities was 147 t of CO(2)e in the year 2018. The quantification of GHGs in the scenario “without the FBN” showed that if the FBN did not exist 4715 t of CO(2)e would have been emitted. The results obtained in consecutive years were similar, highlighting the importance of the FBN—not only in social terms but also environmental terms—as it prevented a large amount of GHGs from being emitted into the atmosphere. A detailed account of the carbon emission reduction associated with the food bank’s operations and the knowledge of the benefits involved could boost their positive effects in facilitating the integration of their activities into policies aimed at climate neutrality.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-9689619
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2022
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-96896192022-11-25 Food Banks against Climate Change, a Solution That Works: A Case Study in Navarra, Spain Penalver, Josemi G. Armijos, Alejandra Soret, Beatriz Aldaya, Maite M. Foods Article Worldwide, more than 1.3 billion tonnes of food are wasted each year, which is equivalent to releasing 4.4 Gt of CO(2) equivalents (CO(2)e). In this context, the Food Bank of Navarra (FBN) annually avoids the waste of approximately 3000 tons of perfectly consumable food. The aim of this study was twofold: on the one hand, to analyse the carbon footprint of the FBN and, on the other hand, to perform a comparative analysis of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in two scenarios, “with” and “without” the actions of the FBN, in order to identify and quantify the environmental benefits, in terms of GHG emissions reduction, associated with the reduction in food waste. The analyses were conducted in two different years. The carbon footprint associated with the FBN’s activities was 147 t of CO(2)e in the year 2018. The quantification of GHGs in the scenario “without the FBN” showed that if the FBN did not exist 4715 t of CO(2)e would have been emitted. The results obtained in consecutive years were similar, highlighting the importance of the FBN—not only in social terms but also environmental terms—as it prevented a large amount of GHGs from being emitted into the atmosphere. A detailed account of the carbon emission reduction associated with the food bank’s operations and the knowledge of the benefits involved could boost their positive effects in facilitating the integration of their activities into policies aimed at climate neutrality. MDPI 2022-11-15 /pmc/articles/PMC9689619/ /pubmed/36429237 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/foods11223645 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Penalver, Josemi G.
Armijos, Alejandra
Soret, Beatriz
Aldaya, Maite M.
Food Banks against Climate Change, a Solution That Works: A Case Study in Navarra, Spain
title Food Banks against Climate Change, a Solution That Works: A Case Study in Navarra, Spain
title_full Food Banks against Climate Change, a Solution That Works: A Case Study in Navarra, Spain
title_fullStr Food Banks against Climate Change, a Solution That Works: A Case Study in Navarra, Spain
title_full_unstemmed Food Banks against Climate Change, a Solution That Works: A Case Study in Navarra, Spain
title_short Food Banks against Climate Change, a Solution That Works: A Case Study in Navarra, Spain
title_sort food banks against climate change, a solution that works: a case study in navarra, spain
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9689619/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36429237
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/foods11223645
work_keys_str_mv AT penalverjosemig foodbanksagainstclimatechangeasolutionthatworksacasestudyinnavarraspain
AT armijosalejandra foodbanksagainstclimatechangeasolutionthatworksacasestudyinnavarraspain
AT soretbeatriz foodbanksagainstclimatechangeasolutionthatworksacasestudyinnavarraspain
AT aldayamaitem foodbanksagainstclimatechangeasolutionthatworksacasestudyinnavarraspain