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Mapping Environmental Impacts in BIOTRAILS: New Insights from Deliverable 3.6
How does our consumption affect biodiversity and climate? Deliverable D3.6 – Updated Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and EEMRIO, aims to address this question by assessing environmental impacts across three key value chains: cocoa cultivation in Peru, gold mining in Ghana, and aquaculture in Greece.
Our latest analysis provides critical insights into the links between global consumption and environmental degradation, especially in terms of biodiversity loss and climate change.
Key Insights
- Cocoa in Peru
Between 2000 and 2020 Peru’s biodiversity impacts due to land use per tonne of cocoa production decreased by 32%, however their total biodiversity impacts due to cocoa increased by 330%. The magnitude of biodiversity loss was highly dependent on the province in which the cocoa production took place, with the central forest region being most susceptible to species loss because of the high concentration of endemic species and diverse habitats.
- Gold in Ghana
The biodiversity impacts due to land use of Ghanese gold are second highest per tonne (only below Suriname) in the world, because of the high species loss in the regions where gold mining in Ghana takes place.
- Aquaculture in Greece
In Greek aquaculture, the environmental footprint depends heavily on the species being farmed. Producing common sea bream results in nearly double the biodiversity and climate impacts compared to sea bass, largely due to higher feed requirements. These findings offer tangible strategies to address environmental degradation:
- In the case of Peru, the highest priority should be reducing land use and to focus on increasing yield per hectare to eliminate the need for farm expansion. If land expansion is necessary, the location should be carefully considered in areas where species loss is the least detrimental and avoid deforestation.
- In aquaculture, the choice of fish is critical in achieving the lowest impacts. Consumers should opt for lower impact fish like sea bass or gilthead sea bream and avoid consumption of common sea bream.
Explore the full methodology and findings, the deliverable is publicly available here.