Investigating the suitability of simplified, partial LCA results to support decisions to minimise Nexus impacts from restaurant meal consumption in small Dutch cities

Abstract

Environmental impacts related to the global food system are increasingly addressed by academia, institutions, policy-makers and businesses. Fundamentally, decisions about food consumption rest with the customer, and although they are the largest stakeholder group in the food system, they are not adequately equipped to consider the environmental impact of their choices at the time of purchase. The Water-Energy-Food Nexus is a useful perspective to analyse and communicate emissions along the production system, supply chain and consumption context of food. Through the lens of the Nexus, this study investigates the LCA methodology as a mechanism to provide local consumers with useful information about permanent decrease of upstream water and energy availability and associated impacts of restaurant meals. A simplified ‘farm-to-fork’ LCA assessment was carried out for 12 popular meals that were frequently offered in the Dutch city of Leiden and could be grouped into the four categories red meat-based, poultry-based, fish-based and vegetarian. The ReCiPe and Cumulative Energy Demand impact assessments were applied to identify poultry-based meals with the highest water depletion potential and cumulative energy demand. This surprising result was found to be driven by the large proportion of starch ingredients in the recipes and the absence of significant amounts of starch ingredients in the Red Meat-based meals. The findings revealed a directly proportional relationship between refrigerated storage duration and both assessed impact categories. Normalization of meals per weight significantly reduced the range of impact scores across meals and the normalization of impact categories highlighted the disproportionately large effect of ‘freshwater eutrophication’ cause by beef cultivation. The results of the study provide high-level insight for policy-makers, businesses and consumers. The comprehensive metrics in this study are useful for communicating complex environmental impacts with consumers and supporting their decision-making process in favour of less environmentally impactful option. For businesses, a challenge arises from the disproportionately high impacts associated to inexpensive ingredients such as potatoes. Policy-makers are encouraged to further regulate maximum shelf-life durations and thereby curb energy demand for cold storage. In the context of the Water-Food-Energy Nexus, it was found that the study results support integrated measures that allow consumers to make more informed decisions, businesses to shift to low-impact ingredients without an economic disadvantage and policy-makers to stimulate more rigorous and feasible management of impacts along the food system.