Emission intensities of the food production system in the European Union countries

This article aimed to calculate and evaluate comparable environmental intensity indicators in the food production systems of European Union (EU) countries. The study uses the latest release of uniform input-output tables and greenhouse gas emission accounts for EU countries. The amount of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) per unit of food production system Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was used to measure environmental intensity from 2010 to 2017. The main contributions of this study consist of calculating fully comparable emission intensity indicators of the food production system for all EU countries, estimating the emissions of the four primary sources in food production systems (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and hydrofluorocarbons), and evaluating the partial results of emission intensities at particular stages of food production. The results show that the total amount of GHG emissions from the food production system in the EU-28 countries decreased in the analyzed period. However, the share of the food production system in total GHG emissions increased. The calculations indicate that, on average, the EU-28 countries reduced the emissions intensity in food production systems. The intensities between countries were varied and independent of economic development, while in each country, the highest emission intensity was observed at the agriculture production stage. For this reason, the primary recommendation for EU decision-makers is to continue supporting agricultural production in improving emission intensity.