Carbon Footprinting, or conducting a life cycle analysis on a given product to measure its greenhouse gas emissions over its lifetime, is all the rage. But how useful a tool is it?
Case in point: Coca Cola recently made big news when it measured the carbon footprint of a can of Coke. A standard 330ml can of Coke will set you back 170g of carbon dioxide (CO2e). But what does that really mean? To a consumer, not much. Are you going to stop drinking Coke based on those numbers? Drink more Coke? Or start drinking Coke, even though you never did? Probably none of the above.
To Coke, the numbers mean slightly more because it gives the company a snapshot of which aspects of production are most carbon intensive (manufacture, transport, packaging, and so on) so Coke can lessen their environmental impact.
But what about qualitative factors? When Coke compared the footprint of a can of Coke to the footprint of a mango and passion fruit smoothie from Innocent, a UK Smoothie Company, the smoothie had a higher carbon footprint (209g for a 250ml bottle).
Of course, one might wonder how can you compare apples to oranges – or in this case, high fructose corn syrup and water to fruit. How can a can of Coke actually be better for the environment (or a person) than a smoothie?
And, if you compared a smoothie filled with fruit grown closer to Britain – like apples, pears or berries – rather than tropical fruit flown in from the Southern Hemisphere for comparison, you’d probably come up with a lower number.
A better tool, which can be used alongside Lifecycle analysis, is agroecology.
Agroecology integrates qualitative concerns and considers ecology, sociology, economics and policy with equal weight. An agroecology analysis might evaluate how the fruit is grown and what sort of living standards the people who grew it enjoy. It might also consider the impact on the environment of the Coca Cola plant that produced the Coke in question (beyond the carbon footprint issue).
Carbon Footprinting is a good tool for corporations, but consumers, when deciding which products to buy, should take such numbers with a grain of salt. Incidentally, if you want the lowest carbon snack of all, go for a piece of fresh, local fruit.
Fun fact: Coke recently scooped up a minority stake in Innocent. The company will use the funds to expand its markets in Europe.
Image: maessive