Environ. Resour. Econ. http://doi.org/ndv (2013)

Civil society, governments and the private sector discuss the importance of curbing the CO2 emissions that are associated with the transport of food products (food miles). Policymakers, however, should look atemissions per dollar of food production to design adequate policies.

Misak Avetisyan of the University of Southern California, USA, and colleagues analysed greenhouse gas emissions from the consumption of a number of food products globally, with a focus on the most emission-intensive sector of all — ruminant livestock. They evaluated the substitution in households' consumption of domestically produced goods for imported commodities of the same kind. The related changes in transport and total emissions by product, and by country were then calculated. They found that in 90% of the country/commodity cases considered, emission intensities of local production dominate the food-miles patterns of products. The impact of transport emissions is more significant for non-ruminant products, dairy products and non-vegetable oils.

Food miles policies only reduce global emissions when they are implemented in regions with low emission-intensive production.