The carbon footprint of vegetable imports into Aruba: A closer look at sea and air transport
Sultan, Salys Geeraerd Ameryckx, Annemie
Geeraerd Ameryckx, Annemie
Keyword
Location research
Aruba
Date
2024
Language
en
ISSN
ISBN
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Research Projects
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Abstract
This study aimed to give insights into low-carbon vegetable import strategies for Aruba, a Dutch Caribbean island. Our selected products were potatoes, lettuce, onions, tomatoes, and green beans. The products originated from 13 different countries, and 25 product-country combinations were identified. The system boundaries were from the farm until arrival at the supermarket. We identified actual maritime transport routes, and calculated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of passenger aircrafts flying from Amsterdam to Aruba. Vegetables imported by air had significantly higher GHG emissions (4.2–8.3 kg CO2eq per kg) than products imported by sea (0.4–2.3 kg CO2eq per kg). GHG emissions of road transport generally contributed more than those of other life cycle stages, except when products showed a high contribution of agriculture. Although sea transport was calculated with much detail, it usually did not contribute much to the GHG emissions. We recommend Life Cycle Practitioners to consider aircraft characteristics when calculating GHG emissions of air transport, and to include the weight of the 80 kg AKE container, used for cooled airfreight, when allocating impacts between passengers and freight. For this case study, GHG emissions of specific passenger aircrafts always resulted in lower GHG emissions compared to generic calculations.
Citation
van Veghel, A., Salys, S., Geeraerd Ameryckx, A. (2024). The carbon footprint of vegetable imports into Aruba: A closer look at sea and air transport. Future Foods 10 100469.
Sponsorship
The research for this article was made possible with the support of the SISSTEM project, funded by the EU (FED/2019/ 406-549).
Publisher
Elsevier
Journal
Future Foods
Target group
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14473/1111
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fufo.2024.100469