Simbio Onlus - Sistemi Innovativi di Mantenimento della Biodiversità, 23889 Santa Maria Hoè, Italy; Demetra Società Cooperativa Sociale Onlus, 20842 Besana Brianza, Italy.
Demetra Società Cooperativa Sociale Onlus, 20842 Besana Brianza, Italy.
Sci Total Environ. 2023 Apr 15;869:161773. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.161773. Epub 2023 Jan 24.
The literature on the external costs of food consumption is limited. This study aims at advancing in this field by translating the environmental and health-related impacts generated by the life-cycle of meat into external costs via monetization. The main types of meat consumed in Italy are used as a case study. The potential external costs are estimated via attributional life cycle assessment (LCA), using: i) the ReCiPe method for the environmental impact assessment (fourteen impact categories), ii) the population attributional fractions for the health damage from meat ingestion, and iii) the CE Delft environmental prices for monetization. Results show that processed pork and beef generate the highest costs on society, with an external cost of approximately 2€ per 100 g. Fresh pork and poultry follow, with a cost of 1€ and 0.5€ per 100 g, respectively. For comparison, the potential external costs of legumes (i.e., a plant-based alternative to meat) are estimated to be from eight to twenty times lower than meat (around 0.05€ per 100 g of legumes). In 2018, meat consumed in Italy potentially generated a cost on society of 36.6 bn€. The burden arises almost equally from impacts generated before meat ingestion (mainly associated with the emissions arisen from farming), and after the ingestion (due to diseases potentially associated with meat consumption). A sensitivity analysis on the main parameters revealed a large uncertainty on the final yearly cost, ranging from 19 to 93 bn€. Although more research is needed to improve the accuracy and the validity of the models used in the study (e.g., human health impact assessment, monetization) and to include potential external costs currently unaccounted for (e.g., water use, animal welfare, occupational health), results show unequivocal significant costs associated with meat consumption. We thus advocate for policies aimed at reducing these costs and allocating them properly.
关于食物消费的外部成本的文献有限。本研究旨在通过将肉类生命周期中产生的环境和健康相关影响转化为外部成本来推进这一领域的研究，通过货币化实现。意大利主要消费的肉类类型被用作案例研究。通过归因生命周期评估 (LCA) 估算潜在的外部成本，使用：i）ReCiPe 方法进行环境影响评估（十四种影响类别），ii）肉类摄入对健康损害的人群归因分数，以及 iii）CE Delft 环境价格进行货币化。结果表明，加工猪肉和牛肉对社会造成的成本最高，每 100 克约为 2 欧元。新鲜猪肉和禽肉紧随其后，分别为 1 欧元和 0.5 欧元。相比之下，豆类（即肉类的植物替代品）的潜在外部成本估计要低 8 到 20 倍，每 100 克豆类约为 0.05 欧元。2018 年，意大利消费的肉类可能给社会带来 366 亿欧元的成本。负担几乎平等地来自肉类摄入前（主要与养殖产生的排放有关）和摄入后（由于与肉类消费相关的潜在疾病）产生的影响。对主要参数的敏感性分析显示，最终年度成本存在很大的不确定性，范围从 190 亿到 930 亿欧元。尽管需要进一步研究来提高研究中使用的模型的准确性和有效性（例如，人类健康影响评估、货币化），并包括目前未计入的潜在外部成本（例如，水的使用、动物福利、职业健康），但结果表明与肉类消费相关的成本显著。因此，我们主张采取政策来降低这些成本并进行适当分配。
