Greenhouse gas emissions in the EU agri-food system: empirical assessment, economic evaluation and policy implications

The study intends to implement a measurement method assessing GHG emissions induced by food products in the EU throughout their whole life cycle, from production to consumption, so as to provide an useful information base for future mitigation strategies and sectorial policy implementation. To do that an Environmentally Extended Input-Output Analysis is conducted, based on a comprehensive and detailed model (E3IOT) representing the food sector and subsectors in the EU-25. This allowed us to provide: (i) a quantification of the magnitude of GHG emissions induced by each food sector along with their economic value; (ii) the identification of the most critical activities within each sector (i.e. sub-sectors and supply chain stages), that are responsible for the release of the largest share of GHG emission; and finally (iii) a discussion of the most appropriate strategies in the context of the recent new course of the CAP and European environmental policy.