Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment (한국대기환경학회지)

Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment (한국대기환경학회)
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Estimation of Food Miles and CO2 Emissions of Imported Food

수입 음식료품의 푸드 마일리지 및 이산화탄소 배출량 산정

  • Ju, Ok-Jung (Climate Change Research Division, Climate and Air Quality Research Department, National Institute of Environmental Research) ;
  • Lee, Jae-Bum (Climate Change Research Division, Climate and Air Quality Research Department, National Institute of Environmental Research) ;
  • Seong, Mi-Ae (Climate Change Research Division, Climate and Air Quality Research Department, National Institute of Environmental Research) ;
  • Kim, Su-Yeon (Air Quality Research Division, Climate and Air Quality Research Department, National Institute of Environmental Research) ;
  • Ryu, Ji-Yeon (Climate Change Research Division, Climate and Air Quality Research Department, National Institute of Environmental Research) ;
  • Kim, Dai-Gon (Climate Change Research Division, Climate and Air Quality Research Department, National Institute of Environmental Research) ;
  • Hong, Yoo-Deog (Climate Change Research Division, Climate and Air Quality Research Department, National Institute of Environmental Research)
  • 주옥정 (국립환경과학원 기후변화연구과) ;
  • 이재범 (국립환경과학원 기후변화연구과) ;
  • 성미애 (국립환경과학원 기후변화연구과) ;
  • 김수연 (국립환경과학원 대기환경과) ;
  • 류지연 (국립환경과학원 기후변화연구과) ;
  • 김대곤 (국립환경과학원 기후변화연구과) ;
  • 홍유덕 (국립환경과학원 기후변화연구과)
  • Published : 2010.02.28
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Abstract

Increase in greenhouse gas emissions during the last century has led to remarkable changes in our environment and climate system. Many policy measures have been developed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across the world, many of which require our lifestyle changes from energy-intensive to energy-saving. One of the changes in our living patterns is to consider food miles. A food mile is the distance food travels from where it is produced to where it is consumed. Providing information of food miles will help people choose low mileage food, helping promote a "green consumption" action and lead to a low carbon society with emission reduction systems. In this study, 10 items are selected from 23 Harmonized commodity description and 2-digit coding system (HS) to estimate their food miles, and $CO_2$ emissions released in the transportation of imported food. For the estimation, four countries are chosen-Korea, Japan, United Kingdom (UK) and France, with Korea and Japan's 2001, 2003, and 2007 trade statistics and UK and France's 2003 and 2007 trade statistics used. As a result, Korea showed in 2007 the highest level of food miles and $CO_2$ emissions per capita among 4 countries. That suggests that Korea should make an effort to purchase local food to reduce food miles and use low-carbon vehicles for food transport, contributing to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Keywords

References

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