MONET 2030: Greenhouse gas footprint

SDG 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

Goal description

«[…] Sustainable consumption and production aims at “doing more and better with less,” increasing net welfare gains from economic activities by reducing resource use, degradation and pollution along the whole lifecycle, while increasing quality of life. It involves different stakeholders, including business, consumers, policy makers, researchers, scientists, retailers, media, and development cooperation agencies, among others. […]»

Swiss target 12.2(b): On the basis of environmental accounting, the carbon footprint from final per capita food demand declines by one-quarter compared to 2020.

Significance of the indicator
The indicator shows the greenhouse gas emissions caused by the final demand for goods and services in Switzerland. A global economy should take into account the emissions related to the consumption of goods and services, including those generated outside of the national territory. The carbon footprint takes account of precisely that, which means reducing it is a step towards sustainable development.

Help for interpretation
The greenhouse gas footprint of food per person is dedicated to monitoring target 12.2(b) of the 2030 Sustainable Development Strategy. In 2020, food was responsible for about a quarter of the greenhouse gas footprint of households. Two thirds of this share was generated abroad.

International comparability
It is not possible to measure import and export-related emissions directly so this has to be done using models. At international level several statistical approaches exist for estimating these flows, making international comparisons more difficult.

Synthesis

Comments: the indicator assessment is for the absolute Greenhouse gas footprint.

Per person

The greenhouse gas footprint is a statistical concept that calculates the total greenhouse gas emissions caused by the final demand for goods and services in Switzerland. In addition to domestic emissions, this includes emissions arising abroad in the manufacture of goods and services destined for Switzerland. The greenhouse gas footprint takes into account direct emissions by households, emissions associated with the household's and public sector's final demand and emissions associated with gross fixed capital formation.

Regarding the greenhouse gas footprint of food, according to environmental accounting, food is considered as a household expenditure element and corresponds to the consumption of food goods (including alcoholic drinks and tobacco).

The greenhouse gas footprint is a measurement that has to be modelled. The results presented here are based on the air emissions accounts, the input-output tables (IOT) from the national accounts and a weighting of the import related-emissions. This weighting takes into account the CO₂ intensity of the place of origin of Swiss imports. The greenhouse gas intensity of exports from the EU are weighted across the whole economy with a ratio of total CO₂ emissions to the gross national product (GDP) for each economic region.

The greenhouse gases taken into accounts are carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), nitrous oxide (N₂O) and synthetic gases (HFC, PFC, SF₆) in CO₂ equivalents.

Swiss target 12.2(b) : On the basis of environmental accounting, the carbon footprint from final per capita food demand declines by one-quarter compared to 2020.

International target 12.2: By 2030, achieve the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources.