Paper details

Title:

Diet-Energy Nexus: Meeting Climate Targets by Shifts in Food-Demand

Author(s):

Chan, K., Esmaeili Aliabadi, D., Schneider, U.A., Thrän, D.

Document(s):

Abstract:

The competition and synergy between food and bioenergy supply chains have drawn policymakers’ attention. To date, the literature lacks studies in which this interconnectivity is systematically analysed. In this study, the reinforcing or impeding impacts of sustainable diets on bioenergy production are formulated based on a representation of consumer choice. We define diet portfolios to identify the effect on bioenergy upstream with realistic rather than idealistic diet mixes within the population. We utilise surplus land from the diet shifts for sustainable bioenergy production and investigate how these diet portfolios affect the availability of waste residuals. These socio-economic drivers are used to generate two scenarios. Accordingly, we introduce these scenarios to BENOPT, a BioENergy OPTimisation model, to understand consumers’ diet choices on the future bioenergy outlook. Our preliminary results show that with a shift in diets from our model baseline to 75 % Business as Usual (BAU) and 25 % Vegan, GHG abatement increases by approximately 13 %. It is also shown that the alternative scenario produces 18.7 % more biofuels or biogas compared to the baseline scenario. The outcomes confirm that diet shifts affect bioenergy production potentials significantly; therefore, they should be understood thoroughly by all stakeholders.

Keywords:

bioenergy, diet, food supply chain, sustainable agriculture

Topic:

Sustainability, Impacts and Policies

Subtopic:

Sustainability, socio-economic aspects and public acceptance

Event:

30th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition

Session:

2CO.8.1

Pages:

322 - 324

ISBN:

978-88-89407-22-6

Paper DOI:

10.5071/30thEUBCE2022-2CO.8.1

Price:

FREE