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21-06-2024, 08:26 AM
The soaring demand for avocados in Europe and North America has led to a trebling of global production in just over 20 years. However, this popular fruit is increasingly controversial because of the environmental impacts of farming and distributing them around the world.
Like a lot of modern agriculture, most avocado plantations rely heavily on fertiliser and fossil fuels, contributing to rising greenhouse gas emissions. They have smaller yields than a lot of other crops and so have a higher carbon footprint per kilogram of fruit.
The carbon footprint of avocados is more than twice as high as bananas (0.9kg CO₂e per kg) and over five times higher than apples (0.4kg CO₂e per kg), although it is only slightly worse than tomatoes (2kg CO₂e per kg).
But these figures are small compared to the global average carbon footprint of most animal-derived products. A kilogram of eggs has a carbon footprint of 4.6kg CO₂e, a kilogram of chicken comes in at 9.8kg CO₂e, and a kilogram of beef results in a whopping 85kg CO₂e on average.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/are...6NUDJJRQY/
Like a lot of modern agriculture, most avocado plantations rely heavily on fertiliser and fossil fuels, contributing to rising greenhouse gas emissions. They have smaller yields than a lot of other crops and so have a higher carbon footprint per kilogram of fruit.
The carbon footprint of avocados is more than twice as high as bananas (0.9kg CO₂e per kg) and over five times higher than apples (0.4kg CO₂e per kg), although it is only slightly worse than tomatoes (2kg CO₂e per kg).
But these figures are small compared to the global average carbon footprint of most animal-derived products. A kilogram of eggs has a carbon footprint of 4.6kg CO₂e, a kilogram of chicken comes in at 9.8kg CO₂e, and a kilogram of beef results in a whopping 85kg CO₂e on average.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/are...6NUDJJRQY/
