Change in the carbon footprint of Iranians’ food consumption from 1961 to 2019: A decomposition analysis of drivers
¹Tallinn University of Technology, Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, Akadeemia tee 15, EE12618 Tallinn, Estonia
²Center of Food and Fermentation Technologies, Mäealuse 2/4, EE12618 Tallinn, Estonia
*Correspondence: Bashir.Bashiri@tftak.eu
Abstract:
The study investigates the role of three drivers: population, energy intake per capita, and dietary change on the carbon footprint of food consumption in Iran from 1961 to 2019. Iran was chosen for this analysis because the country has experienced a noteworthy population increase in the past century, and the imposed international sanctions have changed the economic welfare of the nation. Logarithmic Mean Division Index, along with data of FAOSTAT Food balance sheets and carbon footprint per item, were utilized to decompose the impacts of the drivers. The results demonstrated that the carbon footprint of food consumption in Iran increased by 1.6 during this period. We also found that population increase, and energy intake per capita were the main drivers of the carbon footprint of food consumption in Iran while diet change contributed negatively.
Key words:
carbon footprint, diet change, food consumption, Iran