New Product Update: Land & Water Use Impact

GHG Emissions (aka “Carbon”) is the most widespread and mission-critical measuring stick for sustainability. It is a metric that has a quantifiable relationship to climate change and as such, has the most widely available data sets in the field of sustainability.

However, it has long been known that this metric doesn’t tell the full story of our impact on the environment. A more comprehensive evaluation of impact considers many other factors. Consequently, there has been growing awareness of the need to report on more than just carbon.

For the first time, Foodsteps is providing automatic impact assessments for two additional categories:

• Land Use - a measurement of the area of agricultural land required to create the food product
• Water Use - a measurement of the volume of freshwater required to create and consume the food product

How do we measure Land Use?

Land use is measured in units of metres squared occupied for one year, per kilogram of food (m²year/kg). Land use measurements account for agricultural land use only, including seed, arable, pasture and fallow land. This excludes urban land use such as for processing and retail sites, or land used in producing packaging and energy, which are generally insignificant in the overall land use impact of an item of food.

How do we measure Water Use?

Water use is measured in units of litres of freshwater withdrawals per kilogram of food (L/kg). Water use measurements include the volume of water used for irrigation, drinking and ponds, as well as water used for processing and in food service kitchens. 

Why should food businesses care about land and water use reporting?

Land use and water use have strong relationships to the health of our ecosystems, the sustainability of our resource use, and long-term food security. Land use is tightly linked to biodiversity loss as land is taken from nature for agricultural production, which depending on practices employed can drive degradation of our soil, diminishing the productivity of the land. Agriculture is responsible for around 70% of global freshwater withdrawals, and with water resources under increasing pressure from growing populations and climate change, it's vital to ensure we limit the pressure we place on this precious resource. Both land use and water use are key impact categories we see included in climate disclosure mandates such as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).

For both food service businesses and manufacturers, incorporating metrics beyond carbon in your decision-making is very important in order to avoid trading impacts. For example, if you don't consider other impact categories when optimising for lower carbon, you may find that you have dramatically increased the impact of your product by other metrics (ie land use and water use).

For food manufacturers, in particular, who are interested in making comparative claims, multiple impact categories in addition to carbon are required by ISO standards. What’s more, for businesses that must comply with the CSRD, you need to report on the land and water use impacts of your business to meet the requirements, as they will be material to all food companies.

Because there is less secondary literature available, trying to calculate your land and water use impact in-house will be extremely difficult – even more so than measuring GHGs – and would likely result in inaccurate data. With Foodsteps, you can rest assured your data is accurate and compliant. Additionally, because other impact categories are vital to track, we will support additional metrics in future in line with global standards, data availability, and interest.

To learn more about our land and water use measurements, contact us here.