Alcohol Production, Consumption Fuels Climate Crisis
According to the BBC climate crisis food calculator alcohol, particularly beer, fuels climate change.
When calculating for emissions from one pint of beer – taken 3 to 5 times a week and within the guidelines for alcohol use provided by NHS – it amounts to 139kg of greenhouse gas emissions per year. This translates to driving a regular petrol car 356 miles (572km) or heating an average UK house for 22 days.
In addition, just this amount of beer consumption already uses up 2,020 litres of water.
Furthermore, emission related to beer use cause the most greenhouse gas emissions when compared to other beverages such as coffee or tea.
Scary back of the envelope calculation: The amount of #beer Australians consume each year is equal in emissions to a car driving 1.94 billion km (Sydney to Perth 485,000 times, or around the world 48,000 times!) https://t.co/v6hhT50ILc #environment #climatechange @FAREAustralia pic.twitter.com/sdeiMsInBU
— Pete Sarich (@PeteSarich) October 11, 2019
In 2018 a scientific analysis by Poore and Nemecek (pdf) showed that lowering alcohol consumption by 20% can help reduce land use of alcohol production by 39% on average. For emissions, the reductions due to lowering alcohol consumption are 31 to 46%, and for scarcity-weighted fresh water withdrawals they are 87%.
.@maikduennbier from @IOGTInt says for many communities around the world, #alcohol production is a matter of life and death. pic.twitter.com/WxeJS7kjvT
— FARE (@FAREAustralia) October 15, 2019