Pollution, water insecurity, ecosystem degradation: alcohol fuels climate crisis
Alcohol’s health, social, and economic harms are well known. But alcohol’s adverse effects on the environment, biodiversity, water and food resources and the climate are less well known. Nevertheless, they are real, severe and growing.
Very few people actually thinkof alcohol in terms of its climate impact. For achieving the goals of the 2030 Agenda, a more comprehensive understanding of the alcohol industry is critical.
Alcohol production degrades ecosystems and threatens biodiversity
Increasing levels of alcohol production are degrading farmland, jeopardize local food production and threaten the ecosystem. In King County, Washington State, USA, the alcohol industry is found to adversely impact rural and agricultural land, locally grown food supply and salmon migrating through local rivers by degrading all agricultural production districts and destroying the Sammamish Valley river ecosystem.
Alcohol production, consumption fuels climate crisis
Alcohol, particularly beer, fuels the climate crisis, according to calculations of greenhouse gas emissions.
- The yearly amount of Australian beer consumption is equal in emissions to a car driving 1.94 billion km – the equivalent of 48 000 car rides around the world.
- Emissions related to beer production and consumption cause the biggest damage to the climate when compared to other beverages such as coffee or tea.
Other aspects of the alcohol industry contributing to global warming, greenhouse gas emissions, high energy use, pollution and waste of natural resources are:
- Refrigeration in the hospitality sector,
- Use of fertilizers,
- Water use,
- Packaging,
- Waste,
- Transport of raw material,
- Distribution of the products.
Not green after all: Alcohol fuels greenhouse gas emissions and global warming.
The contribution made by the alcohol consumed in the UK accounts for 1.46% of the UK’s total greenhouse gas emissions. The share of beer in alcohol’s total emissions amounts to 65%
- In a lifecycle analysis of a Spanish beer, production and transport of raw materials used in beer production was found to contribute over one third of the total global environmental impact of the beer production lifecycle.
Levels of alcohol production and consumption are unsustainable
Alcohol production means – increasingly scarce – natural resources such as cereal crops are wasted for a “luxury good” instead of necessities.
The negative impact of alcohol production on availability of cereal crops for food, water security and food waste as well as the energy-consuming production processes are causing externalities that are unsustainable.
In 2018 a scientific analysisby Poore and Nemecek showed that lowering alcohol consumption by 20% can help
- reduce land use of alcohol production by 39% on average;
- reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 31 to 46%; and
- reduce scarcity-weighted fresh water withdrawals by 87%.
- Processing barley into malt is an energy-consuming process and barley production itself is highly vulnerable to unstable climate condition.
- In 2016, the global beer production amounted to about 1.94 billion hectoliters, up from 1.3 billion hectoliters in 1998. By some estimates, up to 92% of brewing ingredients are wasted.
- Levels of alcohol harm alcohol’s harm to others and the economic and social costs of alcohol make consumption levels and patterns unsustainable.
The alcohol industry receives the bulk of its profits from heavy alcohol use: 65% of sales in high-income countries and 75% of sales in middle- income countries result from heavy episodic alcohol intake. Big Alcohol relies on heavy and excessive alcohol use for major parts of its profits
What could be food and drinking water becomes toxic, addictive, carcinogenic substance
Alcohol production is jeopardizing natural resources, and is increasingly causing water shortages and food insecurity. Production of alcoholic beverages is very resource-intensive andNOT environmentally sustainable. In addition, climate change threatens to disrupt the supply of agricultural products.
A third of the world’s biggest groundwater systems are already in distress and about 4 billion people, representing nearly two-thirds of the world population, experience severe water scarcity during at least one month of the year. By 2025, an estimated 1.8 billion people will live in areas plagued by water scarcity, with two-thirds of the world’s population living in water-stressed regions.
This is happening at the same time as the alcohol industry is causing major emissions of chemicals into waterways in its production, around the world and is fuelling water insecurity.
Alcohol production is a threat to water security in many regions of the world:
- The water footprint of wine is horrible. To get one liter of wine, 870 liters of water are needed.
- The water footprint of beer is horrific. Per one liter of beer, 298 liters of water have to be used.