Carbon footprint of "Lake Constance apples"

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As part of a project the sustainable development of fruit cultivation in the Lake Constance ("Bodensee") region, ifeu was commissioned by the Obstregion Bodensee e. V. to determine the carbon footprint of apples from 22 fruit farms and typical Lake Constance apples, and to identify potential for improvement. The study analysed all apple production processes from cultivation to cold storage. It did not include post-storage processes, such as sorting, packaging, cold chain logistics and transport to retail outlets.

The results show that typical Lake Constance apples have a relatively low carbon footprint. Apples from organic production have a slightly better carbon footprint per hectare of cultivated land and a slightly worse carbon footprint per kg of saleable apples compared to apples from integrated production, which is due to the lower area yield of organic apples. Overall, however, the difference in carbon footprint between apples from organic and integrated production is small. The majority of the resulting greenhouse gas emissions come from three processes: diesel fuel for cultivation, land occupation (emissions from land use and land use change) and storage.

Opportunities to reduce the carbon footprint of apples include all measures that increase yields while conserving resources. Increasing the proportion of wood used for energy production after the end of the plantation and using renewable cooling energy for storage and environmentally friendly refrigerants are also ways to further reduce the carbon footprint.