Our purchased certificates of emission reduction

2: Greenhouse gas emissions according to IPCC (2013) of the five different bunch of roses analysed

Fig. 3.2: Greenhouse gas emissions according to IPCC (2013) of the five different bunch of roses analysed.

¿How we have determined the carbon emission of each stem of roses?

According to the study made by: Alig, Martina & Frischknecht, Rolf. (2018). Life Cycle Assessment Cut Roses Migros-Genossenschafts-Bund (MGB), Switzerland Fairtrade International Imprint Title Life Cycle Assessment Cut Roses. 10.13140/RG.2.2.21826.22724.

After studying the  environmental  impacts  of  the  production  of  five different cut roses: conventional roses from Ecuador, average and Fairtrade roses from Kenya and conventional roses and roses from optimized production from Holland. The agricultural production in  the country of  origin, the  packaging of  the  roses and  their transport to Switzerland, this study concludes that:

  • The greenhouse gas emissions per bunch of roses are between 7 kg CO2 eq (KE) and 37 kg CO2 eq (NL conv.).
  • The greenhouse gas emissions of the conventional roses from Ecuador are 1.5 times lower, the greenhouse gas emissions of the average and fair trade roses from Kenya 5.5 times and 5.4 times lower respectively than the ones from the conventional roses grown in the Netherlands.
  • The greenhouse gas emissions from the roses from optimized production in the Netherlands are 30 % lower than the ones from the conventional roses from the Netherlands.

¨The high greenhouse gas emissions of the roses from the Netherlands are due to the combustion of natural gas for heating the greenhouses. For the roses from Ecuador and Kenya, the transport causes most greenhouse gas emissions. Again, the emissions during the agricultural production of the Fairtrade roses are lower than during the production of the average Kenyan roses, but this is out weighted by higher emissions during transport. The higher greenhouse gas emissions from Ecuadorian  roses  are due  to their  higher  weight and  longer transport distances (transport) and the lower specific yield in terms of roses per hectare and year (agricultural production)¨

Alig, Martina & Frischknecht, Rolf. (2018). Life Cycle Assessment Cut Roses Migros-Genossenschafts-Bund (MGB), Switzerland Fairtrade International Imprint Title Life Cycle Assessment Cut Roses. 10.13140/RG.2.2.21826.22724.

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