Part 2 of the study on the environmental impact of German food, conducted by corsus on behalf of WWF-Germany, was published today. The LCA study assessed the impact on climate, water scarcity and terrestrial biodiversity as well as calculated the required land area, blue water consumption and nitrogen footprint. The average food consumption of a person living in Germany served as the consumption basis for this. In addition, the recommendations of the Eat Lancet Commission were translated for the first time into three further alternative food baskets: for a flexitarian, vegetarian and vegan diet in Germany.

In the second part of the study, the focus is on water consumption and the water scarcity footprint of the German diet. The results are astonishing: to supply food to Germany, 2.4 billion m³ of blue water are consumed worldwide per year. By comparison, Lake Chiemsee contains 2.05 billion m³. Most of this water is consumed outside Germany.

Another exciting finding comes from looking at the water scarcity footprint. 96% is accounted for by plant-based foods. This high percentage is due to a few foods that have a very high water footprint in a region already affected by extreme water scarcity: for example, oranges from Spain or Californian almonds.

What recommendations the WWF derives from these and other results of the study can be studied starting today in the second part of the study.