Developed by Dr Emma Wilkins and colleagues and made available through our partnership with the FIO Food project, this tool enables researchers to consistently estimate the environmental impact of grocery products.
The tool draws on:
Product data from a major grocery retailer (UK)
Transaction data from 160+ million product sales (loyalty card holders)
Published literature on greenhouse gas emissions, land use, and water use for 45 food and drink commodities
“Food systems are a major driver of greenhouse gas emissions, land use, and water consumption globally. This tool offers researchers, policymakers, and practitioners a robust method for estimating the environmental sustainability of food purchases, helping to inform strategies for healthier and more sustainable diets.
The look-up tool was developed for a study estimating the environmental sustainability footprints of food and drink purchases from our retail partners stores. Existing methods for estimating the environmental sustainability of grocery sales are inconsistent and often lack transparency. Wilkins and the team wanted to make their look-up tool available to simplify the process of linking products with environmental sustainability metrics, and to allow harmonisation and transparency in these methods.”
Dr Emma Wilkins, University of Leeds
What is the FIO Food Environmental Sustainability Look-Up Tool?
The tool links 200 food and drink product categories to key environmental sustainability metrics:
Greenhouse Gas Emissions (kg CO₂-eq/kg)
Water Use (L/kg)
Land Use (m²·year/kg)
These metrics enable users to assess the environmental footprint of grocery products using two approaches:
Direct Estimates: Easily link products to global average sustainability data, primarily sourced from Poore & Nemecek (2018).
Commodity Weighting Equations: Apply category-specific weighting formulas to incorporate alternative or region-specific sustainability data for greater flexibility.
How was the tool developed?
The tool draws on:
Product data from a major grocery retailer (UK), covering over 28,000 items sold between March 2021 and March 2022.
Transaction data from more than 160 million purchases by loyalty card holders in Yorkshire and the Humber during 2022.
Published literature on environmental impacts of 45 food commodities, predominantly Poore & Nemecek (2018).
Products were classified into Living Costs and Food Survey (LCFS) categories and newly developed subcategories, then mapped to commodity weighting equations. These equations underpin the sustainability metrics provided in the tool.
How to access the FIO Food Environmental Sustainability Look-Up Tool
The FIO Food Environmental Sustainability Look-Up Tool is available for download via our open data service – view the metadata and download.
Funding
This work was part of the FIO-Food project, funded through the Transforming the UK Food System for Healthy People and a Healthy Environment SPF Programme, delivered by UKRI, in partnership with the Global Food Security Programme, BBSRC, ESRC, MRC, NERC, Defra, DHSC, OHID, Innovate UK and FSA (FIO-Food award: BB/W018021/1).
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