Reducing Sugar Consumption Could Help Achieve Sustainability & Climate Goals

Sugar consumption reduction would benefit both the fight against climate change and the recovery from the health and economic crises caused by the coronavirus pandemic. This is the conclusion of a study conducted by the Universitat Autnoma de Barcelona's Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA-UAB) that examines the potential climate and sustainability co-benefits of reducing sugar consumption by redirecting existing sugar cropland to alternative uses.

Sugar taxation policies, according to the study, have the potential to meet these competing objectives because sugar is arguably one of the worst foods to eat in terms of health while also having great potential for biofuel production.

The study, led by ICTA-Lewis UAB's King and Jeroen van den Bergh, assesses the reorientation of existing sugar cropland for alternative uses. The authors look at three scenarios: the EU reforesting existing sugar cropland, the EU switching sugar beet crops to ethanol production, and the EU exporting excess sugar production while Brazil switches sugarcane crops to ethanol production.

Under the first scenario, emissions could be reduced by 20.9-54.3 MtCO2e per year, according to calculations. These savings would be double those of the second scenario and roughly four times those of the third.

According to the study, an agreement between the EU and Brazil, with the EU focusing on sugar production from sugar beets and Brazil producing ethanol from sugarcane, would provide the greatest environmental benefits to society. In Brazil, sugarcane ethanol production has already proven to be an economically viable alternative to sugar.

As a result, the economic impact on farmers in both the EU and Brazil would be minimal, resulting in equitable specialization across countries that provide welfare gains by reducing negative externalities. "It provides a clear example of how broad collaboration can help direct society in a more sustainable direction," says Jeroen van den Bergh, ICREA research professor at ICTA-UAB.

To achieve this reduction in sugar consumption, a similar approach to that which has helped the EU significantly reduce its tobacco consumption over the past decades would be required: education and policies aimed at behavioural change, with a significant role for taxation.

Sugar taxation has been shown to be both effective and politically popular in countries such as the United Kingdom, making it a promising policy tool for indirectly contributing to climate change targets. Sugar taxation will reduce sugar use not only by end users but also by production sectors such as beverages.

"To be both efficient and effective, sustainability policies must consider the full impact of the three pillars- environmental, social, and economic. Changing how we use sugar crops is an appealing strategy from this standpoint because sugar is arguably the least efficient crop for use as food, aside from its negative health impacts; additionally, it is the most efficient crop for biofuel from a net energy perspective," said Lewis King, ICTA-UAB researcher.