A report by the EU’s Joint Research Council has found that progress in the decarbonisation of the food sector is proving challenging, and that the sector remains a major source of pollution and a huge energy user.

JRC researchers, who looked at the use of energy in the EU food industry, found that the share of renewable energies in the food sector remains relatively small (7%) when compared to its part in the overall energy mix (15%).

As part of their work, JRC researchers also analysed the energy footprint of a typical 'European food basket' composed of 17 widely consumed food products. They estimated the energy needed to cultivate, process, pack and bring food to European citizens' tables.

The food basket is based on data from EU-27 in 2013 (when data for Croatia who joined the same year were not available), and researchers said their estimates can account for about 60% of EU food consumption.

Researchers found that the energy needed to supply food in the EU amounted to around 26 percent of total energy consumption in the bloc in 2013.

In the report, different solutions are discussed on how to lower this figure and to make it more sustainable by increasing the renewable energy share. Consumers also have a role to play, as different food products need very different amounts of energy depending on their nature, their origin and the kind of processing they require. Refined food and products of animal origin generally need much more energy than vegetables, fruit and cereal products.

In its recent report The European environment: State and Outlook, the European Environment Agency (EEA) noted that certain areas of feedback and friction between environmental, social and economic concerns have held back progress in several areas since the 1970s.  EEA authors state in their report that, “Unsustainable systems of production and consumption that are responsible for many environmental pressures also provide diverse benefits, including jobs and earnings. This can create strong incentives for sectors or communities to resist change.”

The JRC findings, published this week, however, suggest that, while farmers and industry have been making efforts to improve their energy profile, more widespread action is needed to reduce waste and other impacts from the sector. JRC said food buyers can help the food sector become greener by reducing meat consumption, buying locally and seasonally, and reducing food waste.

JRC said European farmers are already leading the way to improve the energy profile in agricultural productions, while the food industry is slowly adopting energy saving and renewable energy technologies.