EPIC - Economic policy instrument to reduce green house gas emmisions from the Swedish food sector

Such a shift includes changes in consumption towards more plant-based diets and changes in production towards reduced volumes of livestock and increased production of legume and grain for food, as well as increased production of fruit and vegetables. 

Initially, we assume Swedish self-sufficiency, to assure robust results of our policy analysis. Later, we will investigate how Swedish policy implementation affects trade, land use and emissions in other regions. 

In this project, which is led from the Department of Economics, quantitative and qualitative analyses on both the demand and the supply side of the food sector will be conducted. We will estimate consumer demand functions and willingness to pay for sustainable products. We will also estimate cost and production functions to assess possibilities and economic needs of Swedish producers. 

Obtained results enable us to calculate the effects of economic policy, and suggest a mix of policy aimed at consumers and producers. In addition, we will investigate how a combination of policies can be implemented on the whole market simultaneously to reduce GHG emissions. 

The Department of Energy and Technology contributes data on environmental impacts of different food products for the policy analysis. An online tool and database containing footprints for hundreds of food commodities and food items (https://safad.se/) has been developed. The tool calculates the environmental impact using eight environmental indicators (GHG emissions, nitrogen and phosphorus input, use of land, water and pesticides and the impact on biodiversity from land use) as well as indicators for animal welfare and use of antibiotics. The model accounts for import shares from different countries, food waste at different stages, and energy use in processing, packaging, and transport.