Airfreight under fire from French study

A recent study by France’s agency of the environment and energy control (ADEME) has revealed the true impact of fresh produce imports on the environment.

According to French weekly FLD, ADEME asked the Bio Intelligence Service to determine the environmental effect of the transportation of fruits and vegetables imported into metropolitan France, both in terms of the energy consumed and the greenhouse emissions produced.

The first finding was that transportation of the 4m tonnes of fruit and vegetables imported in 2006 used up almost 250,000 tonnes of petrol and produced almost 1m tonnes of CO₂.

Furthermore, it was revealed, the transportation of one banana from Colombia by air produced 50 times as much greenhouse gas as one banana delivered by sea.

Although airfreight represents a mere 1 per cent of the country’s fruit and vegetables imports, the report stated, it accounts for 10 per cent of the energy consumed and 24 per cent of the greenhouse gas produced.