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The economic, environmental and social performance of European certified food – Publication by Áron Török

2022-02-28 13:55:42

The article co-authored by Áron Török was published in the Ecological Economics.
Corvinus

To identify whether EU certified food – here organic and geographical indications – is more sustainable than a conventional reference, we developed 25 indicators covering the three sustainability pillars. Original data was collected on 52 products at farm, processing and retail levels, allowing the estimation of circa 2000 indicator values. Most strikingly, we show that, in our sample, certified food outperforms its non-certified reference on most economic and social indicators. On major environmental indicators – carbon and water footprint – their performance is similar. Although certified food is 61% more expensive, the extra-performance per euro is similar to classical policy interventions to improve diet sustainability such as subsidies or taxes. Cumulatively, our findings legitimate the recent initiatives by standards to cover broader sustainability aspects. 

Bellassen, V., Drut, M., Hilal, M., Bodini, A., Donati, M., de Labarre, M. D., Filipovic, J., Gauvrit, L., Gil, J. M., Hoang, V., Malak-Rawlikowska, A., Mattas, K., Monier-Dilhan, S., Muller, P., Napasintuwong, O., Peerlings, J., Pomeon, T., Maksan, M. T., Torok, A., … Arfini, F. (2022). The economic, environmental and social performance of European certified food. Ecological Economics, 191, 107244. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2021.107244

Dr. Török Áron aron.torok@uni-corvinus.hu Rektori Szervezet / Fenntartható Fejlődés Intézet / Agrárgazdaságtan Tanszék
Tanszékvezető egyetemi docens / Head of Department, Associate Professor
C épület, 306/A
Phone: +36 1 482 7204 • Ext: 7204
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