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Global miljöpåverkan från konsumtion på lokal och regional nivå
The report explains the difference between traditional and consumption-based emissions accounting, noting that Sweden's consumption-based emissions are approximately double its national emissions. It introduces REAP, a tool developed by the Stockholm Environment Institute that uses multi-regional input-output (MRIO) models and geodemographic data to calculate the environmental footprint of Swedish consumption at national, regional, and local levels. The document provides case studies from Luleå, Härjedalen, and Lund to demonstrate how REAP's scenario function can model the impact of policy changes in transport, energy, and food waste on greenhouse gas emissions and the ecological footprint.
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Document type: Report
Food and Crop Waste: A Valuable Biomass Feedstock
The fact sheet identifies significant quantities of agricultural production left in fields and waste generated during food processing as viable, non-food-competing biomass for biofuels. It details the causes of crop loss, such as weather and health outbreaks, and highlights existing technologies for recovering value from potato, orange, and corn waste, as well as the potential for anaerobic digestion of wastewater to produce biogas.
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Document type: Fact sheet
Wales’ Ecological Footprint - Scenarios to 2020
The report finds that Wales' 2003 ecological footprint was 5.16 global hectares (gha) per person, which is lower than Scotland, England, or any English region. However, the footprint grew by an average of 1.5% per year between 1990 and 2003, mirroring the growth in Gross Value Added (GVA). The analysis identifies housing, food, and personal travel as the three primary contributors, accounting for 63% of the total footprint. The report models scenarios to 2020, suggesting that while current policies may stabilise the footprint, a combined package of expanded retrofitting, food waste reduction, and sustainable travel initiatives could achieve a 6.6% overall reduction in the total footprint by 2020.
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Document type: Research paper
KITCHEN APPLIANCES
The document outlines strategies for reducing the energy footprint of the kitchen, focusing on the life cycle of food and the efficiency of appliances. It highlights that refrigerator energy use has dropped over 60 percent in twenty years due to technology and standards, though older models remain costly. For cooking, it argues that habits are more impactful than technology, recommending smaller appliances like microwaves and toaster ovens over conventional ovens. It also emphasizes the environmental benefits of buying local, organic food and implementing composting and recycling to reduce the millions of tons of food and packaging waste entering U.S. landfills.
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Document type: Briefing
QUESTION BANK STUDENT PAGE
The document is a student guide designed to facilitate classroom conversations, small group discussions, or writing prompts based on 90-second radio stories from Yale Climate Connections. It provides a structured set of questions divided into categories such as general impressions, making connections, finding and evaluating solutions, justice and equity, and climate communication in action. Additionally, it lists suggested radio stories categorized by topics including energy, health, policy and politics, and species and ecosystems, and offers extension activities for deeper research and analysis.
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Document type: Guide
Grantmaking
The document argues that philanthropic funding for climate change is severely underfunded and misaligned with scientific needs. It provides a framework for grantmakers to elevate climate as a key award criterion, integrate climate justice into administration, align endowments with climate goals, and foster organizational education to accelerate the transition to a sustainable future.
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Document type: Guide
Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization in the United States
The document argues that U.S. agriculture can achieve carbon neutrality by combining emissions reductions—particularly of nitrous oxide and methane—with increased soil carbon sequestration. It details 'carbon farming' practices such as cover cropping, agroforestry, and prescribed grazing, while critiquing the current 'farm safety net' for subsidizing carbon-intensive industrial operations. The authors propose a systemic shift toward payments for ecosystem services, reformed crop insurance, and updated federal research and extension priorities to incentivize climate-friendly agriculture.
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Document type: Report
Opportunity Brief Black Solider Fly Agriculture Waste to frass to fertiliser
The document explores the role of Black Soldier Fly (BSF) larvae in converting organic waste into frass, a nutrient-rich excrement that serves as a bio-fertiliser. It argues that BSF frass can support regenerative horticulture by improving soil health and reducing the ecological impact of synthetic fertilisers. In South Africa, where fertiliser is heavily imported and food waste is significant, the brief identifies a potential market for frass production valued between R3.1 and R12.4 billion per year. However, growth is hindered by scaling challenges, low market awareness, and significant regulatory delays in product registration through the Department of Agriculture Land Reform and Rural Development.
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Document type: Briefing
Improving market access for Cape Town urban farmers
The document identifies that urban agriculture (UA) in Cape Town is often viewed only as a food security solution rather than a viable economic activity. It highlights that small urban farmers are frequently locked out of formal markets due to a lack of economies of scale, high investment requirements, and insufficient business management skills. To overcome these, the report suggests the use of formal co-operatives to aggregate produce, the adoption of specific food safety accreditations (such as SAGAP or GlobalGAP), and the development of local physical markets like agrihubs and farm stalls. It also emphasizes the role of online marketplaces and the Western Cape Department of Agriculture's Market Access Programme in bridging the gap between producers and off-takers.
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Document type: Briefing
Food Waste Upcycling
The document highlights the critical waste management challenges in Cape Town, where landfills are reaching capacity and organic waste contributes significantly to methane emissions. It presents Inseco as a circular economy solution that processes organic waste using Black Soldier Fly (BSF) larvae to produce protein meal, oil, grubs, soil, and chitin. This process diverts waste from landfills, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and provides sustainable alternatives to soy and wild fish protein. Inseco's operations are projected to save companies money on landfill fees, create jobs, and support biodiversity by reducing reliance on deforestation-linked soy and overfished wild fish stocks.
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Document type: Case study
Kenya’s cooling challenges and opportunities
Kenya faces significant cooling challenges, with 40% of agricultural produce lost annually due to inadequate cold chains and government health facilities seeing minimal electricity access improvements (69% to 70% between 2016 and 2021). While the cold chain market is projected to reach USD 2.1 billion by 2030, the sector is hindered by fragmented infrastructure and high costs for small-scale farmers. In the health sector, the Ministry of Health aims to equip all facilities with optimal Cold Chain Equipment by 2026, having already deployed 8,342 refrigerators. Urban areas like Mombasa and Nairobi's Kibera settlement suffer from the urban heat island effect and poor building design, with 90% of available air conditioners being low-efficiency models. Additional cooling needs are identified in data centres and planned nuclear power plants in Kilifi and Kwale.
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Document type: Report
2013 Eestis tekkinud segaolmejäätmete, eraldi kogutud paberi- ja pakendijäätmete ning elektroonikaromu koostise uuring
The study provides a detailed breakdown of waste composition in Estonia, finding that biodegradable waste (48%) and plastics (18.1%) are the largest components of mixed municipal waste. It notes a decrease in the share of glass, paper, and biodegradable waste compared to a 2007/2008 study, while highlighting that current landfilling of mixed waste would exceed legal limits for biodegradable content. Analysis of separately collected streams shows that packaging waste consists primarily of plastics (45%), and electronic waste is dominated by large household appliances.
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Document type: Report
Toidujäätmete ja toidukao vältimine ja vähendamine koolides juhendmaterjal
The document outlines strategies to combat food waste in Estonian schools, noting that food loss accounts for 74% of school food waste. It provides tailored guidance for catering staff (e.g., using the Fi-Fo method), teachers (integrating waste themes into curricula), students (taking only what they can eat), and school administrations (optimizing procurement and lunch schedules). It also shares international best practices from Scotland, Poland, and the USA.
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Document type: Guide
3. Food and drink
The document proposes a food-related carbon target for individuals in the UK, focusing on the adoption of vegan or near-vegan diets, the reduction of food waste, and the avoidance of high-emission foods such as air-freighted produce, greenhouse-grown crops, and products linked to deforestation. Adhering to these measures is estimated to result in average emissions of 0.9 tCO2e per capita per year.
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Document type: Guide
5 Tips to Make Your Food Last
The guide outlines five strategies to extend the life of household food supplies: maintaining correct refrigerator and freezer temperatures, distinguishing between 'use by' and 'best before' labels, repurposing aging produce, using ingredient substitutes, and utilizing food scraps for stock or gardening.
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Document type: Guide
Sustainable Behavior in Climate Pledges: An Analysis of Top Emitters’ Strategies
The paper evaluates the integration of pro-climate behavior changes in the NDCs of the top 20 emitting countries. It identifies a gap between the emissions reduction potential of certain behaviors—particularly in the food sector—and their actual inclusion in national pledges. The analysis reveals that countries primarily rely on infrastructure and service improvements to drive behavior change, while underutilizing incentives and personalized information.
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Document type: Research paper
5 Tipps gegen Lebensmittelverschwendung
The guide outlines strategies to minimize household food waste, including maintaining a refrigerator temperature of 4°C or lower and a freezer at -18°C to slow bacterial growth. It distinguishes between the best-before date (Mindesthaltbarkeitsdatum), which indicates quality, and the use-by date (Verbrauchsdatum), which is critical for safety in fresh products. Additionally, it suggests creative ways to use overripe produce, substitute ingredients, and repurpose vegetable scraps into stocks or new plants.
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Document type: Guide
Busting myths about food waste
The document argues that food waste reduction is an accessible and cost-effective opportunity for schools and communities. It highlights that up to 40% of food produced globally is wasted, contributing roughly 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Through examples from the US, such as the Olympia School District and Montgomery County, it demonstrates that simple interventions like bulk milk dispensers and share-tables can reduce waste and save money. The text promotes a hierarchy of food waste solutions, prioritizing source prevention and human consumption over composting.
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Document type: Fact sheet
July 4th and food waste: Some tips from our Founding Fathers
The guide highlights that approximately 63 million tons of food are wasted annually in the United States, primarily in supermarkets, restaurants, and home kitchens. It advocates for three main actions to reduce environmental impact: shopping prudently through menu planning and freezing leftovers, increasing the consumption of fruits and vegetables to lower greenhouse gas emissions and resource use, and composting food scraps to avoid the emission of methane in landfills, which traps 24 times more heat than carbon dioxide.
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Document type: Guide
Green tips
The document outlines various household changes to reduce climate impact, highlighting that washing clothes in cold water uses about one-tenth of the energy of hot water and that LEDs use up to 90% less energy than incandescent bulbs. It notes that heating typically makes up 29% of utility bills and that reducing global food waste could lower human-caused greenhouse gas emissions by 6%-8%. Additionally, it provides statistics on water waste, such as a leaky faucet wasting over 3,000 gallons annually, and plastic waste in the US, where only 8.7% of over 42 million metric tons is recycled.
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Document type: Guide