{"id":1627,"date":"2021-02-08T13:54:51","date_gmt":"2021-02-08T13:54:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/horizon.peachpuff-wolverine-566518.hostingersite.com\/?p=1627"},"modified":"2021-02-08T13:54:51","modified_gmt":"2021-02-08T13:54:51","slug":"to-confront-climate-change-we-need-to-understand-the-environmental-footprint-of-global-supply-chains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1627\/to-confront-climate-change-we-need-to-understand-the-environmental-footprint-of-global-supply-chains\/","title":{"rendered":"To confront climate change, we need to understand the environmental footprint of global supply chains"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n

In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic\u00a0upended<\/a>\u00a0international trade. Countries shut their borders, breaking the webs of supply chains that crisscross the globe. These systems of people, organisations and companies work to supply consumers with products, such as mobile phones, or services, like transportation. While some supply chains have since returned to a semblance of normality, understanding their extent \u2013 and how they interact \u2013 may be vital if humanity wants to confront its other great challenge: climate change.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

The\u00a0European Union\u2019s Green Deal<\/a>\u00a0places environmental sustainability at the heart of future economic development and targets a climate-neutral economy by 2050. But in a world of globalised supply chains, the bloc must be careful not to outsource its environmental impact to other nations, say experts.<\/p>\n

The first step to avoid this is to develop methods to measure the extent of\u00a0Europe’s supply chains and how they interact.<\/p>\n

The vast majority of the EU\u2019s food production takes place within its borders, but about two-thirds of the non-food crops \u2013 such as those used to produce biofuels \u2013 its residents consume are from other regions, according to research by\u00a0FINEPRINT<\/a>, a project which uses fine-scale data, for example satellites, to create global maps of where natural resources are being extracted.<\/p>\n

To address the environmental impacts linked to mining, agriculture and forestry, requires identifying where the extraction is taking place within a country, says Dr\u00a0Stefan Giljum<\/a>, an associate professor in the Institute for Ecological Economics at Vienna University of Economics and Business, Austria, and FINEPRINT principal investigator. It is not sufficient to look at the average national impact, he says.<\/p>\n

He gives the example of soybean exports from Brazil, and whether the beans were either grown \u2018in a rainforest (area) that was cleared last year or in the south where agriculture has been around for about 300 years\u2019.<\/p>\n

But Dr Giljum and colleagues found that many of the datasets necessary to their research \u2018simply did not exist\u2019, so they decided to create their own. Their map of\u00a0global mining activity<\/a>,<\/u>\u00a0for example, found that mining activity uses an area of about 57,277 km\u00b2, about double the size of Belgium.<\/p>\n

Mines<\/strong><\/p>\n

The team manually identified and marked more than 6,000 mining locations on satellite images, and the next step is to automate the recognition process. This would allow them to identify new mines, and investigate how land use has changed over time. \u2018The main problem with (automatically detecting mines from satellite images) is that you need solid training data in order to make sure that the algorithm can learn what is a mine versus a road or a building,\u2019 Dr Giljum said. And this large new mining dataset can help train the software.<\/p>\n

FINEPRINT, which ends in 2022, is also looking at other commodities and uses data about soybean, oil palm, copper, iron, coal and oil production among others. \u2018A high percentage of environmental impacts occur at the very first stages of the supply chain,\u2019 Dr Giljum said. The ultimate aim is to connect fine-scale data of resource extraction and related environmental and social impacts and trace them along international supply chains all the way to the final consumer,\u00a0he says. \u2018We want to create information for decision-makers, so that we can inform them of (a specific commodity\u2019s) environmental profile.\u2019<\/p>\n

This is particularly important if the EU wants to push its Green Deal agenda: \u2018Europe is in a special position because it is (highly) dependent on imports and ecosystem services in other parts of the world, and we have a responsibility to be concerned about these (distant) impacts,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n

But the reality is that while Europe is able to control what occurs in member states, the bloc \u2013 and the world \u2013 needs frameworks to understand how supply chains intersect and influence each other.<\/p>\n

Soybean<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018There are environmental impacts that arise outside the borders of the EU, but that occur because of the demand taking place across the EU,\u2019 says Simon Bager, a doctoral candidate at the Universit\u00e9 catholique de Louvain in Belgium. Bager\u2019s\u00a0work<\/a>\u00a0focuses on deforestation and how policy action by the EU can reduce ecosystem destruction linked to commodity imports, such as beef, soy, palm oil, and cocoa. Large swathes of natural forests, such as the Amazon rainforest in South America, have been uprooted in favour of commodity production to meet consumer demand for food and feed. China consumes the majority of Brazil\u2019s soy exports. In the EU, soybeans \u2013 mainly sourced from the\u00a0United States<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 are primarily used for animal feed. Each year, the EU alone imports commodities associated with the destruction of some\u00a0190,000 ha<\/a>\u00a0of forest. Bager is part of\u00a0COUPLED<\/a>, a project which aims to understand the factors \u2013 from local governance to global demand \u2013 that influence land use in an increasingly interconnected world.<\/p>\n

COUPLED uses an idea called \u2018telecoupling\u2019 to explain these connections, says Professor\u00a0Jonas \u00d8stergaard Nielsen<\/a>, a specialist in human land use and global climate change at The Integrative Research Institute on Transformations of Human-Environment Systems, based at Humboldt University in Germany, and COUPLED coordinator. \u2018The concept of telecouplings originated in the area of climate change research, where it is called \u201cteleconnections\u201d,\u2019 said Prof. Nielsen.\u00a0Teleconnections<\/a>, a concept often used in atmospheric science, refers to climate links between two geographically separate regions. \u2018They say you can have a storm in the North Atlantic and that manifests as a drought in central Australia.\u2019<\/p>\n

He gives the example of a dry forest in Argentina becoming a soybean field in order to feed pigs in Germany, whose meat is ultimately sold to China. The supply chain encircles the globe, but \u2018land use is local\u2019 and influenced by individuals, companies and governments with their own agendas. COUPLED, which is a training programme, brought together 15 PhD candidates to investigate telecoupling as a method to track global supply chains.<\/p>\n

\u2018The real issue is spillover systems and whether your supply chain is sustainable from a systemic perspective,\u2019 Prof. Nielsen said. He points to sustainably produced pineapples in Costa Rica, which are packed on pallets made from rainforest-sourced wood. The spillover system (the pallets) renders the supply chain unsustainable. \u2018Things are connected and often in surprising and unexpected ways.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Things are connected and often in surprising and unexpected ways.\u2019<\/p>\n

-Professor Jonas \u00d8stergaard Nielsen, Humboldt University, Germany<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Telecoupling<\/strong><\/p>\n

Telecoupling allows those involved in the system not only to map out the supply chain\u2019s extent, but also look for possible solutions. As part of his work on deforestation, Bager and colleagues developed a research paper on\u00a0EU policy options<\/a>\u00a0for addressing deforestation associated with commodity consumption within the EU. In this, they identified eight specific \u2018actors\u2019 involved in the supply chains that can lead to deforestation such as consumers, governments, companies, landowners, etc., and summarised existing proposals into 86 unique policy options which target different actors. These range from the politically difficult, such as trade agreements, to fairly easy, such as the EU providing information to consumers, says Bager, but also vary in the ability to reduce deforestation. To increase impact, it is also important to concentrate efforts on sectors that are the most responsible for deforestation, such as soy, palm oil and cocoa, rather than rubber or maize which have smaller deforestation footprints.<\/p>\n

But if the EU \u2013 and the world in general \u2013 plans to reduce its environmental footprint and curb climate change, it will need to better understand the extent of its supply chains and devise ways to regulate and control them.<\/p>\n

Because of its economic heft, the EU has the ability to drive change and chart a path towards environmentally sustainable supply chains, Bager says. \u2018Our work focuses on deforestation, but you can also talk about biodiversity loss and water. The EU is getting more and more aware that it needs to address these impacts (beyond its own borders).\u2019<\/p>\n

The research in this article was funded by the EU. If you liked this article, please consider sharing it on social media.<\/em><\/p>\n

Originally published on Horizon magazine<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic\u00a0upended\u00a0international trade. Countries shut their borders, breaking the webs of supply chains that crisscross the globe. These systems of people, organisations and companies work to supply consumers with products, such as mobile phones, or services, like transportation. While some supply chains have since returned to a semblance of normality, understanding their … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":298,"featured_media":1628,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[382,4,364],"class_list":["post-1627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-earth-energy-environment","tag-cargo","tag-environment","tag-shipping"],"yoast_head":"\nTo confront climate change, we need to understand the environmental footprint of global supply chains - Horizon Magazine Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1627\/to-confront-climate-change-we-need-to-understand-the-environmental-footprint-of-global-supply-chains\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"To confront climate change, we need to understand the environmental footprint of global supply chains\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic\u00a0upended\u00a0international trade. Countries shut their borders, breaking the webs of supply chains that crisscross the globe. These systems of people, organisations and companies work to supply consumers with products, such as mobile phones, or services, like transportation. While some supply chains have since returned to a semblance of normality, understanding their ... Read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1627\/to-confront-climate-change-we-need-to-understand-the-environmental-footprint-of-global-supply-chains\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Horizon Magazine Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/horizon.magazine.eu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-02-08T13:54:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/02\/Cargo_43785256-1.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"680\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Horizon Magazine\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/HorizonMagEU\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Horizon Magazine\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/1627\\\/to-confront-climate-change-we-need-to-understand-the-environmental-footprint-of-global-supply-chains\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/1627\\\/to-confront-climate-change-we-need-to-understand-the-environmental-footprint-of-global-supply-chains\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Horizon Magazine\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8f23522ba58f477f04dd574e1034f679\"},\"headline\":\"To confront climate change, we need to understand the environmental footprint of global supply chains\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-02-08T13:54:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/1627\\\/to-confront-climate-change-we-need-to-understand-the-environmental-footprint-of-global-supply-chains\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1331,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/1627\\\/to-confront-climate-change-we-need-to-understand-the-environmental-footprint-of-global-supply-chains\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2021\\\/02\\\/Cargo_43785256-1.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"cargo\",\"environment\",\"shipping\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Earth, Energy & Environment\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2021\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/1627\\\/to-confront-climate-change-we-need-to-understand-the-environmental-footprint-of-global-supply-chains\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/1627\\\/to-confront-climate-change-we-need-to-understand-the-environmental-footprint-of-global-supply-chains\\\/\",\"name\":\"To confront climate change, we need to understand the environmental footprint of global supply chains - Horizon Magazine Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/1627\\\/to-confront-climate-change-we-need-to-understand-the-environmental-footprint-of-global-supply-chains\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/1627\\\/to-confront-climate-change-we-need-to-understand-the-environmental-footprint-of-global-supply-chains\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2021\\\/02\\\/Cargo_43785256-1.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-02-08T13:54:51+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/1627\\\/to-confront-climate-change-we-need-to-understand-the-environmental-footprint-of-global-supply-chains\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/1627\\\/to-confront-climate-change-we-need-to-understand-the-environmental-footprint-of-global-supply-chains\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/1627\\\/to-confront-climate-change-we-need-to-understand-the-environmental-footprint-of-global-supply-chains\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2021\\\/02\\\/Cargo_43785256-1.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2021\\\/02\\\/Cargo_43785256-1.jpeg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":680,\"caption\":\"European demand for goods and services creates environmental impacts outside the borders of the EU, which has implications for the EU's climate goals. Image credit - Hugh Nelson\\\/Wikimedia, licensed under CC 3.0\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/1627\\\/to-confront-climate-change-we-need-to-understand-the-environmental-footprint-of-global-supply-chains\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"To confront climate change, we need to understand the environmental footprint of global supply chains\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/\",\"name\":\"Horizon Magazine Blog\",\"description\":\"The EU Research & Innovation Magazine\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Horizon Magazine Blog\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/eu-logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/eu-logo.jpg\",\"width\":601,\"height\":283,\"caption\":\"Horizon Magazine Blog\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8f23522ba58f477f04dd574e1034f679\",\"name\":\"Horizon Magazine\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/407bd816be829798850d5e7f646c4137f70c86c6af6c761b67a6ea80c364ffa4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/407bd816be829798850d5e7f646c4137f70c86c6af6c761b67a6ea80c364ffa4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/407bd816be829798850d5e7f646c4137f70c86c6af6c761b67a6ea80c364ffa4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Horizon Magazine\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/horizon.magazine.eu\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/https:\\\/\\\/twitter.com\\\/HorizonMagEU\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/author\\\/horizonmagazine\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"To confront climate change, we need to understand the environmental footprint of global supply chains - Horizon Magazine Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1627\/to-confront-climate-change-we-need-to-understand-the-environmental-footprint-of-global-supply-chains\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"To confront climate change, we need to understand the environmental footprint of global supply chains","og_description":"In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic\u00a0upended\u00a0international trade. Countries shut their borders, breaking the webs of supply chains that crisscross the globe. These systems of people, organisations and companies work to supply consumers with products, such as mobile phones, or services, like transportation. While some supply chains have since returned to a semblance of normality, understanding their ... Read more","og_url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1627\/to-confront-climate-change-we-need-to-understand-the-environmental-footprint-of-global-supply-chains\/","og_site_name":"Horizon Magazine Blog","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/horizon.magazine.eu","article_published_time":"2021-02-08T13:54:51+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":680,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/02\/Cargo_43785256-1.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Horizon Magazine","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/HorizonMagEU","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Horizon Magazine","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1627\/to-confront-climate-change-we-need-to-understand-the-environmental-footprint-of-global-supply-chains\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1627\/to-confront-climate-change-we-need-to-understand-the-environmental-footprint-of-global-supply-chains\/"},"author":{"name":"Horizon Magazine","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/#\/schema\/person\/8f23522ba58f477f04dd574e1034f679"},"headline":"To confront climate change, we need to understand the environmental footprint of global supply chains","datePublished":"2021-02-08T13:54:51+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1627\/to-confront-climate-change-we-need-to-understand-the-environmental-footprint-of-global-supply-chains\/"},"wordCount":1331,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1627\/to-confront-climate-change-we-need-to-understand-the-environmental-footprint-of-global-supply-chains\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/02\/Cargo_43785256-1.jpeg","keywords":["cargo","environment","shipping"],"articleSection":["Earth, Energy & Environment"],"inLanguage":"en-US","copyrightYear":"2021","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1627\/to-confront-climate-change-we-need-to-understand-the-environmental-footprint-of-global-supply-chains\/","url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1627\/to-confront-climate-change-we-need-to-understand-the-environmental-footprint-of-global-supply-chains\/","name":"To confront climate change, we need to understand the environmental footprint of global supply chains - Horizon Magazine Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1627\/to-confront-climate-change-we-need-to-understand-the-environmental-footprint-of-global-supply-chains\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1627\/to-confront-climate-change-we-need-to-understand-the-environmental-footprint-of-global-supply-chains\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/02\/Cargo_43785256-1.jpeg","datePublished":"2021-02-08T13:54:51+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1627\/to-confront-climate-change-we-need-to-understand-the-environmental-footprint-of-global-supply-chains\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1627\/to-confront-climate-change-we-need-to-understand-the-environmental-footprint-of-global-supply-chains\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1627\/to-confront-climate-change-we-need-to-understand-the-environmental-footprint-of-global-supply-chains\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/02\/Cargo_43785256-1.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/02\/Cargo_43785256-1.jpeg","width":1024,"height":680,"caption":"European demand for goods and services creates environmental impacts outside the borders of the EU, which has implications for the EU's climate goals. Image credit - Hugh Nelson\/Wikimedia, licensed under CC 3.0"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1627\/to-confront-climate-change-we-need-to-understand-the-environmental-footprint-of-global-supply-chains\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"To confront climate change, we need to understand the environmental footprint of global supply chains"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/#website","url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/","name":"Horizon Magazine Blog","description":"The EU Research & Innovation Magazine","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/#organization","name":"Horizon Magazine Blog","url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/04\/eu-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/04\/eu-logo.jpg","width":601,"height":283,"caption":"Horizon Magazine Blog"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/#\/schema\/person\/8f23522ba58f477f04dd574e1034f679","name":"Horizon Magazine","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/407bd816be829798850d5e7f646c4137f70c86c6af6c761b67a6ea80c364ffa4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/407bd816be829798850d5e7f646c4137f70c86c6af6c761b67a6ea80c364ffa4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/407bd816be829798850d5e7f646c4137f70c86c6af6c761b67a6ea80c364ffa4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Horizon Magazine"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/horizon.magazine.eu","https:\/\/x.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/HorizonMagEU"],"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/author\/horizonmagazine\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/02\/Cargo_43785256-1.jpeg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgtNKV-qf","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1617,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1617\/qa-why-shorter-isnt-necessarily-better-when-it-comes-to-food-supply-chains\/","url_meta":{"origin":1627,"position":0},"title":"Q&A: Why shorter isn\u2019t necessarily better when it comes to food supply chains","author":"Richard Gray","date":"February 2, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Fears over supermarket shortages during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic\u00a0led many people to buy their food from local producers, raising the prospect of a transformation in the way people get their food in the future. But while eating locally and shorter supply chains are\u00a0often viewed as a more\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Earth, Energy & Environment"","block_context":{"text":"Earth, Energy & Environment","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/category\/earth-energy-environment\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/02\/ja-ma-gOUx23DNks-unsplash-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/02\/ja-ma-gOUx23DNks-unsplash-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/02\/ja-ma-gOUx23DNks-unsplash-scaled.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/02\/ja-ma-gOUx23DNks-unsplash-scaled.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/02\/ja-ma-gOUx23DNks-unsplash-scaled.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/02\/ja-ma-gOUx23DNks-unsplash-scaled.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1644,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1644\/how-to-repurpose-a-factory-in-a-crisis\/","url_meta":{"origin":1627,"position":1},"title":"How to repurpose a factory in a crisis","author":"Horizon Magazine","date":"February 22, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Medical suppliers must change how they manage their supply chains, and factories need to be able to rapidly pivot to manufacturing different products, in order to respond quickly to the next major crisis and avoid shortages of vital medical goods, experts say. Lack of PPE and ventilators at the start\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Health"","block_context":{"text":"Health","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/category\/health\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/02\/marcin-jozwiak-oh0DITWoHi4-unsplash-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/02\/marcin-jozwiak-oh0DITWoHi4-unsplash-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/02\/marcin-jozwiak-oh0DITWoHi4-unsplash-scaled.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/02\/marcin-jozwiak-oh0DITWoHi4-unsplash-scaled.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/02\/marcin-jozwiak-oh0DITWoHi4-unsplash-scaled.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/02\/marcin-jozwiak-oh0DITWoHi4-unsplash-scaled.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1292,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1292\/eating-local-and-plant-based-diets-how-to-feed-cities-sustainably\/","url_meta":{"origin":1627,"position":2},"title":"Eating local and plant-based diets: how to feed cities sustainably","author":"Horizon Magazine","date":"May 25, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by\u00a0Caleb Davies How do you feed a city? It is one of the great questions of our time. After all, for a species that ultimately depends on plants to feed ourselves, we do tend to cram ourselves into places that are rather unfriendly towards them. Our cities are built around\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Earth, Energy & Environment"","block_context":{"text":"Earth, Energy & Environment","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/category\/earth-energy-environment\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Food that has travelled a shorter distance from farm to fork appears to be more environmentally and socially sustainable, but scaling up such supply chains is going to be a challenge. Image credit - Didier Provost\/Unsplash","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/05\/market.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/05\/market.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/05\/market.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/05\/market.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/05\/market.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/05\/market.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":635,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/635\/the-apps-that-can-tell-you-if-youre-buying-sustainably\/","url_meta":{"origin":1627,"position":3},"title":"The apps that can tell you if you\u2019re buying sustainably","author":"Horizon Magazine","date":"January 15, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"By Emily Waterfield What does sustainable shopping look like? From environmental impact to workers\u2019 rights, the term can cover so many aspects that buying sustainably can be a daunting task. But a new app that helps people select supermarket products by ethical preferences and an online database that brings transparency\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"environment\"","block_context":{"text":"environment","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/tag\/environment\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Image credit - Lars Plougmann, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/01\/shopper.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/01\/shopper.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/01\/shopper.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/01\/shopper.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/01\/shopper.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/01\/shopper.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2277,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/2277\/european-farms-mix-things-up-to-guard-against-food-supply-shocks\/","url_meta":{"origin":1627,"position":4},"title":"European farms mix things up to guard against food-supply shocks","author":"Horizon Magazine","date":"January 27, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Greater diversification could help agriculture withstand climate, economic and geopolitical crises. By\u00a0\u00a0ETHAN BILBY \u2018Items in this section have limited availability due to supplier production issues,\u2019 \u2018Sorry, temporarily out of stock\u2019 and \u2018Sold out\u2019 are all signs that became familiar as recent global upheavals exposed how precarious our food supply is.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Earth, Energy & Environment"","block_context":{"text":"Earth, Energy & Environment","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/category\/earth-energy-environment\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/01\/shutterstock_1830249536-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/01\/shutterstock_1830249536-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/01\/shutterstock_1830249536-scaled.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/01\/shutterstock_1830249536-scaled.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/01\/shutterstock_1830249536-scaled.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/01\/shutterstock_1830249536-scaled.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1757,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1757\/farmers-urgently-need-to-diversify-but-they-cannot-do-it-alone\/","url_meta":{"origin":1627,"position":5},"title":"Farmers urgently need to diversify, but they cannot do it alone","author":"Horizon Magazine","date":"June 15, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Boosting biodiversity on farms is crucial to make them more resilient to climate change and protect future food security, but it will not happen without change across the food supply chain from seed producer to consumer, agronomists say. Many solutions exist for ways to increase the diversity of plants grown\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Earth, Energy & Environment"","block_context":{"text":"Earth, Energy & Environment","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/category\/earth-energy-environment\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/06\/jean-wimmerlin-RUj5b4YXaHE-unsplash-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/06\/jean-wimmerlin-RUj5b4YXaHE-unsplash-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/06\/jean-wimmerlin-RUj5b4YXaHE-unsplash-scaled.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/06\/jean-wimmerlin-RUj5b4YXaHE-unsplash-scaled.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/06\/jean-wimmerlin-RUj5b4YXaHE-unsplash-scaled.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/06\/jean-wimmerlin-RUj5b4YXaHE-unsplash-scaled.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/298"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}