Land use (LU) and land use change (LUC) are major contributors to global CO₂ emissions, especially in the tropical regions of South-America, Asia and Africa. Emissions from LU and LUC contributed 20 % to 10 % of overall global CO₂-emissions during the last few decades.
Although many foods are directly or indirectly associated with LU and LUC emissions, they are often neglected in life cycle analysis (LCAs) and carbon footprints. This is, inter alia, a result of unknown carbon (C)-stocks and losses from soil and biomass (which are difficult to assess) as well as two competing methodological approaches for LUC emissions:

1. Emissions from a LUC of known and defined regions of origin are coined as “direct” (dLUC). They account for carbon, which is released from a specific land use, e.g. a forest, and a specific transformation, e.g. to pasture, cropland or built-up land. Although dLUC emission accounts are useful in specific cases, they do not account for the effects of international agricultural commodity trading.
2. The concept of “indirect LUC” (iLUC) ascribes a LUC not direct to a specific region, but to a driving force in another region. iLUC concepts emerged especially for the CO2 assessments of biofuels that substitute fossil fuel and which were often discussed as climate neutral.

Soon we will provide publications with results and discussion for both approaches (dLUC and iLUC) as well as for LU emissions.

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