The economic, environmental and social performance of European certified food

Valentin Bellassen, Marion Drut, Mohamed Hilal, Antonio Bodini, Michele Donati, Matthieu Duboys de Labarre, Jelena Filipović, Lisa Gauvrit, José M. Gil, Viet Hoang, Agata Malak-Rawlikowska, Konstadinos Mattas, Sylvette Monier-Dilhan, Paul Muller, Orachos Napasintuwong, Jack Peerlings, Thomas Poméon, Marina Tomić Maksan, Aron Torok, Mario Veneziani, Gunnar Vittersø and Filippo Arfini

Ecological Economics, 2022, vol. 191, issue C

Abstract: 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.

Keywords: Certified Food; Sustainability; Performance; Organic Farming; Geographical Indications (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:191:y:2022:i:c:s0921800921003037

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2021.107244

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