Climate balance of cut roses from Kenya and the Netherlands

UK Cranfield University published a study that analysed and compared energy consumption and CO2 emission for growing, packing, cooling and transporting cut roses from Kenya and the Netherlands to the UK.

 

Result: Dutch roses do poorly because they are cultivated in greenhouses with artificial light and heat and therefore spend more natural gas. Good climatic conditions in Kenya redundantize these inputs. Additionally, growers in Kenya yield a larger output which upgrades the energy balance per unit of area, too. By contrast, Kenyan cut roses need to be fled to the UK. But in comparison, the carbon emissions for Kenyan roses, including air freight, were just 17 per cent of those for Dutch roses.

 

For interpretation of these results one has to consider nevertheless that other factors than just the CO2 emissions have not been integrated in the study. Questions if for example tropic woods had been cut off to make space for flower production or if measures have been taken to avoid erosion of soil are not analised. According to the Federal Environmental Agency of Germany it would have been crucial to integrate these issues to get a picture of the true environmental consequences.

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