WEBVTT - What's Chocolate's Carbon Footprint?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain stuff from how stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Laurens vocal bomb here. Sure we all know people who

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<v Speaker 1>prefer gummy bears, liquorice, or peanut brittle, but let's be honest,

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<v Speaker 1>chocolate lovers outnumber those other weirdos by a significant margin.

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<v Speaker 1>Chocolate is full of fat and sugar and laced with caffeine,

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<v Speaker 1>but its sales have been steadily increasing in the United

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<v Speaker 1>States over the past decade, even as overall candy sales

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<v Speaker 1>have declined. The results of some recent studies have even

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<v Speaker 1>implied that chocolate might be considered a health food with

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<v Speaker 1>heavy scare quotes. But have you ever considered the environmental

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<v Speaker 1>impact of that chocolate stash you have hidden in your

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<v Speaker 1>desk drawer. Some researchers at the University of Manchester wondered

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<v Speaker 1>about it, and so they calculated the carbon footprint of

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<v Speaker 1>chocolate production in the United Kingdom by considering each element

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<v Speaker 1>of chocolate production, from the individual ingredients, to the manufacturing

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<v Speaker 1>processes to the packaging. When you consider its carbon footprint,

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<v Speaker 1>chocolate has a dark side. The researchers focused on the

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<v Speaker 1>three chocolate products that make up of the country's chocolate

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<v Speaker 1>market individually sold milk, chocolate bars, sharing bags, and molded

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<v Speaker 1>chocolate sold by weight. The research team calculated that the

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<v Speaker 1>UK chocolate industry produces about two point three tons that's

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<v Speaker 1>two point one metric tons of greenhouse gases each year,

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<v Speaker 1>as much as would be produced by a city the

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<v Speaker 1>size of Belfast, Ireland or El Paso, Texas. Perhaps more alarmingly,

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<v Speaker 1>it takes about two hundred and sixty four gallons that's

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<v Speaker 1>a thousand liters of water to produce a single chocolate bar.

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<v Speaker 1>The research team took into consideration not only the transportation

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<v Speaker 1>and production of raw materials necessary to manufacture chocolate, but

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<v Speaker 1>also the energy and natural resources, transportation, distribution and storage,

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<v Speaker 1>and post consumer waste involved in the process. Unsurprisingly, the

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<v Speaker 1>researchers found that the most environmentally problematic chocolate products were

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<v Speaker 1>these sharing bags large bags of individually wrapped candies, since

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<v Speaker 1>their ingredients and excessive packaging carry larger carbon footprints. Of

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<v Speaker 1>all the ingredients contained in chocolate, the cocoa, which is

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<v Speaker 1>shipped to the UK from countries in West Africa and

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<v Speaker 1>Central in South America, and the milk, the production of

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<v Speaker 1>which is incredibly energy intensive, pack the most punch as

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<v Speaker 1>far as greenhouse gas production is concerned. In a press release,

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<v Speaker 1>the lead author of the study, Adiza as a Paget,

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<v Speaker 1>head of Sustainable Industrial Systems at the University of Manchester, said,

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<v Speaker 1>it is true that our love of chocolate has environmental

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<v Speaker 1>consequences for the planet, but let's be clear, we aren't

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<v Speaker 1>saying people should stop eating it. The point of this

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<v Speaker 1>study is to raise consumers awareness and enable more informed choices. Also,

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<v Speaker 1>we hope this work will help the chocolates industry to

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<v Speaker 1>target environmental hotspots in the supply chains and make chocolate

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<v Speaker 1>products as sustainable as possible. We hope so too. Today's

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<v Speaker 1>episode was written by Jesseln Shields and produced by Tyler Clang.

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<v Speaker 1>For more on this and lots of other rich topics,

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<v Speaker 1>visit our home planet, how stuff works dot com.