From Farm to Flavor: Carbon and Biodiversity Footprint of the Global Spice Market

Agriculture generates roughly one-third of global greenhouse
gas
(GHG) emissions and is the primary driver of biodiversity loss, underscoring
the need to assess the environmental impact of all crops. However,
the spice sector has received little attention, with only a few life
cycle assessment (LCA) studies available. This study evaluates the
carbon and biodiversity footprint of the global spice sector and situates
the sector within the broader agricultural system. Climate impacts
were quantified using the IPCC GWP100a method, while biodiversity
impacts were assessed using LC-IMPACT and a land-use-induced biodiversity
assessment method (the high-resolution land use intensities and fragmentation
method, LUIF). Indirect drivers of species loss were found to be significant,
highlighting the importance of biodiversity assessment beyond only
land-use-induced impacts. To capture these effects more comprehensively,
the LUIF method was integrated into the LC-IMPACT framework. Results
indicate that the global spice sector emits between 41.4 and 64.8
Mt CO2-eq annually and causes approximately 7.2 ×
10–4 PDF·yr (potentially disappeared fraction
of species), including land plants and vertebrates. Although spices
account for only 0.18% of agri-food sector turnover and 0.06% of global
crop production volume, they contribute 0.33% of agricultural GHG
emissions.

农业约贡献全球三分之一的温室气体（GHG）排放，同时也是生物多样性丧失的首要驱动因素，凸显了全面评估各类作物环境影响的必要性。然而，香料行业长期以来受关注不足，目前仅存少量生命周期评估（LCA）相关研究。本研究评估了全球香料行业的碳足迹与生物多样性足迹，并将该行业置于更广阔的农业系统框架中进行定位分析。气候影响量化采用政府间气候变化专门委员会（IPCC）GWP100a方法，生物多样性影响则通过LC-IMPACT工具与土地利用诱导型生物多样性评估方法——即高分辨率土地利用强度与破碎化方法（LUIF）——进行评估。研究发现物种丧失的间接驱动因素作用显著，凸显了生物多样性评估不应仅局限于土地利用诱导型影响的重要性。为更全面地捕捉这类影响，本研究将LUIF方法整合进了LC-IMPACT评估框架。结果显示，全球香料行业每年的温室气体排放量介于41.4至64.8百万吨二氧化碳当量之间，造成的物种潜在消失分数（PDF·yr）约为7.2×10^-4，涵盖陆地植物与脊椎动物。尽管香料仅占农业食品行业营收的0.18%、全球作物总产量的0.06%，但其贡献的农业温室气体排放占比却达到0.33%。