Food and agriculture account for over 20% of greenhouse gas emissions by city residents. These emissions come from burning fossil fuels in order to grow, process and deliver food.
In recognition of this, representatives from the Food and Agriculture workgroup coordinated with the University of New Mexico and the City of Albuquerque to create a “FoodPrint”—a carbon footprint of our food and agriculture infrastructure.
The Food and Agriculture workgroup recommends an energy savings target of 25% from 2000 levels by the year 2020.
The Food and Agriculture workgroup believes the Plan thoroughly addresses the goals set forth for 2020 and if reevaluated every three years, will put the City on track for meeting these goals as they relate to the newly built infrastructure.
Energy consumption in existing food production is an issue that must be thoroughly addressed. The best way to create significant energy reductions and code compliance is through a thorough look at incentives that provide economic assistance to local growers and food retailers and encourage consumers to buy locally produced food.
During the Document Review Phase, team leaders developed broad evaluative criteria to rank strategies by estimated implementation costs, greenhouse gas reductions, timing and feasibility.