2.H.2 - Food & Beverages Industry

Emissions occurring in this sector in Germany derive from the following production processes which are analogous to the IPCC category (Revised 1996 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, Reference Manual (Volume 3)):

Alcoholic beverages

• Wine (Landgrebe, 2024) ¹⁾
• Beer
• Spirits

Bread and other foods

• Meat, fish and poultry
• Sugar
• Margarine, hard/hardened fats
• Cake, cookies and breakfast cereals
• Bread
• Animal feedstuffs
• Coffee roasting

Following pollutants are reported:

• volatile organic compounds (NMVOC),
• particulate matter (PM_2.5, PM₁₀ and TSP).

Pursuant to the 1993 Classification of Economic Activities (WZ 93), the food and beverage industry is divided into nine groups and a total of 33 classes. Governmental statistical evaluations are oriented to this classification. The German food industry includes an especially large number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs); nearly 80 percent of its companies have fewer than 100 employees, and only 3 per cent have more than 500 employees (BpB, 2002, p.51).

Energy related emissions from the sugar industry are reported under category 1.A.2.e.

The Inventory Database (CSE) lists activity rates (produced amounts) and emission factors for the relevant sectors. The activity rates for the various products / product groups, with the exception of that for feedstuffs, were obtained from the Federal Statistical Office ²⁾/ ³⁾/ ⁴⁾

The activity data for feedstuffs were obtained from the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection ⁵⁾.

The produced amounts serve as activity data for the following products: Animal fat [t], Animal food [t], Beer [hl], Bread production (craft) [t], Bread production (industrial) [t], Cake & cookies [t], Coffee [t], Dried fodder [t], Meat [t], Other wine and sparkling [hl], Red Wine [hl], Smoked Products [t], Spirituous beverages [hl] Sugar [t], White wine [hl].

For the purpose of international comparability, the inventory team aggregates all products to the common unit of kilotons. These totals can be find in CRF tables and NFR tables as activity data, but this approximately converted figure is not statistically published. The procedure for the uniform reporting of the activity rate shows a high degree of uncertainty due to the very different products of official statistics.

For emissions calculations, country-specific emission factors were used where available. EF were evaluated and updated by a national research study ⁶⁾. Otherwise, the emission factors recommended by IPCC and CORINAIR were used.

All NMVOC emission factors except for beer were perpetuated during the complete time series. The emission factor for beer changed in 2000.

Table 1: Overview of NMVOC emission factors applied

In the following table the EF of TSP, PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 are presented.

Table 2: Particulate matter emission factors applied, in [kg/t]

Emissions of the food and drink industry are reported, in summary form, in the inventory in of the sectoral report for industrial processes. Emissions in detail for the resp. products are presented following tables:

Table 3: Trends of NMVOC emissions, in metric tonnes [t]

Table 4: Trends of particulate matter emissions, in metric tonnes [t]

For purposes of updating the EF, a project has started in 2020, but results are delayed to use for the 2024 submission ⁷⁾, but are expected for the next annual submission.