Global warming potential (GWP) of mealworm production

What is it about?

Interest in insect production for human consumption is growing in many European countries. We studied the global warming potential (GWP) of potential future industrial scale mealworm production in Finland. Based on our results, mealworm production causes less greenhouse gas emissions than many traditional livestock products. Feed crop production and direct heating energy caused the majority of the total GWP.

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Why is it important?

This was the first study investigating the environmental impacts of large-scale edible insect production in Finland using Finnish feedstocks and energy sources. Our results can be used to design production systems with low carbon footprints.