Problem

Lack of full cost accounting of consumer products

Other Names:
Hidden transport component of consumer products
Insufficient environmental auditing of production costs
Incidence:
So called "environmental products" or "environmentally-friendly products" may actually harmful when hidden environmental costs are factored in. A German study calculated that a theoretical fully-laden 34-tonne food truck travels about 1 kilometre to transport the items in an average supermarket trolley. One container of a particular strawberry yoghurt required the equivalent truck to travel around 10 metres. This hidden environmental impact of such a healthy food product is measured in terms of transport fuel used, effects of transport systems on health, air pollution, noise, potential accidents, road congestion and so on.
Related UN Sustainable Development Goals:
GOAL 10: Reduced InequalityGOAL 11: Sustainable Cities and CommunitiesGOAL 12: Responsible Consumption and ProductionGOAL 15: Life on Land
Problem Type:
F: Fuzzy exceptional problems
Date of last update
04.10.2020 – 22:48 CEST