In what ways does our consumption of products imported from distant countries affect our carbon footprint?

The importation of products around the world has been active for many years. Now that first-world countries are not the only ones in demand of international products, the world's carbon footprint has increased causing global warming or climate change. For example, Britain imports and exports 15,000 tons of waffles each year and exchanges 20 tons of bottled water with Australia. Norwegian cod costs less to process in Asia, so they are shipped to Asia then back to Norway. For the longest time, trade agreements did not tax fuel for international freights carried in a boat or by plane. An international treaty named the Convention on International Civil Aviation (1944) exempts airlines and ocean freights from being taxed. In 2008, the European Commission in Brussels announced that all freight flights in and out of the European Union must have permits to purchase for the pollution they generated. In America, less than 4% of its greenhouse gases are from the fresh food industry. In the UK, 17% of carbon dioxide emissions are linked to the food industry; 11% is linked to transportation. The UK’s carbon footprint has been increasing over the years. A freight flight generates 50 times more carbon dioxide than boat freight. 40 - 70% of the carbon footprint in the world is caused by imported products, including the food industry. People do not realize that not only does the mode of transportation cause a larger footprint, but also the required packaging and possible refrigerations of perishables. Sometimes growing fruit or raising animals in other countries can lower the carbon footprint because the energy required that the receiving country would have used versus that of the other is more. For example, shipping apples from New Zealand will produce fewer carbon emissions than producing them in Europe. To inform people of carbon footprints, many companies have added to their label the carbon footprint implications of their products.

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