Those of you who follow us know that we count quite a bit on Västerbottenssåpa, we even have our very own Environmental Coordinator who counts and counts to come up with the best possible solution for EVERYTHING. Today, in honor of the day, she has calculated and made a CLIMATE SEMLA.
"You can find the calculations below, but in short, it can be said that the ingredients milk, butter, eggs, cream, and flour are local - it significantly reduces the climate impact. Then we replaced the almond paste with date paste and you know what!?! It turned out fantastic!"
Dates are grateful, they grow without hassle in many places while almonds are really fussy and require lots of water.
"We thank Erik Bäckström, grain entrepreneur in Umeå, his friend the miller Joel in Skellefteå, the Agricultural Society in Jämtland AND Malgomajgården for the help with the climate bun. Last but not least, our CEO who baked the climate bun last night."
What teamwork and what a semla. We reduced the climate impact by 34.5% through this little calculation exercise and the execution of the climate semla recipe.
Climate calculation semla
"To make a climate calculation on the two semlor, we compare carbon dioxide equivalents (CO₂e) for each ingredient. We have access to certain locally produced raw materials, which positively affects the climate footprint."
Method and sources
The climate impact for each ingredient is based on life cycle assessments (LCA) and data from the following sources:
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RISE Climate Database (2021-2023) - Sweden's leading climate database for food.
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Our World in Data - Global climate impact from food.
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WWF Food Calculator - Food's Climate Footprint.
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The Swedish Board of Agriculture and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency - Data on Swedish and global food production.
Carbon footprint per ingredient (kg CO₂e per kg food):
(The figures are approximate and may vary depending on production, transport, and specific manufacturing.)
|
Ingredient |
CO₂e per kg (kg CO₂e/kg) |
Source and reasoning |
|
Wheat flour (local and conventional) |
0,6 kg |
'RISE climate database, local and conventional flour have similar footprints because the yield per hectare is often lower in organic farming.' |
|
Raw sugar (organic and conventional) |
0,5 kg |
RISE climate database, sugar beets are grown in Sweden with relatively low emissions. |
|
Cardamom |
5 kg |
'Our World in Data, spices have high emissions due to long-distance transport and energy-intensive drying.' |
|
Yeast |
1 kg |
RISE climate database, industrial production has relatively low emissions. |
|
Butter (locally produced) |
6 kg |
WWF Travel Calculator, small-scale produced butter has slightly lower emissions than industrially produced butter because transport and processes are less energy-intensive. Palm oil is not added. |
|
Margarine (Palm oil-based) |
9 kg |
RISE climate database, palm oil-based butter generally lies between 9 - 12 kg CO₂e /kg due to high methane emissions from dairy cows, the negative climate impact of palm oil, and long transport distances. |
|
Milk (local and conventional) |
1 kg |
The Swedish Board of Agriculture, Swedish milk production, has relatively low emissions compared to the global average (2.5 kg CO₂e/kg). |
|
Egg (local, small-scale) |
1,5 kg |
RISE climate database, small-scale egg production has lower emissions because hens often have better feed efficiency and shorter transport distances. |
|
Egg (ICA, industrial) |
2,5 kg |
Our World in Data, industrial egg production has higher emissions due to feed production (soy). |
|
Almond paste |
5 kg |
Our World in Data almond orchards (mainly in California) have high emissions due to water consumption and transportation. |
|
Date pulp |
1,5 kg |
WWF Markalkylator, dates require less water than almonds and have lower emissions. |
|
Whipping cream (local and conventional) |
3 kg |
RISE Climate Database, cream has a higher emission than milk due to the higher proportion of milk fat. |
Calculation per semla (approx. 150 g per bun including filling and cream)
|
Climate-smart semla (per semla) |
|||
|
Ingredient |
Weight (g) |
CO₂e/kg |
emissions per ingredient (kg CO₂e) |
|
Wheat flour (locally from Umeå) |
50g |
0,6 |
0,030 |
|
Granulated sugar (organic) |
10g |
0,5 |
0,005 |
|
Cardamom |
1g |
5 |
0,005 |
|
Yeast |
3g |
1 |
0,003 |
|
Butter (local) |
10g |
6 |
0,06 |
|
Milk (local) |
30g |
1 |
0,03 |
|
Eggs (local) |
ca 10g |
1,5 |
0,015 |
|
Date pulp |
25g |
1,5 |
0,038 |
|
Whipped cream (local) |
50g |
3 |
0,15 |
|
20,1 |
0,336 |
||
|
Totally: about 0.336 kg CO₂e per semla |
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|
Regular homemade semla |
|||
|
Ingredient |
Weight (g) |
CO₂e/kg |
emissions per ingredient (kg CO₂e) |
|
Wheat flour (EU) |
50g |
0,8 |
0,040 |
|
Powdered sugar |
10g |
0,5 |
0,005 |
|
Cardamom |
1g |
5 |
0,005 |
|
Yeast |
3g |
1 |
0,003 |
|
Margarine (palm oil-based) |
10g |
9 |
0,09 |
|
Milk |
30g |
1 |
0,03 |
|
Egg |
ca 10g |
1,5 |
0,015 |
|
Almond paste |
25g |
5 |
0,125 |
|
Whipped cream |
50g |
4 |
0,20 |
|
27,8 |
0,513 |
||
|
Totally: about 0.513 kg CO₂e per semla |
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Reasoning about climate impact
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Almond paste vs date paste
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Almond farming is resource-intensive and has a high carbon footprint, especially almond paste that comes from California where production requires a lot of water and energy.
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Date paste has a significantly lower carbon footprint because dates are grown in dry climates without artificial irrigation to the same extent.
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Locally produced animal products vs industrial
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"Butter and eggs from local farms have shorter transport distances and a more transparent production chain, which often results in a lower carbon footprint than industrial alternatives."
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Palm oil-based butter is one of the most climate-impacting ingredients in it. common homemade semla. This is mainly due to deforestation of rainforests and loss of biodiversity. However, its climate impact can vary depending on whether the butter is RSPO-certified (sustainable palm oil) or not.
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Whipping cream - high impact in both semlor
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Regardless of the variant, the whipped cream accounts for a significant part of the climate footprint, as cream is a concentrated dairy product and therefore more raw milk is required to produce a liter of cream.
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Transporter
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The climate-smart semla uses more local ingredients, which reduces emissions from transportation.
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The difference between local and industrial butter, eggs, and marzipan makes the biggest climate gain.
Result and conclusion - How big is the difference?
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'The climate-smart semla generates about 0.336 kg CO₂e per semla.'
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The regular semla generates about 0.513 kg CO₂e per semla.
This means that the climate-smart semla has about 34.5% lower climate impact per bun.
For a batch of 10 semlor, you save about 1.77 kg CO₂e, which corresponds to the emissions from a car trip of about 15 kilometers or a snowmobile ride of 3 km.
Summary
The biggest difference comes from:
If you want to further reduce climate impact, you can:
