The traffic light coalition is planning to legalize cannabis in Germany – in a highly controlled manner in licensed stores. However, according to a new study from Colorado, USA, the indoor cultivation of cannabis is now said to be as harmful to the climate as coal mining. So how green is this green initiative? Check out the facts.
The traffic light coalition is planning to legalize cannabis in Germany – in a highly controlled manner in licensed stores. However, according to a new study from Colorado, USA, the indoor cultivation of cannabis is now said to be as harmful to the climate as coal mining. So how green is this green initiative? Check out the facts.
It’s a done deal: in their coalition agreement , the parties in the traffic light coalition stipulate that cannabis will be legal for recreational purposes in future. The drug is only to be sold to adults via licensed stores. The coalition hopes that this will result in controlled quality free of impurities and the possibility of ensuring the protection of minors.
But a study from Colorado is causing a stir in this context. Cannabis has been legalized for recreational purposes in this US state for almost ten years. Tens of companies here now produce over 500 tons of dried hemp flowers. One major problem for the climate appears to be the cultivation method, as almost the entire quantity is grown in greenhouses under artificial light. This costs a lot of energy and therefore alsoCO2, as Hailey Summers and her team at Colorado State University found out. Depending on the cultivation location, between 2.3 and 5.2 tonsof CO2 equivalents are produced per kilogram of dried cannabis flowers.
In total, around 2.6 megatons of climate-impactingCO2 equivalentsare produced annually by the indoor cultivation of cannabis in Colorado. This is significantly more than the 1.8 megatons caused by coal mining in the state. Several factors are responsible for the high greenhouse gas emissions from the production of cannabis flowers. For example, not all production facilities are equipped with economical LEDs and are therefore not particularly energy-efficient to operate. Added to this is the energy required to heat the greenhouses and the drying facilities for the harvested flowers.
In order to protect the climate, the scientists propose modernizing the greenhouses with LEDs and optimizing the processing procedure. This could saveup to 2.1 megatons ofCO2 equivalents. One thing is clear: cannabis will always be produced, whether it is legal or not. However, outside the influence of any controlling authorities, the effects of illegal cannabis plantations on the climate, environment and consumers are even more devastating than those of legal ones, as the example of California shows.
Also interesting: Climate change – what happens in a worst-case scenario? With the help of a computer simulation, W-LAB has developed an idea that shows how we could live one day as a result of the changing climate.
