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Are nuts a superfood or a problem for the environment?

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Ecology
© Foto von Towfiqu barbhuiya auf Unsplash

Walnuts, hazelnuts, cashews – nuts can be part of a healthy and climate-friendly diet. But despite their low carbon footprint, they have been criticised for their impact on the environment and social responsibility – in many cases, rightly so.

Nuts are an excellent source of energy. Packed with protein, fibre and vitamins, they are an important part of a balanced diet. Their carbon footprint is also impressive. When comparing the calories of different foods with the carbon emissions they produce, nuts perform significantly better than most other protein sources.


For example, eating 1'000 calories of nuts produces just 0.07 kilograms of CO2 equivalent. For the same number of calories, producing meat generates over 36 kilograms of CO2 equivalents. One of the reasons nuts generate a significantly lower amount is because nut trees are permanent crops that bind and store CO2 from the atmosphere.

Nuts are an important part of a climate-friendly diet

It's therefore no surprise that the EAT-Lancet Commission has included nuts as part of the Planetary Health Diet. The aim of these dietary recommendations is to describe a healthy, environmentally friendly and socially responsible diet for the world population. The key principle of the Planetary Health Diet is to eat more plant-based foods. It recommends that people double their intake of fruit, vegetables, pulses and nuts while halving meat consumption.

This is particularly true for protein sources. People need to consume 900 calories a day from various protein sources. Nuts, pulses, and animal products should each provide one third of the recommended calories. For nuts, this amounts to about 50 grams per day.

Nuts are therefore an important part of a climate-friendly diet. However, climate-friendly does not necessarily mean completely sustainable: Water shortages, the use of pesticides and questionable working conditions are just a few of the criticisms that repeatedly appear in the headlines regarding various types of nuts.

Nuts need a warm climate and plenty of water

Most of the nuts we consume can only thrive in a warm climate. Regions that have a suitable climate often have little water. Since nuts require plenty of water in addition to warm temperatures, large plantations in these regions increase the water shortages.

Almonds are a good example: Around 10'000 to 15'000 litres of water are needed to grow one kilo of almonds. Yet around 80 per cent of the world's almonds come from California, a region that has been suffering from severe droughts for several years. Many Californian producers have already been forced to cut down trees due to extreme drought. The situation has also had an impact on local residents, who are being encouraged to reduce their water use.

But it's not only people who are negatively impacted by these large plantations – bees are also affected. Almonds need bees for pollination – they wouldn't grow otherwise. Over a million bee colonies are transported to almond growing regions each year. After pollinating the almond blossoms, they are taken to the next crop.

Because almond plantations consist solely of almond trees, they can't provide a permanent habitat for bees. Within these vast monocultures, the insects wouldn't be able to find any other food outside the flowering season. The multiple journeys are rough on the bees and many don't survive. They are also harmed by pesticides that contaminate the almond blossoms. Additionally, transporting bees in confined spaces increases the risk of spreading diseases among the colonies.

Small-scale farming is more sustainable than plantations

We source most of our almonds from Pakistan, where the growing practices are very different from the ones in California. In the high-altitude mountain ranges of the Karakoram and Hindu Kush, family farmers grow almonds on small plots of land without using pesticides.

The advantage of being in the mountains is that the plots receive water from springs, glaciers or rain. There's no need to pump groundwater. Wild bees take care of the pollination and, when necessary, the family farmers rely on additional migratory bee colonies during the flowering season. But they don't use them nearly as much as almond growers in California do.

Reforestation instead of deforestation for cashews

Cashew nuts – which are actually seeds – have seen a surge in popularity in recent years. But their cultivation has led to deforestation, which has a negative impact on the environment. Due to the sharp rise in global demand for cashews, up to 25 per cent of the dry forest native to Côte d'Ivoire has disappeared over the last four years. Furthermore, rampant pesticide use in the region contaminates both soil and water.

We produce cashews in Burkina Faso, but we don't clear forested land to grow them – on the contrary. Instead, a number of our family farmers have transitioned to dynamic agroforestry. They incorporate different types of plants that have a positive effect on each other, keeping the soil fertile and protecting it from erosion. Conservation and active reforestation help counteract the threat of desertification from the Sahara in the north of the country. These producers all follow organic guidelines and don’t use chemical pesticides.

There's also a positive side to the global cashew boom: the increase in demand has allowed us to invest in a new processing plant in Burkina Faso. This will create 1'000 new jobs as well as the opportunity for an additional 3'000 family farmers to sell their cashews. Find out more about the project here.

We give hazelnut producers a share of our revenue

Hazelnut production is often criticised for its use of child labour. Hazelnuts need to be harvested by hand. The nuts are picked one by one from bushes and trees. In Turkey, where most of the world's hazelnuts are harvested, there is a shortage of local workers during the harvest season. Migrant labourers, who travel from one harvest region to the next, pick up the slack. Their children often miss school during the harvest season, working instead as cheap labour, as a way of contributing to the family income.

Our hazelnuts come from Georgia, where the farmers manage the harvest themselves, supported by local harvest workers and without child labour. As part of the gebana model, we have also been giving family farmers a share of our sales of their hazelnuts since 2023. They receive 10 per cent of the sales price in our online shop, in addition to the regular organic and fair market price. Our aim is to improve the income of producers in the long term.

Nuts can be an opportunity for both people and nature

According to the Planetary Health Diet, nuts are an important part of a climate-friendly diet. But in terms of sustainability and social responsibility, it's also crucial to know where they come from and the conditions under which they are grown. Nut cultivation can negatively impact the environment and the local people. But it doesn't have to be this way! Grown in an environmentally and socially responsible way and processed locally, nut cultivation can be a great opportunity for entire regions.

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