The carbon footprint of flowers

Have you ever thought that the flowers you’re buying have a carbon footprint? And is there is a difference between buying imported flowers and buying British grown flowers? Read on for a summary and a comparison of buying flowers from these 2 sources.

Are you someone who tries to reduce their impact on this earth by doing little things like reusing a water bottle, buying fruit & veg without packaging, eating more vegetarian meals, drying clothes without a tumble drier and recycling?

I know a lot of us worry about what impact we have on the environment however most people don’t consider flowers and floristry as a big contributor of carbon. Flowers are beautiful and remind us of what we love about nature but they are also a big business that reaches worldwide.

Traditionally flowers bought by florists come from wholesale markets in the UK, the majority of these flowers have come from other countries including Holland, Kenya, Ethiopia, Columbia, Ecuador, Italy and Israel. This is how you can get flowers in the midst of winter when nothing is blooming in UK gardens.

Here are some interesting figures from a study conducted by Rebecca Swinn (Lancaster university) for her MSC dissertation on the carbon footprint of flowers sold in the Uk and flowers from different countries, comparing their emissions to the British grown flowers. Here are some examples of bouquets and their different carbon emissions.

5 Kenyan roses + 3 Dutch lily + 3 Kenyan gypsophila – 31.132 Kg Co2
5 Dutch roses + 3 Dutch lily + 3 Kenyan gypsophila – 32.252 Kg CO2
5 outdoor grown UK snapdragons + 3 UK lily + 3 UK alstromeria – 3.287 Kg CO2
15 stems mixed outdoor UK grown flowers, grown and sold locally (eg to Booths supermarket, Lancashire) – 1.71 Kg CO2

You can see from the figures above that the imported flowers produce nearly 10 x times more carbon emissions than the British grown flowers. The main contributing factors here are transport, heating/refrigeration and electricity use.

Photography by Kayleigh Stone

I have also done my own comparison of bouquets using popular wedding flowers that are traditionally imported vs British flowers.

Roses (Columbia) + Lisianthus (Netherlands) + Limonium (Israel)- 26.92kg CO2

British grown flowers - 8.53kg CO2

The imported flowers have a carbon footprint just over 3x higher than the British flowers. The figures are a little lower than in Rebecca’s study and this is because my study only looks at the transport different and doesn’t include the heat/refrigeration or electricity use. However the findings are the same.

Does this make the joy of buying flowers less when you know what impact they have?

Photography by Miss Whittington’s photography

But don’t worry! There are now more British flower growers than ever before and by choosing a florist that sources local British grown flowers you’ll dramatically reduce the carbon emissions of your wedding and the impact it has on the environment.

Keep an eye out on my blog for what other benefits there are to buying British flowers and why I love them so much.

Beautiful flowers and designs but without the negative impact on the environment. Because that’s what we are all searching for right?

Photography by Kayleigh Stone