February 13, 2023
Source: UN
Photo Source: Unsplash,
What we eat, and how that food is produced, affects our health but also the environment.
What does food have to do with climate change? What we eat, and how that food is produced, affects our health but also the environment.
Food needs to be grown and processed, transported, distributed, prepared, consumed, and sometimes disposed of. Each of these steps creates greenhouse gases that trap the sun’s heat and contribute to climate change. About a third of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions is linked to food. The largest chunk of food-related greenhouse gases comes from agriculture and land use. This includes, for instance:
methane from cattle’s digestive process,
nitrous oxide from fertilizers used for crop production,
carbon dioxide from cutting down forests for the expansion of farmland,
other agricultural emissions from manure management, rice cultivation, burning of crop residues, and the use of fuel on farms.
A much smaller share of the greenhouse gas emissions of food are caused by:
refrigeration and transport of food,
industrial processes such as the production of paper and aluminum for packaging,
the management of food waste.
Which foods cause the most greenhouse gas emissions? The climate impact of food is measured in terms of greenhouse gas emissions intensity. The emissions intensity is expressed in kilograms of “carbon dioxide equivalents” – which includes not only CO2 but all greenhouse gases – per kilogram of food, per gram of protein or per calorie.
Animal-based foods, especially red meat, dairy, and farmed shrimp, are generally associated with the highest greenhouse gas emissions. This is because:
Meat production often requires extensive grasslands, which is often created by cutting down trees, releasing carbon dioxide stored in forests.
Cows and sheep emit methane as they digest grass and plants.
The cattle’s waste on pastures and chemical fertilizers used on crops for cattle feed emit nitrous oxide, another powerful greenhouse gas.
Shrimp farms often occupy coastal lands formerly covered in mangrove forests which absorb huge amounts of carbon. The large carbon footprint of shrimp or prawns is mainly due to the stored carbon that is released into the atmosphere when mangroves are cut down to create shrimp farms.
Plant-based foods – such as fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans, peas, nuts, and lentils – generally use less energy, land, and water, and have lower greenhouse gas intensities than animal-based foods.
Here are three charts showing the carbon footprint of different food products. Emissions can be compared based on weight (per kilogram of food), or in terms of nutritional units (per 100 grams of protein or per 1000 kilocalories) which shows us how efficiently different foods supply protein or energy.
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