Your diet's carbon footprint

 

Change your food habits before changing your car

Climate change and global warming progress rapidly. It has been becoming apparent to everyone that it is high time to make real changes. World leaders were hesitant to reach a unanimous decision, set clear goals and impose restrictions on companies and industries, but things have started moving in the right direction with a prime example being the Paris Agreement (2015). 

What can you do as an individual to help mitigate climate change? Some will tell you, buy an electric car, use mass transport more often, take less flights, turn your thermostat down etc. Although all these things help reduce the carbon footprint of an individual, it is within your powers to make a substantial impact through the choice of your next meal.

The food supply industry is responsible for approximately a quarter of the worlds greenhouse gas emissions, with 60% of this proportion coming from farms and livestock. Additionally, a high rate of deforestation can be attributed to the agricultural system since it occupies 43% of the world’s land that is free of desert and ice. Moreover, there is a huge imbalance in dietary habits and food availability around the world and latest predictions from the UN estimate that human population will reach 10 billion by 2050.

A question naturally arises. 

Can we feed a future population of 10 billion people on a healthy and sustainable diet?

  In order to give a definitive answer, 37 leading scientists came together under the umbrella of the EAT – Lancet Commission, a science-based non-profit aiming to catalyze a food system transformation and they were able to come up with a positive response to the aforementioned question, albeit it would require transforming our dietary habits and production chain. Remarkably, the proposed diet doesn’t banish animal products, but instead urges moderation of animal-delivered foods and choosing more frequently plant-based proteins.

"Global food production threatens climate stability and ecosystem resilience. It constitutes the single largest driver of environmental degradation and transgression of planetary boundaries. Taken together the outcome is dire. A radical transformation of the global food system is urgently needed. Without action, the world risks failing to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement." 

Prof. Johan Rockstorm PhD
Postdam Institute for Climate Impact and Research & Stockholm Resilience Centre
Co-chair of EAT Lancet Commission

 

Indeed, in an independent report from 2018, published in the Science magazine, J. Poore from Oxford’s University concluded that the immigration to a diet that halves the consumption animal products would approximately result in 35% and 51% reduction of GHG emissions and land use, respectively. Those are savings of approximately 10.4 billion metric tons of CO2 per year.

Greenhouse gas savings potential from the global adoption of various diets .Adapted from IPCC (2018). Chart by Carbon Brief.

Climate change is a multi-level and multi-industry problem that requires the collective effort, support, and moxie of the whole community. Everyone has a part to play and due to errors and tactics of the past, now it’s the time to act and it might be as simple as modifying your weekly diet. 

Reference and additional information

• Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

• EAT: can healthy food save the planet animation

• Carbon Brief: What is the climate impact of eating meat and dairy?

• Article: Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers

• UNFCCC: We need to talk about meat