Food emissions
Which foods cause the most greenhouse gas emissions? Here you can find information on the climate footprint of the most common foods.
CO₂-eq emissions caused by different food items vary significantly between food categories. Meat and dairy products, fish and seafood are among the most carbon-intensive products. Fruit, vegetables and cereal products, on the other hand, cause low CO₂-eq emissions.
There are considerable ranges within the categories, some of which are mainly due to varying cultivation methods and/or places of production. Chicken or pork, for example, produce only a fraction of the emissions caused by the production of beef, especially imported beef from South America, whose carbon footprint also includes the rain forests that have been cut down and are no longer available as CO₂ reservoirs.
However, whether locally produced beef is more climate-friendly depends on the production method (including intensive cattle farming, imported feed, transport efficiency).
Source: OurWorldInData.org based on Poore, J., & Nemecek, T. (2018). Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers.