Food production and processing have their own negative effects on the environment, but some products carry a greater impact than others.
Animal-based foods usually carry a higher greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint compared with plant-based foods. A study of 38,700 farms and 1,600 processors, packaging types and retailers across 119 countries found that beef and mutton are some of the biggest emitters of carbon dioxide per kilogram of food products produced.
In fact, beef farming is so detrimental to the environment that producing one kilogram of the food emits close to 82kg of GHGs, that’s 82% of the beef supply chain’s total emissions. The rest of the GHG emissions come from processing and transport, which end up being a relatively small percentage (18%) in comparison.
Some fruits and vegetables emit barely 1kg of GHGs per kilogram of food produced.
So, while it’s generally better to eat local food, the biggest impact you can have on greenhouse emissions is to choose your food carefully. Your well-traveled tomatoes have just a fraction of the emissions impact of your locally-sourced steak.
Note: This chart was first published on 2 February 2023. See more like this in our collection of more than 600 charts