Everything to Know About the Carbon Footprint of Food

Our diets have a big impact on the environment. In this explainer to food and carbon footprint, you’ll get a better understanding of food emissions, and what that means for your choices.

Most people are concerned about climate change. Across Europe, analysis shows that well over 80% of the population view it as a serious threat to humanity. Meanwhile three quarters of Americans and 81% of Canadians do too.  

The most effective way to tackle climate change will be to reduce our carbon emissions - both at an individual and societal level. And one of the biggest sources of CO₂ emissions is our food. 

A recent, comprehensive global study estimates that food’s carbon footprint makes up 26% of global emissions (far more than sectors like aviation or industry, for instance). If we can reduce the carbon footprint of food, we may be able to avoid the worst-case climate change outcomes.

The trouble is that, for regular consumers, understanding the carbon footprint of foods is about as clear as a thick leek and potato soup. The global food industry is incredibly complex, and calculating emissions from foods is far from a simple exercise.  

 In this explainer, you’ll learn:

• Key takeaways about low-carbon diets

• Why calculating food and carbon footprint is complicated

• Estimates of the carbon footprints of different types of diet

Plant-rich: The scientific consensus on a low-carbon diet

If you just want to know about the most low-carbon diets, this section covers it. But we’d really encourage you to read more, because it’s not always super simple. 

• A quick note: Food production doesn’t only generate carbon dioxide - it also produces other greenhouse gases like methane or nitrous oxide. But for ease of comparison, scientists bundle these all together as CO₂ equivalent, or CO₂e, which is an estimate of how much carbon dioxide would have the same effect. 

Speaking very generally, a plant-rich diet will almost always have lower carbon emissions than one based on meat, dairy, or seafood. 

To give a fairly extreme comparison, the UN says that producing 1 kg of beef emits 70 kg of CO₂e, whereas 1 kg of nuts emits just 0.4 kg of CO₂e. 

Most foods that are sourced from animals have significantly higher emissions than those that come from plants. The UN data shows that beef, lamb, farmed shellfish and cheese emit the most, whereas nuts, vegetables, fruits, breads, and legumes (beans, lentils, chickpeas, etc.) emit the least. 

The bottom line is that the carbon footprint of food from plants is just much smaller than that of meat, dairy, fish, and eggs. So, vegan and vegetarian diets are almost always going to have a smaller carbon footprint. 

That being said, if you’re not willing to give up meat altogether, eating less of it would still make a difference. According to one analysis, if everyone in the UK swapped one red-meat-based meal with a plant-based alternative each week, it would cut the country's annual carbon emissions by 50 million tonnes - roughly 13% of the total produced directly in the country. 

More data: 15 sustainable nutrition stats

Why is eating meat bad for the environment?

Meat is often described as being bad for the environment. But the reality is a bit more nuanced than that, and it’s not necessarily helpful to brand all meat as negative. 

As the numbers above show, some meats (particularly beef and lamb) do tend to produce much more CO₂e than other types of food. There are a few reasons for this:

• Ruminant animals (such as cattle and sheep) produce large amounts of methane while digesting grass and fodder, and this directly contributes to the greenhouse effect. Their manure also releases nitrous oxide. 

• Depending on how they’re raised, animals may need large amounts of land to graze on. This incentivises some farmers to cut down CO₂-absorbing forests to replace them with pasture. 

• Many animals are fed things like soya which may be grown on land that has been deforested. 

• Factory farms tend to use large amounts of electricity. 

• Transporting heavier animals for slaughter and then transporting them to market also entails emissions. 

But it’s not a completely black-and-white issue. The global study mentioned above points out that there are big variations in emissions depending on how meat is produced. For example, the highest-emission beef produces almost twice as much CO₂e as the least carbon-intensive beef. This isn’t to downplay beef’s general impact, but the idea is to show there is variation. 

At Huel, we’re by no means anti-meat. Many people like how it tastes, it’s a big part of most cultures and it has several health benefits. While a vegetarian or vegan diet is clearly better for the environment overall, eating less but higher quality meat might be an option if you aren’t willing to give it up.

Suggested: What’s a sustainable lifestyle?

The complexity of calculating the carbon footprint of food

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could set a specific carbon value for every ingredient in our diets? We could say an egg is worth X number of credits, while a head of broccoli is worth Y. We could then figure out the exact carbon footprint of food for every meal. 

While there are several apps and calculators that try to do just this (based on average CO₂e estimates), the reality is a lot more complicated. 

As we mentioned above, there’s a lot of variation in the CO₂e emissions of identical ingredients, depending on where you live, how it was made, time of year, and countless other factors. For example, a freshly picked tomato grown in a Spaniard’s garden in June would have much lower CO₂e than a tomato eaten by an Icelander, imported from Morocco in November.  

There are tons of factors that affect a food’s carbon footprint, whether it’s plant-based or comes from animals. These include:

Land use change

What was the land like before people started farming on it? Some kinds of foods - perhaps most notoriously palm oil - involve huge amounts of land use change. Deforestation for farming means that areas that might otherwise absorb CO₂ no longer do so, further contributing to the greenhouse effect. 

Production methods 

The way it is grown has a big impact on the carbon footprint of food. For example, rice is often grown in paddies of submerged water. If the paddy stays flooded, it emits lots of methane. But it can also be grown in different ways where the water drains away, cutting its emissions. 

Transport and food miles 

Unless you have an allotment, most of your food will come from somewhere else - and so it needs to be transported. Recent estimates suggest that up to a fifth of the carbon footprint of foods comes from transport. 

But again, it really depends on the context. For example, if you live in the UK, eating in-season asparagus sourced locally will have a much lower carbon footprint than eating the same ingredient flown in from South America in winter. 

Retail, processing and packaging

Most kinds of food undergo quite a lot of processing between leaving the farm and ending up in your kitchen. Once again, choices made at this stage can have a big impact on the carbon footprint of food. For instance, tinned or dried foods last longer than fresh foods, so may have a lower overall emissions. 

Food waste’s environmental impact

Another important part of the puzzle is food waste—throughout production, processing, retail and in the consumer’s home. Shockingly, the UN reports that almost a fifth of food worldwide goes to waste - and letting all that good stuff rot contributes some 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. 

As consumers, it’s really on us to make sure we don’t buy more than we need, and take care to eat our leftovers. Similarly, food producers (Huel included) need to take responsibility for reducing waste in manufacturing and in shops. 

Guide: Tips and advice on how to eat sustainably

Your food and carbon footprint: estimating different diets’ emissions

If everyone in the world made significant changes to their diets, food’s carbon footprint would be significantly lower. So, we used the Harvard Footprint Calculator to produce estimates of the annual carbon emissions of three different diet types. 

Of course, this is a simplistic approach, and the many factors described above will influence each individual’s person’s true footprint. But this can help give you a rough idea. 

Now, if we are to avoid the worst climate change outcomes, scientists have suggested that everyone on Earth should have a ‘lifestyle carbon footprint’ of no more than 2.5 tonnes CO₂e per year (Our World in Data estimates it’s currently 4.4 t in the UK, 6.7 t in Europe and 14.3 t in the United States). This budget includes their food emissions, as well as everything else they do that pumps out CO₂ - from heating their homes, to driving cars, flying in planes, lighting, buying clothes and everything else.

The carnivore

This person eats meat, cheese, fish or dairy with most meals, every day of the week. They also eat a range of veg, legumes, bread and oils too. 

The Harvard calculator estimates this person would emit over 2t of CO₂e per year from food alone—leaving very little ‘budget’ for things such as transport, heating, and lighting. 

The flexitarian

This person follows a primarily vegetarian diet but eats chicken or pork once or twice a month. They top up their protein with eggs, dairy, legumes, and nuts. 

The Harvard calculator estimates this person would emit 0.45 t of CO₂e per year from food each year - leaving a reasonable ‘budget’ for everything else. 

The vegan

This person avoids all food sourced from animals. They get a much higher proportion of their calories from beans and legumes, fruits, veg, wheat, grains, nuts, and seeds. 

The Harvard calculator estimates this person would emit 0.24 t of CO₂e per year from food each year - leaving a much larger ‘budget’ for everything else. 

Reducing the carbon footprint of your food

Humanity’s eating habits have a massive impact on the planet. All stages of the food sector—from farming to transport, production to retail, through to consumers, and waste—all contribute to the overall carbon footprint of food. 

There isn’t one single solution to this issue - and as we’ve seen there’s a lot of variation in how food gets produced that can affect how harmful or helpful it is for the planet. That said, it is clear that in almost all cases, a diet based primarily on plants has a much lower carbon footprint than meat and dairy-heavy diets. 

At Huel, we’re committed to reducing our food’s carbon footprint. All our foods are 100% vegan, which limits their direct emissions. We also ensure that our powders, shakes, and ready meals are long-lived. That means they won’t go off quickly (when stored correctly), which helps to reduce food waste. 

Want to learn more about what we’re doing to reduce the carbon footprint of foods we make? Head over to our sustainability page.