Summary:
The way food is produced and consumed worldwide plays a major role in driving climate change, yet responsibility for those emissions is far from evenly shared. A study published in Environmental Research: Food Systems finds that global diets already generate greenhouse gas emissions that exceed what the planet can afford if warming is to be kept below 2 °C. The research shows that the top 15% of food-related emitters are responsible for nearly as much pollution as the poorest half of the global population combined.
Led by Juan Diego Martinez and Navin Ramankutty, the analysis examined food consumption and supply-chain emissions across 112 countries, covering 99% of global food-related greenhouse gases. Using income-based data from 2012, the authors found that between 40% and 45% of the world’s population was already consuming diets above a climate-compatible limit. Looking ahead to 2050, that share rises to almost everyone. The study suggests that changes in everyday eating habits, particularly in wealthier populations, will be central to reducing emissions from the global food system.
How changing your diet could help save the world
For many of us, the holiday season can mean delightful overeating, followed by recriminatory New Year’s resolutions.
But eating enough and no more should be on the menu for all of us, according to a recent UBC study. It found that 44 per cent of us would need to change our diets for the world to warm no more than 2 °C.
Dr. Juan Diego Martinez, who led the research as a doctoral student at UBC’s Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, discusses the study’s findings and the simple dietary changes we can all make.
What did you find?
Half of us globally and at least 90 per cent of Canadians need to change our diets to prevent severe planetary warming. And that number is conservative, because we used 2012 data. Since then, emissions and the world’s population have both increased. Looking ahead to 2050, we found that 90 per cent of us will need to be eating differently.
We looked at data from 112 countries, accounting for 99 per cent of food-related greenhouse gas emissions globally, and divided each country’s population into 10 income groups. We calculated a food emissions budget for each person by combining emissions from food consumption, global food production and supply chains, and compared these emissions to the total the world can afford if we want to stay below 2 °C of warming.
Why focus on dietary changes rather than, say, flying less?
The world’s food systems are responsible for more than one-third of all human greenhouse gas emissions.
We found that the 15 per cent of people who emitted the most account for 30 per cent of total food emissions, equaling the contribution of the entire bottom 50 per cent. This select group consists of the wealthiest people in high emissions countries, including the Central African Republic, Brazil and Australia.
Even though this group is emitting a lot, there is a much higher number of people whose diets are above that cap. This is why half, not just the richest, of the global population needs to change diets. In Canada, all 10 income groups are above the cap.
Debates around flying less, driving electric and buying fewer luxury goods are valid: We need to reduce emissions any way we can. However, food emissions are not just a problem for the richest – we all need to eat, so we can all make a change. For people who are both flying frequently and eating lots of beef, it’s not an either/or: Try to reduce both.
What changes can we make to our diets?
Eat only what you need. Repurpose what you don’t. Less wasted food means fewer emissions, less cooking and more easy, tasty leftovers.
Eliminate or reduce your beef consumption – 43 per cent of food-related emissions from the average Canadian come from beef alone. We could have had our beef and eaten it too if we’d followed the agreements laid out in the Kyoto Protocol, but we’re now at a point where food emissions also need to fall to avoid the worst of climate change.
I grew up in Latin America where eating a lot of beef is part of the culture, so I get how much of an ask this is. But we just can’t deny the data anymore.
Vote with your fork. This is a first step to demand change from your political leaders. The more we talk about our own dietary changes and what matters to us, the more politicians will begin to care about policies that bring positive changes to our food systems.
Journal Reference:
Juan Diego Martinez and Navin Ramankutty, ‘Dietary GHG emissions from 2.7 billion people already exceed the personal carbon footprint needed to achieve the 2 °C climate goal’, Environmental Research: Food Systems 2, 4: 045006 (2025). DOI: 10.1088/2976-601X/ae10c0
Article Source:
Press Release/Material by University of British Columbia (UBC)
Featured image credit: Freepik
