3 Strategies to Reduce the Environmental Impact of Food

At Synergy, we continually strive to lead with best practices in carbon accounting and refine our methods. Our team has taken a deep dive into how we can better count the carbon impacts of food, a deceptively large source of emissions for many businesses and a major contributor to our carbon footprints at home. Through our research, we have suggested three strategies businesses and individuals can use to reduce their environmental impact of food.

This blog was written by Synergy Project Analyst, Megan Chan

The food we consume plays a significant role in shaping the health of our planet. As we investigate the intricacies of food production and its environmental impact, it is clear that our choices at the grocery store extend far beyond our personal health and taste preferences. Here, we explore the factors contributing to our food system’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and highlight the importance of making informed decisions to mitigate these impacts.

The Environmental Impact of Food Production

Food production is a significant consumer of natural resources, accounting for a staggering 70% of global water consumption. It also occupies 38% of the Earth’s land, dwarfing the less than 1% covered by cities and suburbs. This extensive land use makes the food system the most significant driver of habitat and biodiversity loss on Earth.

Primary Sources of Food-Related Emissions

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report, the majority of global food and agriculture emissions are attributable to several key activities in the food system:

Deforestation: Forests are often cleared to plant high-value crops like palm oil or coffee beans, or to convert land into cattle pasture.
Methane Release: Ruminants, particularly cows, emit significant amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, and surprisingly, rice production does as well.
Soil Carbon Release: Tilling the soil for agriculture releases stored carbon into the atmosphere.
Biomass Burning: The burning of agricultural residues contributes to carbon emissions.
Manure Management: The release of emissions that occurs during manure decomposition.

Food-related emissions are rising globally, with various stages of the food system contributing to the overall footprint. Businesses purchasing food play a pivotal role in this dynamic, and there are numerous strategies that both businesses and consumers can implement to measure and reduce these emissions at the consumer level. It’s a collective responsibility we all share.

Measuring Food Emissions: Cradle-to-Gate Approach

In GHG accounting, food is categorized under purchased goods and services. To measure all emissions associated with these products, it is standard practice to include all upstream or “cradle-to-gate” emissions. For food, this encompasses all stages from land use change, production, and transportation to processing and distribution.

Stages of Food Emissions

Land use change, in particular, leads to significant emissions. When forests are cut down, the carbon stored in the vegetation and soil is released into the atmosphere. This process can also affect the climate through changes in albedo (the reflectivity of the Earth’s surface), evapotranspiration, and aerosol loading.

Production emissions arise from on-farm activities. Key contributors include:

Methane: Emitted from decomposing organic matter in rice paddies and enteric fermentation in cattle.
Nitrous Oxide: Released from fertilizer application.

Transportation emissions, which include shipping food from processing locations to distributors or retail outlets, often dominate the conversation about food emissions. However, it’s essential to note that the primary drivers of emissions in food production are land use and agriculture, which account for the majority of the impact due to their proportional effects.

The Uncomfortable Truth of Animal Agriculture

Now comes the uncomfortable part of this discussion. Ultimately, there is no other way to spin it; animal agriculture is an inefficient means of producing food for people. It takes 100 calories of crops to make only 40 calories of milk, 22 calories of eggs, 12 calories of chicken, 10 calories of pork, and a mere three calories of beef. This inefficiency in calorie production is similar to the inefficiency in emissions to produce food, making animal products much more emissions-intensive than plant-based foods. Animal agriculture requires more land, fertilizer, and energy than crop production. In animal agriculture, additional resources are needed to grow feed and raise livestock, whereas crop production does not require this extra step.

Food Emissions per kilogram for food types

What Does This Mean For Us As Consumers?

We understand that food choices are not one-size-fits-all. We are not advocating for a universal shift to a vegan diet. Food choices are nuanced and complex, influenced by cultural, social, and economic factors, as well as individual nutritional needs and dietary restrictions. It’s about finding a balance that works for you while still trying to contribute to conscientious change.

That is why, to address the environmental impact of our food system, several strategies we can employ as businesses and consumers are:

Reduce Food Waste: Minimizing food waste can significantly cut down emissions.
Consume Less Red Meat: Reducing red meat consumption can lower methane emissions and other environmental impacts.
Education: Raising awareness about the environmental footprint of different foods can help businesses and consumers make more informed, sustainable choices.

Understanding food systems’ social and cultural nuances is crucial for developing effective mitigation strategies. We also acknowledge the limitations applied when using the global food emission factors currently available. Despite lacking geographic precision for some use cases, the best available factors offer accuracy in emissions trends between products.

By making informed choices and supporting sustainable practices, we can help mitigate the greenhouse gas emissions associated with our food and contribute to a healthier planet.

Megan’s research has helped increase the scope of emissions we measure within scope 3. We can now count and measure food emissions with greater accuracy and help businesses understand how to reduce their carbon emissions from food. We constantly strive to perfect our services and love being able to share any newfound knowledge with you.

If you are interested in hiring a sustainability expert for a talk or would like to work with us to reduce your business’s carbon footprint, please contact us.