Despite international efforts to preserve the environment and stop harming the planet, we find that the world still needs to take further measures, amid worrying climate indicators, represented by carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere reaching very high levels.
Carbon dioxide emissions are among the most prominent greenhouse gases that cause the world to suffer from the problem of global warming, which subsequently leads to an increase in the Earth’s temperature, which in turn causes multiple environmental disasters.
With the urgent challenge of reducing carbon emissions to save the Earth, it is important to realize that this step is not only related to the world’s reliance on clean energies and recycled, environmentally friendly raw materials, as the environmental impact of carbon is also linked to our diets, as a large portion of the food we eat every year. Every day, it leaves carbon footprints that cause the planet to pay more for warming and pollution.
The largest carbon footprint in the world of food
Various research and studies show that food production in the world is responsible for about 15 to 25 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, most of which are carbon emissions. Based on approved scientific measurements, beef has the largest carbon footprint within the food industry. For every kilogram of finished meat products, It emits 99 kilograms of carbon dioxide.
According to the United Nations, food goes through several steps from growth, processing, transportation, distribution, preparation, consumption, and sometimes disposal, as each of these steps generates greenhouse gases that trap the heat of the sun and contribute to climate change, and more than a third of greenhouse gas emissions Global warming, caused by humans, is linked to food, and therefore how each kilogram of food affects the climate is measured in terms of the intensity of emissions it generates in all the stages it passes through.
Dark chocolate has the second largest carbon footprint within the food industry, as every kilogram of it results in 47 kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions, while every kilogram of finished products of sheep and lamb meat causes the emission of 40 kilograms of carbon dioxide. Every liter of cow’s milk produces 33 kilograms of carbon dioxide in the manufacturing process, making coffee ranked fifth as having the largest carbon footprint within the food industry. Every kilogram of coffee products emits 29 kilograms of carbon dioxide.
Sources of greenhouse gases associated with food
Environmental affairs expert, Vivi Kallab, explains in an interview with “Eqtisad Sky News Arabia” website, that to understand how different foodstuffs contribute to environmental pollution, we must realize that the food production process requires large resources of land, energy, and water, as the use of all These resources produce pollutants that may be invisible to consumers, but they actually cause harmful emissions to the environment, noting that the bulk of greenhouse gases related to food come from:
– Land use
– Water withdrawal operations
Nitrous oxide is a fertilizer used in crop production
– Methane resulting from the digestive process of livestock
– Carbon dioxide resulting from cutting down forests to expand agricultural land
– Burning crop residues and using fuel on farms
– Cooling and transporting foodstuffs
– Production of paper and aluminum for packaging
– Food waste management
Burgers increase the level of environmental damage
According to Kallab, beef is overwhelmingly considered the highest source of greenhouse gas emissions related to food products, because the production of beef requires very intensive resources from large fields, water and energy, in addition to the fact that cows also emit methane gas during their digestive processes, and this gas plays a role. In raising levels of warming, forming the greenhouse effect.
She pointed out that the tripling of demand for red meat over the past fifty years also contributed to raising the rate of environmental damage caused by beef, supported by “burger” sales, which now exceed fifty billion sandwiches every year, while the Food Organization’s expectations indicate The United Nations Agriculture Organization (FAO) indicated that the global demand for meat, which reached 337 million tons in 2022, will double by 2050.
The carbon footprint of chocolate
As for the reason why dark chocolate has the second largest carbon footprint within the food industry, Kallab says that most of the chocolate emissions come from the changes caused by the deforestation process, in favor of this product, as chocolate is produced from cocoa, and with the increasing global demand for chocolate, many people have resorted to Companies are seeking to remove rainforests that absorb carbon from the atmosphere in very large quantities, to replace them with cocoa trees. This has caused some countries in the world to lose their forest cover and reduce the Earth’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide, pointing out that chocolate producers often do not hesitate to clear areas of Rainforests change the ecological balance.
Kallab pointed out that similar to cows and chocolate, lamb, coffee, rice, cheese, dairy, prawns, fish and poultry are all food industries that have a high carbon footprint, and are all among the most consumed foods in the world, stressing that animal products in general are more dense in carbon. Emissions compared to plant foods, so we come to the conclusion that what we eat makes a difference in terms of the environment.
Reducing food carbon emissions
For his part, environmental analyst, Ziad Abboud, said in an interview with “Iqtisad Sky News Arabia” website, that it cannot be denied that some of the practices used to produce foods are sabotage practices, especially when it comes to the chocolate and coffee industry, because of which thousands of hectares of land are being eliminated. Trees, but it is also unfair to ask consumers to remove food items from their diet, with the aim of reducing the consumption of foods with a high carbon footprint, indicating that the ideal solution to reduce the level of carbon emissions from foods is through multiple steps, the first of which is reducing our dependence on foods. High carbon emissions, secondly, reducing food waste, and thirdly, searching for products that respect the concept of sustainability.
Abboud explains that moderation in our eating habits is exactly what we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from food, which means eating less red meat, more plant-based foods, and choosing seasonal foods that respect the environmental cycle, noting that the United Nations estimates the rate of waste. Households eat food globally, with 11 percent of the total food available for consumption, as addressing the problem of food waste directly leads to reducing the levels of production of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane, and also leads to not wasting water and energy.
Abboud pointed out that there is a need to push food producers to adopt practices that respect the environment, and this can be done by urging consumers to direct their purchasing budgets to food products that respect sustainable environmental standards. For example, many chocolate manufacturers in the world have begun to refuse to buy cocoa beans. From farmers, who cut down forest trees to grow cocoa trees, in a step through which manufacturers seek to satisfy consumers who are looking for food products based on sustainable sources, pointing out that knowing about environmentally sustainable foods can be a confusing matter for consumers currently, But this reality may change, as food industries resort to placing labels on their products, revealing the size of the carbon footprint they cause, and other information related to the sources and how these foods are produced.
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