A simple change of food could cut greenhouse gas emissions from household food by a quarter

According to a new Australian study from The George Institute for Global Health and Imperial College London, switching food and drink purchases to very similar but more environmentally friendly alternatives could cut greenhouse gas emissions from household food by more than a quarter (26%). today in Natural food.

Making bigger changes – such as swapping frozen meat lasagna for a vegetarian option – could reduce the reduction by up to 71%.

To do so, it will require labeling of greenhouse gas emissions on the packaging of every packaged food product so that consumers can make an informed choice.

It is the most detailed analysis ever conducted on the environmental impact of a country’s food purchasing behavior, including comprehensive data on greenhouse gas emissions and sales of tens of thousands of products typical of the Western diet in many countries around the world.

Lead author and epidemiologist Dr. Allison Gaines, who carried out the analysis for The George Institute and Imperial College London, said: “If we are to meet global emissions targets, particularly in high-income countries like Australia, dietary patterns need to change significantly. UK and USA.

“But while consumers are increasingly aware of the impact of the food system on the environment and are willing to make more sustainable food choices, they lack reliable information to identify greener alternatives.”

Researchers calculated projected emissions from annual food purchases from 7,000 Australian households using information on ingredients, weights and production life cycles in The George Institute’s FoodSwitch database and global environmental impact datasets. More than 22,000 products were assigned to major, minor and sub-categories of food (e.g. ‘bread and bakery’, ‘bread’ and ‘white bread’) to quantify the emissions saved by the change within and between groups.

A switch within the same food sub-categories could reduce emissions by 26% in Australia, equivalent to removing more than 1.9 million cars from the road. Changes within smaller food categories could lead to even greater emissions reductions of 71%.

“The results of our study show the potential to significantly reduce our impact on the environment by changing similar products. This is also something that UK consumers could and would probably want to do if we put emissions information on product labels.” ” said Dr. Gaines.

Dr. Gaines added that the switches overall will not compromise the health of the food. “We showed that you can switch to lower-emission products and still enjoy nutritious food. In fact, we found that this would lead to a slight reduction in the proportion of ultra-processed food purchased, which is a positive result because it is generally less healthy,” she said .

The purchase analysis also showed that meat products accounted for almost half (49%) of all greenhouse gas emissions, but only 11% of total purchases. Conversely, fruit, vegetables, nuts and legumes accounted for a quarter (25%) of all purchases but were responsible for just 5% of emissions.

It is estimated that approximately one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions are attributable to the food and agriculture sector, and the total health and environmental costs of the global food system are estimated at US$10–14 trillion annually. More than 12 million deaths a year could be avoided if the system switched to a healthy, low-emissions diet.

Professor Bruce Neal, executive director of The George Institute Australia and professor of clinical epidemiology at Imperial College London, said that as a global community we are taking too long to improve the sustainability of the food system, which threatens the prospect of a clean zero. future.

“There is currently no standardized framework for regulating the climate or planetary health parameters of our food supply, and voluntary measures have not been widely adopted in most countries. This research shows how innovative ways of approaching the problem can enable consumers to make a real impact.” ” he said.

“With this in mind, we’ve developed a free app called ecoSwitch, currently available in Australia, which is based on this research. Shoppers can use their device to scan a product’s barcode and check its ‘Planetary Health Rating’, which is a measure its emissions shown as a score between half a star (high emissions) to five stars (low emissions).

The George Institute plans to expand the ecoSwitch algorithm to integrate other environmental indicators, such as land and water use and biodiversity, and roll out the tool to other countries.

“While ecoSwitch is a much-needed first step in ensuring environmental transparency for food shoppers, the vision is to make it compulsory to display a single standardized sustainability rating system on all supermarket products,” Prof Neal concluded.