Our World in Data presents the data and research to make progress against the world’s largest problems.
This blog post draws on data and resea

Emissions from food alone could use up all of our budget for 1.5°C or 2°C – but we have a range of opportunities to avoid this

submited by
Style Pass
2021-06-10 11:00:10

Our World in Data presents the data and research to make progress against the world’s largest problems. This blog post draws on data and research discussed in our entry on Environmental impacts of food production.

The two big sources of greenhouse gas emissions are energy and food production. It’s sometimes argued that we should focus on one or the other. This is a false dichotomy. We cannot address climate change without moving away from fossil fuels. Equally, as we show in this article, we cannot reach our climate targets without tackling global food production. Even if we stopped emissions from fossil fuels right now, emissions from food production alone would take us well beyond the carbon budget for 1.5°C, and leave little room to reach our 2°C target.

There are a range of options to successfully reduce food emissions: a shift to more plant-based diets; healthy calorie consumption; less food waste; and improvements in crop yields and farming practices. Combined, they shift us towards a global food system that is more productive, has a low climate impact, and provides a healthy, nutritious diet for everyone.

Leave a Comment