On third of all greenhouse gas emission stems from agriculture and the production of food. The answer is to cut down on food waste and eat healthier.
The video above is a result of the work of the EAT-Lancet Commission. The question was simple. Can we feed 10 billion people without destroying our planet.
The answer is in many ways also simple, but it is not easy. Yes, it is possible to feed the growing population, but i requires major changes to the way we produce, consume, transport and waste food.
What do we need to do?
Some of the changes required are big systemic changes. But many are changes that we as individuals can make right now. Eating more vegetables and less meat for example. Of course, for many of us the habit of preparing meal with meat as the primary ingredient is so ingrained, that it is difficult to change overnight. Luckily it is becoming easier as the super convenient solutions are becoming more and more widespread. Everything from vegetarian burgers at fast food places, to vegetarian meal kit boxes is slowly helping the change along.
Cut down on meat… especially the red meat
It can be difficult to understand how big the carbon footprint of meat is. So to help a little let us compare it to using a 1 liter of gasoline. The direct CO2 emission from burning 1 liter of gasoline is around 2.4 kilo of CO2. Of course, this does not take in to consideration the production and transportation of oil and gasoline, but for the sake of this example, let us just ignore that for now.
The table below shows the CO2 footprint of various types of food. Looking at lamb, the worst of the lot, shows a CO2 emission of more than 39 kilos. That means, that eating one kilo of lamb is the equivalent of driving 250 kilometers in a fairly economic car!
| Rank | Food | CO2 Kilos Equivalent |
| 1 | Lamb | 39.2 |
| 2 | Beef | 27 |
| 3 | Cheese | 13.5 |
| 4 | Pork | 12.1 |
| 5 | Turkey | 10.9 |
| 6 | Chicken | 6.9 |
| 7 | Tuna | 6.1 |
| 8 | Eggs | 4.8 |
| 9 | Potatoes | 2.9 |
| 10 | Rice | 2.7 |
| 11 | Nuts | 2.3 |
| 12 | Beans/tofu | 2 |
| 13 | Vegetables | 2 |
| 14 | Milk | 1.9 |
| 15 | Fruit | 1.1 |
| 16 | Lentils | 0.9 |
Source: Environmental Working Group’s Meat Eater’s Guide
You can see more about The EAT Lancet Commission here and download a PDF summary of the report