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A Tasty Treat for the Climate
Explore Life Science
- Off the Bench
- Exploring Life
The things we eat definitely impact the climate – which is why researchers worldwide are working to design a climate-friendly diet. The consensus: meat should be consumed sparingly. But what are the alternatives?
Our food supply is responsible for more than a third of all global greenhouse gas emissions. These are the conclusions drawn by the “Global Food Policy Report”, an annual publication by the Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute, published in September 2022. The reasons for this are multilayered: for example, the consequences of deforestation for the purpose of creating farmland include high emissions. Energy and resource intensive production processes, trade, consumption and disposal also contribute to rising CO2 concentrations. “Global food production not only threatens climate stability; biodiversity, the water supply and ecosystem resilience as a whole are also in danger. Therefore, our food must be part of the solution”, demands agricultural scientist Britta Klein of the Federal Center for Nutrition in Germany.
The planet on a diet
Most experts agree on what should be on our plates in the future: the basic ingredients of a climate-friendly diet include more fruit, vegetables and legumes such as lentils, beans and peas. These ingredients are also suitable for forming the foundation of plant-based alternatives to animal products which stress the climate to a much higher degree. One example: according to the Federal Information Center for Agriculture, the production of cow’s milk generates three to five times higher greenhouse gas emissions than the production of plant-based alternatives. Within this context, the balance sheet is especially poor when it comes to the consumption of meat: according to a study published in the journal “Nature Food” in 2021, plant-based foods are responsible for only 29 percent of the greenhouse gases emitted during food production overall. In contrast, 57 percent are generated by the breeding and husbandry of livestock, including the production of their food. The production of beef alone makes up roughly a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions generated by the food industry.With the “Planetary Health Diet”, the EAT Lancet Commission – a panel of experts from different fields – has developed recommendations for nutrition and diets that are meant to be environmentally friendly for the planet as well as healthy for people. According to this diet, people should eat approximately half as much meat and twice as much fruit and vegetables, legumes and nuts. At the same time, however, there are certain differences even among vegetables. In 2020, the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research Heidelberg in Germany (ifeu) determined the CO2-footprint of 200 food items. With only 0.1 kilograms of CO2 equivalents per kilogram, carrots and cabbage took first place. Many other types of fruit and vegetables, such as apples, eggplant, cauliflower, fennel or potatoes, were also ranked as especially climate-friendly, registering at most 0.2 to 0.3 kilograms of CO2 equivalents per kilogram.
A taste of the future?
The Future Institute, located in Frankfurt am Main, issued its tenth “Food Report” in early 2023. This, too, bears witness to the protection of our climate. Lead author Hanni Rützler is considered one of the most distinguished experts on the subject of food. She forecasts a “New Glocal”, i.e., a reorganization of the global food trade with regional agricultural structures, along with the following food trends: “veganized recipes”, for example, reinterpret traditional dishes whereas “regenerative foods” prioritize soil regeneration and biodiversity. Once again: less meat – or choose alternatives!Insects, for example, have long been established as important sources of protein on menus in Asia, Africa and South America, and they are now slowly being sampled in industrialized nations. There are many reasons insects could serve as alternatives to conventional meat. If they are killed by temperatures below freezing, this will resemble their “natural fate”. In addition, husbandry would allow many insect species to be housed in large numbers under more species-appropriate conditions than, for example, pigs, cattle or poultry. While pigs and cattle need between five and close to 20 kilograms of feed to build one kilogram of meat, insects will, on average, require only two kilograms. Even water consumption, which is high in traditional livestock farming, is greatly reduced when it comes to breeding insects.
Open to new experiences
For the Food Report, food expert Hanni Rützler took a closer look at different countries and their culinary traditions. She concluded that those nations which can look back on a long tradition of food culture, one that has become part of their “national identity”, have greater reservations towards novel foods. These countries include Italy, France, Thailand and Japan. Countries like the US, Great Britain or Germany, on the other hand – countries which did not develop a dominant national cuisine – were more open to culinary globalization and novel foods. As for mealworms and locusts, the EU has been allowing processed crickets and buffalo beetles in food since early 2023, and it tweeted: “Enjoy your snacks – with or without crickets or worms!”
The planet on a diet
Most experts agree on what should be on our plates in the future: the basic ingredients of a climate-friendly diet include more fruit, vegetables and legumes such as lentils, beans and peas. These ingredients are also suitable for forming the foundation of plant-based alternatives to animal products which stress the climate to a much higher degree. One example: according to the Federal Information Center for Agriculture, the production of cow’s milk generates three to five times higher greenhouse gas emissions than the production of plant-based alternatives. Within this context, the balance sheet is especially poor when it comes to the consumption of meat: according to a study published in the journal “Nature Food” in 2021, plant-based foods are responsible for only 29 percent of the greenhouse gases emitted during food production overall. In contrast, 57 percent are generated by the breeding and husbandry of livestock, including the production of their food. The production of beef alone makes up roughly a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions generated by the food industry.With the “Planetary Health Diet”, the EAT Lancet Commission – a panel of experts from different fields – has developed recommendations for nutrition and diets that are meant to be environmentally friendly for the planet as well as healthy for people. According to this diet, people should eat approximately half as much meat and twice as much fruit and vegetables, legumes and nuts. At the same time, however, there are certain differences even among vegetables. In 2020, the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research Heidelberg in Germany (ifeu) determined the CO2-footprint of 200 food items. With only 0.1 kilograms of CO2 equivalents per kilogram, carrots and cabbage took first place. Many other types of fruit and vegetables, such as apples, eggplant, cauliflower, fennel or potatoes, were also ranked as especially climate-friendly, registering at most 0.2 to 0.3 kilograms of CO2 equivalents per kilogram.
A taste of the future?
The Future Institute, located in Frankfurt am Main, issued its tenth “Food Report” in early 2023. This, too, bears witness to the protection of our climate. Lead author Hanni Rützler is considered one of the most distinguished experts on the subject of food. She forecasts a “New Glocal”, i.e., a reorganization of the global food trade with regional agricultural structures, along with the following food trends: “veganized recipes”, for example, reinterpret traditional dishes whereas “regenerative foods” prioritize soil regeneration and biodiversity. Once again: less meat – or choose alternatives!Insects, for example, have long been established as important sources of protein on menus in Asia, Africa and South America, and they are now slowly being sampled in industrialized nations. There are many reasons insects could serve as alternatives to conventional meat. If they are killed by temperatures below freezing, this will resemble their “natural fate”. In addition, husbandry would allow many insect species to be housed in large numbers under more species-appropriate conditions than, for example, pigs, cattle or poultry. While pigs and cattle need between five and close to 20 kilograms of feed to build one kilogram of meat, insects will, on average, require only two kilograms. Even water consumption, which is high in traditional livestock farming, is greatly reduced when it comes to breeding insects.
Open to new experiences
For the Food Report, food expert Hanni Rützler took a closer look at different countries and their culinary traditions. She concluded that those nations which can look back on a long tradition of food culture, one that has become part of their “national identity”, have greater reservations towards novel foods. These countries include Italy, France, Thailand and Japan. Countries like the US, Great Britain or Germany, on the other hand – countries which did not develop a dominant national cuisine – were more open to culinary globalization and novel foods. As for mealworms and locusts, the EU has been allowing processed crickets and buffalo beetles in food since early 2023, and it tweeted: “Enjoy your snacks – with or without crickets or worms!”
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