How to reduce your food carbon footprint 

There are lots of effective ways to reduce your carbon footprint in the food you buy, cook and waste. We’ve used the WWF’s carbon calculator for the illustrative measurements in this article. 

Move towards a plant-based diet 

All other things being equal, someone who eats meat at every meal has a carbon footprint that is 0.6 tonnes of CO₂ higher than that of someone who’s vegan. At carbonfootprint.com we calculated that changing from eating 100g meat per day to being vegan would save 1.05 tonnes of carbon (based on a food spend of £1,300 per person, per year). 

Simply reducing the amount of meat you eat would significantly help to lower your carbon footprint. For example, based on a food spend of £1,300/year, a person eating less than 50g meat per day would have a carbon footprint 0.62 tonnes lower than a person who ate 100g meat a day. You could start by cutting out meat one day a week. 

Reduce your food waste

In the UK, we waste an average of 30% of all the food we buy. Our carbon calculation shows that by reducing our food waste from 10-30% to 0-10% we can save 0.3 tonnes of CO₂. To reduce waste, plan meals ahead, try not to overbuy, batch cook if you can store leftovers and buy imperfect fruit and veg. For more tips see BBC Good Food’s guide. 

Source most of your food locally and when in season

This could save up to 0.2 tonnes CO₂ per year when compared to food that is transported by long haul air freight. Try growing your own fruit and veg, buying from local farmers’ markets and box schemes, and check packaging in shops to see the origin of your foods. Supermarkets and online grocers often have tips for eating in season.

Make more meals from raw ingredients 

This reduces emissions from packaging and processing foods. 

Buy less food from cafes, restaurants and take-away

Their overheads (heating, lighting) and additional packaging mean greater carbon emissions. 

Useful links

Meat Free Mondays

Vegetarian Society

Vegan Society

Sources

• carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx (Secondary Footprint and Results tabs and Calculator FAQ)
• footprint.wwf.org.uk (we used a baseline carbon footprint (the author’s own of 11 tonnes) and changed one variable at a time, to see the effect it had on the resulting carbon footprint)