Food production is responsible for 26% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
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Food production emits 26% of global greenhouse emissions. But not every food comes at a similar carbon cost.
Overall, animal-based foods make for much higher carbon emissions. Farm animals "waste" precious energy by walking around and having a pulse. Only a fraction of the energy in the feed they eat makes it into the end product of meat or dairy. The undisputed champion of greenhouse gas emissions is beef, emitting around 100 kilograms of greenhouse gas emissions per kilogram of beef.
A kilogram of apples, on the other hand, barely spits out half a kilogram of emissions.
But plant-based foods find their exceptions in coffee and chocolate. While we usually don't gorge on 300 grams of chocolate as we might on a steak, they break the rule in a category of otherwise carbon-frugal foods.
In the food supply chain, three steps really beef up the emission count of any food: land use change, farm emissions, and food waste. For beef, the three together cause 60% of its total emissions. For chocolate, this is over 97%.
Did you notice a part of the supply chain that is noticeably absent from this list? If you thought of transport, you are not alone. The idea that transport makes a big dent in the carbon footprint of food is a common misconception. What you eat always affects the environmental impact of your diet more than where the food is from.