This means that only 10% of global production has a carbon footprint below this figure. The figures given here are slightly lower for protein production (37% of the world total) because seafood from wild capture fisheries are not included (as they are not grown on terrestrial land). This is an extreme example because in reality there would still be small transport emissions involved in transporting food from producers in your area. What are the environmental impacts of food and agriculture? If you live in the UK, you may have noticed on food labels that asparagus is often imported from Peru. They are the direct emissions which result from agricultural production – this includes elements such as the release of nitrous oxide from the application of fertilizers and manure; methane emissions from rice production; and carbon dioxide from agricultural machinery. So its total footprint would be around 0.67 kg CO2eq per kg, which still makes it a low-carbon food option. These emissions factors by transport mode are those applied in the analysis by Joseph Poore and Thomas Nemecek (2018), published in Science. Environmental accounts show how the environment contributes to the economy (for example, through the extraction of raw materials), the impacts that the economy has on the environment (for example, energy consumption and air emissions), and how society responds to environmental issues (for example, through taxation and expenditure on environmental protection). The sum of all gases in their CO2e form provide a measure of total greenhouse gas emissions. Transport is a small contributor to emissions. And the hard-wearing qualities of most plastics means that some items can take hundreds of years to biodegrade. Main findings show that environmental taxes raised £44.6 billion in the UK in 2014, providing 7.5% of all revenue from taxes and social contributions. Marine life is facing "irreparable damage" from the millions of tonnes of plastic waste which ends up in the oceans each year, the United Nations has warned. since. Turtles cannot distinguish between plastic bags and jellyfish, which can be part of their diet. All of our charts can be embedded in any site. Eating local beef or lamb has many times the carbon footprint of most other foods. Of this, some 6.3bn tonnes is now waste - and 79% of that is in landfill or the natural environment. The Marine Conservation Society found 718 pieces of litter for every 100m stretch of beach surveyed during their recent Great British Beach Clean Up. While livestock takes up most of the world’s agricultural land it only produces 18% of the world’s calories and 37% of total protein.8The expansion of agriculture has been one of humanity’s largest impacts on the environment. But studies also shows that this holds true for actual diets; here we show the results of a study which looked at the footprint of diets across the EU. 21% of food’s emissions comes from crop production for direct human consumption, and 6% comes from the production of animal feed. Plant-based protein sources – tofu, beans, peas and nuts – have the lowest carbon footprint. To capture all GHG emissions from food production researchers therefore express them in kilograms of ‘carbon dioxide equivalents’. In the visualizations here we show the water footprint of foods, measured in liters (L) per kilogram, 100 grams of protein, and per 1000 kilocalories. Amendment made to signpost Office for Statistics Regulation User Engagement Survey. Only 17% results from plant-based foods. This data shows that this is the case when we look at individual food products. This data is sourced from the work of Joseph Poore and Thomas Nemecek, published in the journal Science in 2018.38. But since there are large differences between producers, this chart also shows the full spectrum of emissions – from the lowest to highest producers. These charts are interactive so you can add and remove products using the ‘add food’ button. The planet is warming, from North Pole to South Pole. You can explore emissions by sector from the World Resources Institute here. The authors note that the items included in the analysis accounted for approximately 95% of energy intake in EU diets. Chicken, eggs, and pork nearly always have a lower footprint than beef and lamb: there is some, but not much overlap between the worst poultry and pork producers, and the best beef and lamb producers. This 25 kgCO2eq figure represents the median emissions from beef production. Over the last few centuries, this has changed dramatically: wild habitats have been squeezed out by turning it into agricultural land. These are shown by category in the visualization: Livestock & fisheries account for 31% of food emissions. We get this footprint value as: [9000km * 0.023kg per tonne-kilometer / 1000 = 0.207kg CO2eq per kg]. Estimates of environmental protection expenditure by UK general government and industries for 2018. We use cookies to collect information about how you use GOV.UK. Reducing emissions from food production will be one of our greatest challenges in the coming decades. We use this information to make the website work as well as possible and improve government services. For producers, understanding and adopting best farm and land management practices can mitigate the highest impacts of production. In the visualizations here we show the scarcity-weighted water footprint of foods, measured in liters (L) per kilogram, 100 grams of protein, and per 1000 kilocalories. As I have shown before, food production is responsible for one-quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. While peas emits just 1 kilogram per kg. The food system and losses data in the study by Poore and Nemecek (2018) relates to the year 2010. Source: McKinsey & Company, Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Source: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Source: United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), World Resources Institute (WRI). Please consult our full legal disclaimer. Plastic fantastic: How it changed the world, https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-42264788. ‘Barren land’ refers to land cover in which less than one-third of the area has vegetation or other cover; barren land typically has thin soil, sand or rocks and includes deserts, dry salt flats, beaches, sand dunes, and exposed rocks. Emission factors for freight by transport mode (kilograms of CO2eq per tonne-kilometer)40. If it traveled the same distance by boat, the travel emissions would be only 0.26 kg CO2eq per kg [10,000km * 0.026 kilograms CO2eq per tonne-kilometer for transport by boat / 1000 = 0.26 kg CO2eq per kg].