As consumer awareness of climate impact grows, the demand for lower-carbon options is reshaping the food industry. From agriculture to hospitality, companies recognize that understanding and reducing their carbon footprint isn’t just a box to tick—it’s an essential step to future-proof their business, attract eco-conscious consumers, and align with increasingly strict environmental regulations.
In this blog, we’ll break down the food carbon footprint, why it matters, and how you can take actionable steps toward sustainable practices.
What is the carbon footprint of food?
The food carbon footprint represents the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions produced throughout the lifecycle of a food product—from farming and processing to packaging, transportation, and disposal.
This metric is often measured in kilograms of CO₂ equivalents (CO₂e), allowing different types of emissions to be represented under a single, comparable unit.
For businesses in the food industry, tracking and understanding this footprint is invaluable. By knowing where their emissions are concentrated, they can begin targeting specific areas—whether it’s energy use in processing, transportation methods, or packaging materials—to significantly reduce their overall environmental impact.
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Where do the GHG emissions from our food come from?
GHG emissions in the food industry typically stem from different stages across the supply chain. Let’s take a closer look at each one.
1. Agricultural production
The initial stage of growing and raising food products is one of the largest sources of emissions. This includes emissions from fertilizer use, fuel for farm machinery, and methane produced by livestock, particularly ruminants like cows and sheep. Synthetic fertilizers and pesticides contribute significant amounts of nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere, while rice paddies and livestock account for substantial methane emissions.
2. Land use and land-use change (LULUC)
Converting forests, grasslands, or wetlands to agricultural land releases carbon stored in soil and vegetation, adding to the carbon footprint of food. Deforestation, especially for cattle grazing or palm oil plantations, has a profound impact, not only releasing carbon but also reducing the planet’s capacity to absorb CO₂ through natural carbon sinks like forests. Sustainable land management practices and regenerative agriculture offer solutions to help mitigate these emissions.
3. Food processing and manufacturing
After harvest, food products undergo processing and manufacturing, which often require large amounts of energy. This includes cleaning, cooking, and packaging products before they hit the market. Energy-intensive facilities contribute CO₂ emissions, especially if they rely on non-renewable energy sources. The type and extent of processing also affect the footprint: minimally processed items like fresh produce generally have lower emissions compared to highly processed foods that require multiple stages of production.
4. Transportation and distribution
Moving food from farms to processing plants, warehouses, and retailers also adds to its carbon footprint. Long-distance transport, particularly by air and refrigerated shipping, generates higher emissions compared to local distribution channels. The choice of transportation—such as truck, rail, ship, or plane—plays a significant role in determining the carbon impact of this stage. For food companies, rethinking logistics and sourcing strategies to prioritize shorter, more efficient routes can significantly cut emissions.
5. Retail and storage
Food products often require refrigeration, lighting, and storage in retail environments, all of which consume energy and contribute to GHG emissions. Cold storage is particularly energy-intensive, as are open refrigeration systems used by some retailers. Minimizing energy use in retail through energy-efficient equipment, temperature controls, and sustainable design can help lower emissions at this stage.
6. Consumer use
At the consumer level, cooking, refrigeration, and freezing also produce GHG emissions, especially when relying on fossil-fuel-based electricity. Energy use in the kitchen varies widely by meal type and cooking method, with emissions from frequent refrigeration and cooking in homes and food service establishments adding to the food supply chain’s footprint.
7. Packaging
Packaging is essential for food safety and shelf life, but it adds to the carbon footprint, especially when made from single-use plastics or materials with high embedded energy costs.
Find out how to calculate GHG emissions from food packaging in our guide!
8. Food waste
When food is wasted, emissions already generated during other stages across the supply chain are essentially for nothing. Globally, food waste is responsible for approximately 8-10% of total GHG emissions, making it a major contributor to climate change.
What food has the highest and the lowest carbon footprint?
When it comes to carbon footprint, animal-based foods typically have a much higher impact than plant-based alternatives.
Beef ranks as the food with the highest carbon footprint, primarily due to methane emissions from cattle, extensive land requirements, and the energy-intensive processes involved in raising livestock. Producing one kilogram of beef can emit over 60 kilograms of CO₂ equivalents (CO₂e), which is significantly higher than other animal-based foods like pork, poultry, and dairy. Lamb also has a high footprint, mainly because sheep, like cows, are ruminants that produce methane as part of their digestion process.
Other foods with a high carbon footprint include cheese, chocolate, and coffee, though for different reasons. Cheese production involves similar processes to dairy, requiring milk from cows, while chocolate and coffee farming often contribute to deforestation, particularly in tropical regions, and require energy-intensive processing.
Foods with low carbon footprints are typically plant-based and require minimal processing, water, and land. Vegetables, fruits, grains, and legumes rank among the lowest in emissions, largely because they do not involve methane-producing animals or resource-intensive cultivation. For example, producing a kilogram of lentils or beans emits less than 1 kilogram of CO₂ equivalents (CO₂e), making them a highly sustainable protein source. Similarly, seasonal and locally sourced produce, such as carrots, potatoes, and apples, also have lower emissions, especially when transportation and storage impacts are minimized.
Grains like oats and wheat are also low-carbon options that provide versatile ingredients for food businesses. These foods are particularly valuable for food producers and hospitality businesses looking to reduce their carbon footprint, as they can be incorporated into a range of dishes and products.
Replacing high-impact ingredients like beef or lamb with lower-impact solutions, such as chicken or plant-based proteins, reformulating recipes to use less cheese or dairy, or sourcing chocolate and coffee from sustainable, deforestation-free suppliers are only a few strategies how food businesses can lower the food carbon footprint. Let’s explore some other in the next chapter.
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Effective strategies for reducing your food carbon footprint
Reducing the carbon footprint of food products is critical for businesses aiming to meet sustainability goals and respond to consumer demand for eco-friendly options. Below, we’ve listed a few effective strategies so you can make a measurable impact.
1. Sustainable sourcing
Choosing low-emission ingredients is a foundational step toward reducing food product footprints. Here’s how you can get started:
- Engage with sustainable suppliers: Partner with farms and producers that practice organic or regenerative agriculture, which not only reduce chemical inputs but also enhance soil carbon sequestration.
- Traceability tools: Invest in state-of-the-art software such as CarbonCloud to track ingredient origins and carbon footprints, ensuring that sustainability claims are verifiable and transparent.
- Incorporate plant-based ingredients: Shift toward plant-based or lower-impact protein sources. For example, replacing beef with legumes in recipes can drastically reduce emissions.
2. Energy-efficient processing
Processing food efficiently is crucial for minimizing the carbon footprint. What you can do?
- Conduct energy audits: Regularly assess facilities to identify high-consumption areas, such as refrigeration or heat processing.
- Upgrade equipment: Invest in energy-efficient machinery with certifications. Consider integrating automation systems to optimize energy usage.
- Adopt renewable energy: Install on-site solar panels or purchase green energy credits to power production with renewables.
- Heat recovery systems: Implement technologies to capture and reuse waste heat from ovens or boilers in other parts of the production process.
3. Efficient transportation and logistics
Transportation contributes a significant share of emissions. Therefore, optimizing this segment can yield substantial reductions.
- Switch to local sourcing: Reduce “food miles” by partnering with suppliers located closer to processing plants or final markets.
- Rethink transport modes: Transition long-distance shipping to rail or sea instead of airfreight. For short-distance routes, consider electric or hybrid delivery vehicles.
- Optimize delivery routes: Use AI-driven logistics software to plan efficient distribution, consolidating shipments to maximize load capacity and minimize trips.
4. Sustainable packaging
Packaging choices resonate strongly with eco-conscious consumers while directly cutting carbon emissions.
- Lightweight materials: Use thinner, durable alternatives that lower transportation weights while maintaining product protection.
- Compostable and biodegradable options: Experiment with materials like bioplastics or paper-based alternatives that naturally degrade.
- Closed-loop systems: Explore reusable packaging models, like deposit-return schemes, which reduce the need for new materials entirely.
- Innovative designs: Collaborate with packaging designers to eliminate unnecessary materials and ensure recyclability.
5. Waste reduction and management
Food waste is a double hit on emissions—resources used to produce it are wasted, and decomposing waste generates methane. Here are some actionable measures:
- Improve inventory systems: Use AI to predict demand and avoid overproduction. This minimizes waste while meeting consumer needs.
- Redistribute surplus: Partner with food banks and recovery programs to donate unsold goods, diverting them from landfills.
- Waste-to-energy systems: Invest in anaerobic digesters to convert organic waste into biogas for energy use.
- Byproduct repurposing: Collaborate across the food chain to find secondary uses for byproducts, like turning spent grain from breweries into animal feed or upcycled snacks.
CarbonCloud takes the complexity out of calculating your carbon footprint and reporting Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions, giving you a clear view of your entire carbon footprint in real-time. With a science-backed database of thousands of food products and automated modelling, the all-in-one platform promotes transparency across your supply chain, helping you easily target high-impact areas.
Take control of your sustainability goals, engage with suppliers, and empower your organization to lead in climate-conscious practices.
Check out ClimateHub, our database, to see the carbon emissions of your food products.
