Your Food Is Responsible for a Quarter of Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Here's How Governments Are Responding

The United Nations climate summit in Egypt concluded with a decision to establish a loss and damage fund. Another subject also made it to the negotiations: alarming food emissions.

Alarming Food Emissions Records

Many times throughout the worldwide summit, leaders discussed crop failures and food shortages caused by elements such as harsh weather and declining diversity, as well as man-made factors such as the continuing war in Europe.

Scientists agree that the interconnected climate, environmental, and food problems necessitate bold revolutionary action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and boost resilience substantially.

Around 76% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are attributable to energy, which includes electricity, heat, transportation, and industrial processes.

Based on this database, a significant factor in emissions is the global food system, which includes production as well as post-farm activities like processing and distribution. Furthermore, many nations still lack practical technological solutions to this challenge.

This means that saying "eat local" does not guarantee that you are reducing food emissions. Consuming locally produced food can help reduce emissions from food transportation, but the business definitely has more avenues to spew emissions.

According to OurWorldinData figures, packaging, retail, food processing, and transportation account for only 18% of total food emissions. Meanwhile, 31% goes to livestock and fish farms, while 51% goes to grain production and land use. As a result, food contributes to around 26% of global GHG emissions.

One of the biggest challenges will be reducing food production emissions in the upcoming decades. How the industry can decarbonize agriculture are less evident than in other areas of energy production where there are reasonable prospects for scaling up low-carbon energy, such as nuclear or renewable energy.

Meanwhile, inputs like fertilizers are necessary to meet the rising demand for food, and farmers and companies must continue methane production by livestock.

Groups echo that various approaches will be required, including dietary adjustments, decreased food waste, increased agricultural productivity, and technological advancements that make low-carbon food options scale and cost-effective. This is a more daunting task than it already is, as the food industry is run by big companies with their fingers all over the proposed solutions.

What's Next?

The Guardian reports on some of the food "solutions" discussed at the just finished COP7. 'Climate smart agriculture,' a phrase that has made its way into climate plans and policymaking, is at the top of that list. This concept, which corporations, governments, and agencies have previously adopted, entails rebranding harmful agricultural practices.

Reducing the consumption of meat and dairy products is another option being examined to solve the issue of the atmosphere's rising methane levels.

One approach to achieve this is to introduce methane-reducing feed additives composed of components like kelp, ozone, enzyme inhibitors, green tea, and garlic.

Other solutions include expanding access to fossil fuel-based fertilizers to solve food insecurity and viewing industrial agriculture as the only way to feed a growing population.

Farmers and food businesses, however, who are interested in increasing rather than decreasing meat and dairy consumption, are opposed to some of these recommendations.