The fight against global warming is also played out on our plates. In France, agriculture accounts for 19% of our greenhouse gas emissions, which warm the planet, on a par with industry and behind transport (31%). But what are the most polluting foods? Which ones should be favored to reduce this impact? To help you see more clearly, franceinfo has concocted a quiz for you, thanks to the Agribalyse database.
Before you get started, here is some important information. To make the comparison possible, the quantity chosen is one kilogram of product each time. For a representative result, we use a “robot portrait” of the average product consumed in France (origins, production methods). Finally, cooking is not taken into account.
1/14
Which food emits the most greenhouse gases?
One kilo of minced steak, even produced locally, caused the rejection of 34.14 kg CO2eq, against 0.88 kg CO2eq for the kilo of bananas. Or 38 times less. In general, meat-based foods are much more greenhouse gas emitters than plant foods, even exotic ones. “To produce 100 grams of animal protein, it takes 5 to 10 times more agricultural land, energy and water, and it emits 5 to 10 times more greenhouse gases than producing 100 grams of protein vegetable, such as lentils for example”outlines Michel Duru, director of research at the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (Inrae).
Farm animals are in fact mainly fed with cereals or legumes, sometimes from afar. In the Amazon, the production of soybeans to feed livestock, especially Europeans, is one of the main drivers of deforestation. This is why it is recommended to favor vegetable proteins such as legumes: chickpeas, lentils, white beans, etc.
The banana comes from far away and needs to be transported, mainly by boat. But the greenhouse gases emitted by these ships are very far from allowing this fruit to catch up with the production of beef during agricultural production. “When talking about the environmental impacts of food, transportation and packaging are highly overrated in the collective consciousness”, observes Audrey Rimbaud, one of the pilots of the Agribalyse project. She points out that on average, 70% of a product’s impact comes from agricultural production.
2/14
Which of these two meats has the least impact on the climate?
The production of chicken meat emits much less greenhouse gases than beef: 6.98 kg eqCO2 against 27.84 in this example. One of the reasons is quite simple: the size of the animal. A cow consumes much more space and resources (water, food) than a hen. The other is less obvious: like all ruminants, cows emit methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, when they burp.
3/14
Which meat emits the most greenhouse gases?
It is lamb meat, by far, with 41.27 kg eqCO2, against 13.08 for pork. A huge difference which is explained by the fact that the sheep is a ruminant, which emits methane, unlike the pig. Compared to other ruminant meats, lamb is a particularly greenhouse gas emitter because its yield is low: a lot of space and resources are needed for a small quantity of meat. Moreover, it is only used for meat production, where the cow, goat and sheep have other products – milk, wool – to cushion the bill.
4/14
Which of these products emits the least greenhouse gases?
What is true for meat compared to plant products is also true for dairy products, which are more greenhouse gas emitters than plant-based alternatives. Here, we go from 0.82 kg eqCO2 for the soy dessert to 2.12 for the cow’s milk yoghurt.
5/14
Which product has the least impact on the climate?
For all the reasons mentioned so far (methane, surface area), dairy products generally have a higher carbon footprint than poultry. Here, cheese production emitted 8.33 kg eqCO2, compared to 6.98 kg eqCO2 for free-range chicken.
6/14
Which of these types of cow farming emits the most greenhouse gases?
If we take the sole criterion of greenhouse gas emissions, the impact is comparable. Fed with cereals, intensively farmed cows are indeed more productive than those fed with grass and therefore emit less methane per liter of milk or kilo of meat. Conversely, the latter feed mainly with a food, grass, which emits less greenhouse gases during its production than soy (deforestation) or corn (fertilizer). These two elements balance each other.
But this “equality” only concerns greenhouse gases, which do not say everything about the environmental impact of a product. “Extensive livestock farming makes it possible to use less food from crops (cereals, oilseed and protein crops) which, in conventional agriculture, require fertilizers, phytosanitary products and sometimes irrigation. This farming method is beneficial for biodiversity and the natural fertility of the soil and limits water consumption. It also promotes animal welfare”recalls Carine Barbier, researcher at the International Center for Research on Environment and Development (Cired) and coordinator of the project “Prospective simulation of the food system and its carbon footprint”.
7/14
Which of these two foods emits the most greenhouse gases?
In most cases, fish emits less greenhouse gases than meat. There are a few exceptions, with poultry, which emit less than certain seafood products. Here, 16.10 kg CO2 eq had to be emitted to produce the sausage and 10.85 kg CO2 eq to fish for cod. If it is better, the carbon footprint of the fish is indeed not zero since the fishing vessels consume fuel oil. Here again, we must not look only at greenhouse gas emissions: fishing is a major cause of the disappearance of marine biodiversity.
8/14
Which of these tomatoes is better for the climate?
Growing tomatoes out of season in France produces more than three times more greenhouse gases (1.96 kg eqCO2) than seasonal fruits (0.58 kg eqCO2). The reason is simple: the heating of greenhouses is done with gas, a fossil fuel.
9/14
Which of these green beans emit the most greenhouse gases?
If the question of local is secondary to compare the carbon footprint of an animal product with that of a plant product, it becomes central when hesitating between two vegetables. Here, the kilo of beans imported by plane has an impact almost fifteen times greater (6.51 kg eqCO2 against 0.45 kg eqCO2).
10/14
Which of these two imported mangoes has the best carbon footprint?
Maritime transport, which makes it possible to transport very large quantities, emits far fewer greenhouse gases than air travel: 0.69 kg CO2eq per kilo of mangoes compared to 10.65 in this specific case.
11/14
Which of these drinks emits the most greenhouse gases?
Coffee is a particularly greenhouse gas-emitting crop. “Its main characteristic is that it has a low density per hectare. It therefore requires a lot of area” to produce it, explains Carine Barbier, who also notes that this tropical crop contributes to deforestation. Here, to produce 1 kg of coffee, 10.09 kg eqCO2 of greenhouse gases had to be emitted, compared to 1.10 for orange juice and 0.04 for tea.
12/14
Which of these delicacies emits the most greenhouse gases?
Among these sweets, chocolate emits the most greenhouse gases: 17.11 kg eqCO2 per kilo of chocolate, compared to 1.7 kg for lollipops and 1.57 kg for jelly candies. Like coffee, cocoa is a crop that demands land and contributes to deforestation.
13/14
Between these two starchy foods, which has the most impact on the climate?
Like ruminant farming, rice farming produces methane. In the rice fields, the degradation of organic matter produces this greenhouse gas because of the low oxygen content of these flooded fields. However, the proportions are much lower than for livestock farming: the latter represents 5.8% of global greenhouse gas emissions, compared to 1.3% for rice fields, according to figures from Our World in Data ( link in english). Consequently, the production of one kilo of basmati rice causes the emission of 4.1 kg eqCO2 of greenhouse gases, against 2.14 for a kilo of pasta.
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Which of these two foods has the least impact on the climate?
Regularly singled out for its high water content, its distant origin and its impact on deforestation, the avocado maintains a better carbon footprint than meat: 1.48 kg CO2 eq of greenhouse gases per kilo, compared to 6.98 for chicken farmer.
To compare foods, we used the Agribalyse database, developed by the Ecological Transition Agency (Ademe) and the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (Inrae) . This database evaluates the environmental impact of each product, according to 16 indicators. In this quiz, we only used the climate change indicator, one of the most important and scientifically sound ones.
Products are assessed over their entire life cycle: agricultural production, processing, transport and logistics, packaging, consumption and recovery or end of life. For this quiz, we have only chosen raw products and cooking methods are not taken into account.
For each product, Agribalyse has established a “robot portrait” of the average product consumed in France, by averaging the different origins (France, EU, others) and production methods. The carbon footprint of each product is expressed in kilogram CO2 equivalent (kg CO2 eq), the unit used to compare the various greenhouse gases with each other per kilogram of product.
