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| 30777 | Food waste is responsible for 6% of global greenhouse gas emissions | food-waste-emissions | post | publish | <!-- wp:html --> <div class="blog-info">Our World in Data presents the data and research to make progress against the world’s largest problems.<br>This blog post draws on data and research discussed in our entry on <strong><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/environmental-impacts-of-food" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Environmental impacts of food production</a> </strong>and <strong><a href="https://owid.cloud/co2-and-other-greenhouse-gas-emissions" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">CO<sub>2</sub> and Greenhouse Gas Emissions</a></strong>.</div> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp-block-tombstone 30868 --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Food production <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/food-ghg-emissions">accounts for</a> around one-quarter – 26% – of global greenhouse gas emissions.{ref} Poore, J., & Nemecek, T. (2018). <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6392/987">Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers</a>. <em>Science</em>, 360(6392), 987-992.{/ref} This is a lot, but it’s slightly easier to digest when we remind ourselves that food is a basic human need. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>What’s harder to make sense of is the amount of <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/co2-and-other-greenhouse-gas-emissions">greenhouse gas emissions</a> which are caused in the production of food that is never eaten.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Around one-quarter of the calories the world produces are thrown away; they’re spoiled or spilled in supply chains; or are wasted by retailers, restaurants and consumers.{ref}Searchinger, T. et al. (2018). <a href="https://wrr-food.wri.org/">Creating a Sustainable Food Future—A Menu of Solutions to Feed Nearly 10 Billion People by 2050</a>. <em>World Resources Institute</em>.{/ref} To produce this food we need <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/land-use">land</a>, <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/water-use-stress">water</a>, <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/energy">energy</a>, and <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/fertilizers">fertilizer</a> inputs. It all comes at an environmental cost.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Joseph Poore and Thomas Nemecek (2018), in their large meta-analysis of global food systems, published in <em>Science</em>, estimated how much of our greenhouse gas emissions come from wasted food.{ref}Poore, J., & Nemecek, T. (2018). <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6392/987">Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers</a>. <em>Science</em>, 360(6392), 987-992.{/ref}</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the visualization here I show the emissions from wasted food in the context of global greenhouse gas emissions.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The study by Poore and Nemecek (2018) found that almost one-quarter – 24% – of food’s emissions come from food that is lost in supply chains or wasted by consumers. Almost two-thirds of this (15% of food emissions) comes from losses in the supply chain which result from poor storage and handling techniques; lack of refrigeration; and spoilage in transport and processing. The other 9% comes from food thrown away by retailers and consumers.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This means that food wastage is responsible for around 6% of total global greenhouse gas emissions.{ref}Food production is responsible for 26% of global greenhouse gas emissions; and food waste is responsible for 24% of that figure. Therefore food waste as a share of global emissions is [24% * 26% = 6%].{/ref} In fact, it’s likely to be slightly higher since the analysis from Poore and Nemecek (2018) does not include food losses on the farm during production and harvesting.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>To put this in context: it’s around three times the global emissions from aviation.{ref}Latest data from the <em>World Resource Institute</em>’s <a href="https://www.climatewatchdata.org/ghg-emissions">CAIT Climate Data Explorer</a> reports that aviation accounts for 1.9% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Food losses and waste accounts for around 6% – around three times the share from aviation. You can explore emissions by sector from the <em>World Resources Institute </em><strong><a href="https://www.wri.org/blog/2020/02/greenhouse-gas-emissions-by-country-sector">here</a></strong>.{/ref} Or, if we were to put it in the context of national emissions, it would be the world’s third largest emitter.{ref}This comparison of food waste and countries is now common, and sometimes criticised for the fact that it double-counts emissions.We’re comparing food waste with country emissions <em>without </em>accounting for the fact that these ‘food waste’ emissions are also included in national emissions figures. To make this accurate, the emissions of each country should be slightly lower than their reported values because we should remove the emissions from food waste for each.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This is a valid criticism. However, even if we were to remove food waste emissions from each country’s total, this ranking would remain the same. Food waste would not fall down the rankings since its 4th placed competitor – India – would see a slight <em>drop</em> in emissions. And it’s not possible that it would overtake the United States or China; the amount of emissions therefore allocated to food waste would be much smaller than the current gap.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>If we accounted for this double-counting, the rankings would stay the same.{/ref} Only China (21%) and the United States (13%) emitted more.{ref}The food system and losses data in the study by Poore and Nemecek (2018) relates to the year 2010. Emissions from food losses and waste were 3.3 billion tonnes of carbon-dioxide equivalents (CO<sub>2</sub>eq) – 2.1 GtCO<sub>2</sub>eq from supply chain losses, and 1.2 GtCO<sub>2</sub>eq from consumer waste.<br><br>The <em>World Resource Institute</em>’s <a href="https://www.climatewatchdata.org/ghg-emissions">CAIT Climate Data Explorer</a> reports that in 2010, the top three emitters were China (9.8 GtCO<sub>2</sub>eq; 21%); the USA (6.1 GtCO<sub>2</sub>eq; 13%) and India (2.5 GtCO<sub>2</sub>eq; 5.3%). Food waste would therefore lie between the USA and India.{/ref}</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:image {"id":30866,"sizeSlug":"full"} --> <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img src="https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2020/03/GHG-Emissions-from-Food-Waste-Poore-Nemecek.png" alt="" class="wp-image-30866"/></figure> <!-- /wp:image --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p> </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> | {
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2020-03-18 10:00:00 | 2024-02-16 14:22:49 | 19JMZ5eAiHlnY5Kb_AXu6e286aWELPXizQO7e5qdWgGQ | [
"Hannah Ritchie"
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Food losses and waste – in supply chains and by consumers – account for around one-quarter of greenhouse gas emissions from food. That's 6% of total global emissions. | 2020-03-16 15:34:44 | 2022-10-30 11:27:19 | https://ourworldindata.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Food-waste-thumbnail.png | {} |
Our World in Data presents the data and research to make progress against the world’s largest problems. This blog post draws on data and research discussed in our entry on **[Environmental impacts of food production](https://ourworldindata.org/environmental-impacts-of-food) ** and **[CO2 and Greenhouse Gas Emissions](https://owid.cloud/co2-and-other-greenhouse-gas-emissions)** . Food production [accounts for](https://ourworldindata.org/food-ghg-emissions) around one-quarter – 26% – of global greenhouse gas emissions.{ref} Poore, J., & Nemecek, T. (2018). [Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers](https://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6392/987). _Science_, 360(6392), 987-992.{/ref} This is a lot, but it’s slightly easier to digest when we remind ourselves that food is a basic human need. What’s harder to make sense of is the amount of [greenhouse gas emissions](https://ourworldindata.org/co2-and-other-greenhouse-gas-emissions) which are caused in the production of food that is never eaten. Around one-quarter of the calories the world produces are thrown away; they’re spoiled or spilled in supply chains; or are wasted by retailers, restaurants and consumers.{ref}Searchinger, T. et al. (2018). [Creating a Sustainable Food Future—A Menu of Solutions to Feed Nearly 10 Billion People by 2050](https://wrr-food.wri.org/). _World Resources Institute_.{/ref} To produce this food we need [land](https://ourworldindata.org/land-use), [water](https://ourworldindata.org/water-use-stress), [energy](https://ourworldindata.org/energy), and [fertilizer](https://ourworldindata.org/fertilizers) inputs. It all comes at an environmental cost. Joseph Poore and Thomas Nemecek (2018), in their large meta-analysis of global food systems, published in _Science_, estimated how much of our greenhouse gas emissions come from wasted food.{ref}Poore, J., & Nemecek, T. (2018). [Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers](https://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6392/987). _Science_, 360(6392), 987-992.{/ref} In the visualization here I show the emissions from wasted food in the context of global greenhouse gas emissions. The study by Poore and Nemecek (2018) found that almost one-quarter – 24% – of food’s emissions come from food that is lost in supply chains or wasted by consumers. Almost two-thirds of this (15% of food emissions) comes from losses in the supply chain which result from poor storage and handling techniques; lack of refrigeration; and spoilage in transport and processing. The other 9% comes from food thrown away by retailers and consumers. This means that food wastage is responsible for around 6% of total global greenhouse gas emissions.{ref}Food production is responsible for 26% of global greenhouse gas emissions; and food waste is responsible for 24% of that figure. Therefore food waste as a share of global emissions is [24% * 26% = 6%].{/ref} In fact, it’s likely to be slightly higher since the analysis from Poore and Nemecek (2018) does not include food losses on the farm during production and harvesting. To put this in context: it’s around three times the global emissions from aviation.{ref}Latest data from the _World Resource Institute_’s [CAIT Climate Data Explorer](https://www.climatewatchdata.org/ghg-emissions) reports that aviation accounts for 1.9% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Food losses and waste accounts for around 6% – around three times the share from aviation. You can explore emissions by sector from the _World Resources Institute _**[here](https://www.wri.org/blog/2020/02/greenhouse-gas-emissions-by-country-sector)**.{/ref} Or, if we were to put it in the context of national emissions, it would be the world’s third largest emitter.{ref}This comparison of food waste and countries is now common, and sometimes criticised for the fact that it double-counts emissions.We’re comparing food waste with country emissions _without _accounting for the fact that these ‘food waste’ emissions are also included in national emissions figures. To make this accurate, the emissions of each country should be slightly lower than their reported values because we should remove the emissions from food waste for each. This is a valid criticism. However, even if we were to remove food waste emissions from each country’s total, this ranking would remain the same. Food waste would not fall down the rankings since its 4th placed competitor – India – would see a slight _drop_ in emissions. And it’s not possible that it would overtake the United States or China; the amount of emissions therefore allocated to food waste would be much smaller than the current gap. If we accounted for this double-counting, the rankings would stay the same.{/ref} Only China (21%) and the United States (13%) emitted more.{ref}The food system and losses data in the study by Poore and Nemecek (2018) relates to the year 2010. Emissions from food losses and waste were 3.3 billion tonnes of carbon-dioxide equivalents (CO2eq) – 2.1 GtCO2eq from supply chain losses, and 1.2 GtCO2eq from consumer waste. The _World Resource Institute_’s [CAIT Climate Data Explorer](https://www.climatewatchdata.org/ghg-emissions) reports that in 2010, the top three emitters were China (9.8 GtCO2eq; 21%); the USA (6.1 GtCO2eq; 13%) and India (2.5 GtCO2eq; 5.3%). Food waste would therefore lie between the USA and India.{/ref} <Image filename="GHG-Emissions-from-Food-Waste-Poore-Nemecek.png" alt=""/> | {
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"rendered": "\n<div class=\"blog-info\">Our World in Data presents the data and research to make progress against the world\u2019s largest problems.<br>This blog post draws on data and research discussed in our entry on <strong><a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/environmental-impacts-of-food\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Environmental impacts of food production</a> </strong>and <strong><a href=\"https://owid.cloud/co2-and-other-greenhouse-gas-emissions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">CO<sub>2</sub> and Greenhouse Gas Emissions</a></strong>.</div>\n\n\n\n<p>Food production <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/food-ghg-emissions\">accounts for</a> around one-quarter \u2013 26% \u2013 of global greenhouse gas emissions.{ref} Poore, J., & Nemecek, T. (2018). <a href=\"https://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6392/987\">Reducing food\u2019s environmental impacts through producers and consumers</a>. <em>Science</em>, 360(6392), 987-992.{/ref} This is a lot, but it\u2019s slightly easier to digest when we remind ourselves that food is a basic human need. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>What\u2019s harder to make sense of is the amount of <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/co2-and-other-greenhouse-gas-emissions\">greenhouse gas emissions</a> which are caused in the production of food that is never eaten.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Around one-quarter of the calories the world produces are thrown away; they\u2019re spoiled or spilled in supply chains; or are wasted by retailers, restaurants and consumers.{ref}Searchinger, T. et al. (2018). <a href=\"https://wrr-food.wri.org/\">Creating a Sustainable Food Future\u2014A Menu of Solutions to Feed Nearly 10 Billion People by 2050</a>. <em>World Resources Institute</em>.{/ref} To produce this food we need <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/land-use\">land</a>, <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/water-use-stress\">water</a>, <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/energy\">energy</a>, and <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/fertilizers\">fertilizer</a> inputs. It all comes at an environmental cost.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Joseph Poore and Thomas Nemecek (2018), in their large meta-analysis of global food systems, published in <em>Science</em>, estimated how much of our greenhouse gas emissions come from wasted food.{ref}Poore, J., & Nemecek, T. (2018). <a href=\"https://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6392/987\">Reducing food\u2019s environmental impacts through producers and consumers</a>. <em>Science</em>, 360(6392), 987-992.{/ref}</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the visualization here I show the emissions from wasted food in the context of global greenhouse gas emissions.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The study by Poore and Nemecek (2018) found that almost one-quarter \u2013 24% \u2013 of food\u2019s emissions come from food that is lost in supply chains or wasted by consumers. Almost two-thirds of this (15% of food emissions) comes from losses in the supply chain which result from poor storage and handling techniques; lack of refrigeration; and spoilage in transport and processing. The other 9% comes from food thrown away by retailers and consumers.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This means that food wastage is responsible for around 6% of total global greenhouse gas emissions.{ref}Food production is responsible for 26% of global greenhouse gas emissions; and food waste is responsible for 24% of that figure. Therefore food waste as a share of global emissions is [24% * 26% = 6%].{/ref} In fact, it\u2019s likely to be slightly higher since the analysis from Poore and Nemecek (2018) does not include food losses on the farm during production and harvesting.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>To put this in context: it\u2019s around three times the global emissions from aviation.{ref}Latest data from the <em>World Resource Institute</em>\u2019s <a href=\"https://www.climatewatchdata.org/ghg-emissions\">CAIT Climate Data Explorer</a> reports that aviation accounts for 1.9% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Food losses and waste accounts for around 6% \u2013 around three times the share from aviation. You can explore emissions by sector from the <em>World Resources Institute </em><strong><a href=\"https://www.wri.org/blog/2020/02/greenhouse-gas-emissions-by-country-sector\">here</a></strong>.{/ref} Or, if we were to put it in the context of national emissions, it would be the world\u2019s third largest emitter.{ref}This comparison of food waste and countries is now common, and sometimes criticised for the fact that it double-counts emissions.We\u2019re comparing food waste with country emissions <em>without </em>accounting for the fact that these \u2018food waste\u2019 emissions are also included in national emissions figures. To make this accurate, the emissions of each country should be slightly lower than their reported values because we should remove the emissions from food waste for each.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is a valid criticism. However, even if we were to remove food waste emissions from each country\u2019s total, this ranking would remain the same. Food waste would not fall down the rankings since its 4th placed competitor \u2013 India \u2013 would see a slight <em>drop</em> in emissions. And it\u2019s not possible that it would overtake the United States or China; the amount of emissions therefore allocated to food waste would be much smaller than the current gap.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If we accounted for this double-counting, the rankings would stay the same.{/ref} Only China (21%) and the United States (13%) emitted more.{ref}The food system and losses data in the study by Poore and Nemecek (2018) relates to the year 2010. Emissions from food losses and waste were 3.3 billion tonnes of carbon-dioxide equivalents (CO<sub>2</sub>eq) \u2013 2.1 GtCO<sub>2</sub>eq from supply chain losses, and 1.2 GtCO<sub>2</sub>eq from consumer waste.<br><br>The <em>World Resource Institute</em>\u2019s <a href=\"https://www.climatewatchdata.org/ghg-emissions\">CAIT Climate Data Explorer</a> reports that in 2010, the top three emitters were China (9.8 GtCO<sub>2</sub>eq; 21%); the USA (6.1 GtCO<sub>2</sub>eq; 13%) and India (2.5 GtCO<sub>2</sub>eq; 5.3%). Food waste would therefore lie between the USA and India.{/ref}</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1416\" height=\"617\" src=\"https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2020/03/GHG-Emissions-from-Food-Waste-Poore-Nemecek.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-30866\" srcset=\"https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2020/03/GHG-Emissions-from-Food-Waste-Poore-Nemecek.png 1416w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2020/03/GHG-Emissions-from-Food-Waste-Poore-Nemecek-400x174.png 400w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2020/03/GHG-Emissions-from-Food-Waste-Poore-Nemecek-800x349.png 800w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2020/03/GHG-Emissions-from-Food-Waste-Poore-Nemecek-150x65.png 150w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2020/03/GHG-Emissions-from-Food-Waste-Poore-Nemecek-768x335.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1416px) 100vw, 1416px\" /></figure>\n\n\n\n<p> </p>\n",
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"rendered": "Food losses and waste \u2013 in supply chains and by consumers \u2013 account for around one-quarter of greenhouse gas emissions from food. That’s 6% of total global emissions. ",
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