According to a recent study conducted at the University of Oxford, food production is responsible for 1/4th of all human-generated greenhouse gas emissions. Beef farming (meat and dairy) is responsible for 56-58% of CO2 emissions from food production. It was also found that the lowest-impact animal products exceed the average impacts of vegan substitutes.

One exception was found in the case of alternative proteins. Cashews and almonds are on average, very low-yield and pesticide intensive crops. These have major impacts on soil and waste runoff in the growing/production process.

Using this Oxford study, several researches developed the Climate Change Calculator that provides data on the environmental impact of food products. It has you first select a food product, then the frequency in which you eat it and then provides data on the emissions produced, water used, land used, and other protein amounts in comparison to the selected food.

Wanting to discuss alternative proteins to meat and dairy, I compared dairy to oat milk, and almond milk. Almond milk had the lowest amount of greenhouses gasses associated in production, oat milk was the second-lowest, and dairy milk was the highest. Oat milk uses about 1/9th the amount of water almond milk requires, and about 1/15th that of milk.

This ingenious calculator is incredibly useful and should be considered a household tool. Not only does it provide hard data that can help a consumer make conscious choices about their food, but also provides insight on the “best of the best” of protein alternatives.

Sources:

Guibourg, Clara, and Helen Briggs. “Climate Change: Which Vegan Milk Is Best?” BBC News. BBC, February 22, 2019. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46654042.

Poore, J., and T. Nemecek. “Reducing Food’s Environmental Impacts through Producers and Consumers.” Science360, no. 6392 (2018): 987–92. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaq0216.

Stylianou, Nassos, Clara Guibourg, and Helen Briggs. “Climate Change Food Calculator: What’s Your Diet’s Carbon Footprint?” BBC News. BBC, August 9, 2019. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46459714.