The world food system, stretching from farm field and feedlot to grocery store and waste management facility, generates 34 percent of the greenhouse gases created by human activity, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization said this week. The figure came from a study, published in the journal Nature Food, that was coauthored by FAO climate change specialist Francesco Tubiello and researchers at the EU’s Joint Research Center.
The emissions were the equivalent of 18 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide, with two-thirds of it coming from the land sector, which includes agriculture, land use, and land use changes. The portion is higher in developing countries but is declining as deforestation decreases.
Top emitters were China, Indonesia, the United States, the EU, and India, which are also the most populous parts of the world.
“Production stages that bring foodstuffs to the farm gate — including inputs such as fertilizers — are now the leading contributor to overall food-system emissions, constituting 39 percent of the total. Land use and related factors contribute 38 percent, while distribution accounts for 29 percent, a share that is growing and expected to continue to do so,” said the FAO.
The study, “Food systems are responsible for a third of global anthropogenic GHG emissions,” is available here.