New study on the climate impact of diets in Germany published
This week, the think tank Agora Agrar published a new study on the climate impact of food in Germany. Yesterday, the study was presented by Tanja Dräger in a webinar and discussed with experts from academia and the industry. The underlying life-cycle assessment was carried out by corsus.
The study is based on ISO 14040/44 – the international standard for life cycle assessments. Starting with food consumption, which was calculated using statistical data, the material flows of food were traced back to their source. Trade statistics were used for this purpose.
The results show that food consumption in Germany generates around 235 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalents annually, from agricultural production through to private households. Approximately two-thirds of food-related greenhouse gas emissions are caused by animal products, and one-third by plant-based foods. Among beverages, beer, soft drinks and coffee account for the largest share.
Based on the approach used in the study, Agora Agrar proposes an indicator for the ‘climate impact of diet’, which can be used to determine the contribution that diet makes to achieving climate protection targets.
A particular focus of the study was the examination of animal feeding in Germany. Although animal products play a significant role in the environmental impacts of diet and feed production accounts for a large proportion of these impacts, no data is available for Germany on the average feed composition for various farm animals. To fill this gap, the study compiled datasets on the average feed supply for the most important farm animals (cattle, pigs, poultry). These results were published separately in a data publication so that they can be widely used.
Supply of compound feed in Germany [in kt]
