Embedded Files
CO₂ emissions from food production
CO₂ emissions from food production
Different foods have different carbon footprints, depending on how they are produced, transported, and consumed. Beef and lamb have the highest carbon footprints among commonly consumed foods, while chicken, rice, and wheat have lower carbon footprints. Choosing more sustainable options and reducing food waste can help reduce the carbon footprint of our food.
Proceeding with the visualization of the second dataset which contains information on the CO₂ emissions generated by some of the most commonly consumed foods worldwide.
Questions addressed in this section :
1) What is the breakdown of the distribution of elements that contribute to total CO₂ emissions from food production?
2) What are the 8 foods with the highest total CO₂ emissions in terms of food production?
3) Could you share the top 8 food items that have the highest total CO₂ emissions when considering all production steps
4) Which 10 food items have the highest land usage when it comes to food production?
Distribution of elements that contribute to total CO₂ emissions
Distribution of elements that contribute to total CO₂ emissions
The violin chart and histogram both demonstrate that the distribution of CO₂ emissions for the 43 food elements in the dataset is unimodal and skewed towards the left. Specifically, the majority of food elements (35 out of 43) produce relatively low amounts of CO₂ emissions per kg of food produced, while 7 out of 43 food elements emit moderate levels of CO₂, ranging from 5-25 kg of CO₂ per kg of food produced. However, one food element stands out as an outlier, with a high level of CO₂ emissions exceeding 43 kg per kg of food produced.
The histogram focuses solely on the total CO₂ emissions, while the accompanying table provides a statistical summary of CO₂ emissions across all stages of the production process. Notably, the 'farm' stage contributes the most significantly to CO₂ emissions.
Based on this analysis, we will now shift the focus to the 8 food elements with the highest total CO₂ emissions.
8 foods with the highest total CO₂ emissions
8 foods with the highest total CO₂ emissions
The main takeaway from the graph is that 6 out of the top 8 food items with the highest CO₂ emissions are of animal origin, namely 'Beef, beef Herd', 'Lamb & Mutton', 'Beef, dairy Herd', 'Cheese', 'Shrimps, farmed', and 'Pig Meat'. In fact, the top 4 positions for the highest emissions are all occupied by animal-based foods.
The rearing of bovine herds contributes almost twice as much to pollution compared to sheep, more than twice as much compared to milk production, and about 8 times as much compared to pig production. This highlights the significant environmental impact of cattle farming.
In addition to emitting CO₂, cattle and other ruminant animals (such as goats and sheep) produce methane, a greenhouse gas that is 70 times more potent than CO₂. This is caused by the digestion of plants and manure production. Additionally, nitrogen oxide, another powerful greenhouse gas, is released from ruminant waste on pastures and from chemical fertilizers used for livestock feed.
Next, we will visualize the values of CO₂ emissions for each phase of the food production cycle, to determine whether the pattern observed in total emissions is consistent across all stages of production.
Top 8 food items that have the highest total CO₂ emissions when considering all production steps
Top 8 food items that have the highest total CO₂ emissions when considering all production steps
As mentioned in the previous statistical analysis, the farming process is the most significant contributor to CO₂ emissions. Interestingly, the ranking of the most polluting foods for the 'farm' stage is the same as that observed for total emissions.
By interacting with the graph legend, it is possible to toggle the different bars on and off to focus on specific stages of the production chain or get an overview. For instance, for animal-based foods, the 'animal_feed' stage displays a reversed ranking compared to 'farm'. At this stage, 'Pig Meat' is the most polluting food, while 'Beef, beef Herd' is the least polluting.
Furthermore, by disabling these two stages in the graph, we can observe that plant-based and animal-based foods have different pollutant stages during production: 'Coffee' and 'Olive Oil' pollute more during the 'packaging' stage, while animal-based foods pollute more during the 'processing' stage.
Despite the vast differences in the quantities of food emissions among different stages, these results show that pollutant stages can vary depending on the origin of the food, whether it is of animal or plant-based.
Finally, to gain insight into the land usage of various foods, we will visualize the top 10 food items that require the most land to produce. For a clearer graph, we will only consider the 10 most important elements in the dataset.
10 food items that have the highest land usage when it comes to food production
10 food items that have the highest land usage when it comes to food production
Among the 10 foods that require the greatest use of land to be produced, 'Beef (beef Herd)' stands out as the food with the highest land usage (16.3 m² needed to produce 1 kg of product), which is also the food responsible for the highest total emission rate among all foods. This is in line with the article mentioned earlier, which highlights the link between beef production, deforestation, and climate change.
Interestingly, most of the foods in this top 10 are of plant origin, with 'Dark Chocolate' having a land usage value (14.3 m²/kg) that is comparable to that of 'Beef Herd (beef)'. While the information on the link between dark chocolate production and deforestation is contradictory, this result suggests that there may be a connection between land usage and the environmental impact of food production.
It is worth noting that among the top 10 foods with the highest land usage, only a few also appear in the list of most polluting foods seen in the previous graphs ('Cheese', 'Coffee', and 'Pig Meat'). This suggests that land usage and CO₂ emissions are not always directly related and that different factors may contribute to the environmental impact of food production.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse