Future warming caused by global food consumption

Food consumption is the main source of greenhouse gas emissions, and the assessment of its future impact on warming is of fundamental importance for guiding measures to mitigate climate change. Lack of detail in reporting emissions of food items and widespread use of oversimplified metrics such as CO equivalents₂, but a complicated interpretation. We address these challenges by developing a global inventory of GHG emissions from food consumption disaggregated by gas type and using a reduced-complexity climate model, evaluating the associated future contribution to warming and the potential benefits of certain mitigation measures. We found that global food consumption alone could increase warming by almost 2100°C by 1 year. Seventy-five percent of this warming is driven by foods that are high sources of methane (ruminant meat, dairy products, and rice). However, more than 55 % of projected warming can be avoided with current improvements in production practices, widespread adoption of healthy diets, and reductions in food waste at the consumer and retail level.