Food is about a quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissionsSource 3, and diet is one of the few parts of your footprint you choose three times a day. The evidence points clearly in one direction: what you eat matters much more than how far it travelled.
This page is part of our guide to reducing your carbon footprint, in the carbon footprint section. The carbon footprint calculator estimates your food emissions from your diet group.
How much does your diet emit?
The most detailed recent evidence comes from a study of 55,504 UK adults, which estimated the emissions of each person’s actual dietSource 1. Median figures, standardised to 2,000 kcal a day:
Scrolls sideways to show every column.
| Diet group | Per day (kg CO₂e) | Per year (t CO₂e) |
|---|---|---|
| High meat-eater (100 g or more meat a day) | 10.24 | 3.7 |
| Medium meat-eater (50–99 g a day) | 7.04 | 2.6 |
| Low meat-eater (under 50 g a day) | 5.37 | 2.0 |
| Fish-eater | 4.74 | 1.7 |
| Vegetarian | 4.16 | 1.5 |
| Vegan | 2.47 | 0.9 |
As of Oct 2026 · Source: [1] Scarborough et al., Nature Food 2023
The yearly column is the daily median multiplied by 365. A vegan diet comes to roughly a quarter of a high meat-eater’s, and even moving from high to low meat roughly halves diet emissionsSource 1.
Which food changes save the most?
A 2020 review of 53 studies compared food options by the CO₂e they save per person a yearSource 2:
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| Change | Saving (t CO₂e per person a year) | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Vegan diet | 0.8 | Median |
| Improved cooking equipment | 0.6 | Median |
| Vegetarian diet | 0.5 | Average |
| More sustainable diet, or lower-carbon meats | 0.5 | Average |
| Mediterranean or similar diet | 0.4 | Median |
| Diet following health guidelines | 0.3 | Average |
| Eat only what you need and waste less | 0.3 | Average |
As of Oct 2026 · Source: [2] Ivanova et al., Environmental Research Letters 2020
Plant foods emit much less per calorie than meat and dairy, because energy is lost at each step up the food chain, and meat-heavy diets drive more land-use change for pasture and feedSource 2.
Eat less meat and dairy
You don’t have to change everything at once. Swapping beef for other foods is the biggest single step: Our World in Data reports that a kilogram of beef emits about 60 kilograms of greenhouse gases, against about 1 kilogram for peasSource 4.
- Cut red meat first, especially beef and lamb.
- Replace some dairy with plant-based alternatives.
- Make plant-based meals the default a few days a week, and build from there.
- Choose lower-carbon proteins such as beans, lentils, peas and tofu.
The IPCC lists balanced, sustainable healthy diets among the low-carbon options people can adopt, alongside cutting food wasteSource 5. It describes balanced diets as featuring plant-based foods such as coarse grains, legumes, fruit and vegetables, nuts and seeds, and animal-sourced food produced in resilient, sustainable and low-emission systemsSource 5.
One day a week counts
Our World in Data reports that substituting less than one day a week of calories from beef and dairy with chicken, fish, eggs or plant foods cuts emissions more than buying all your food locallySource 4.
Does local food matter?
Less than most people think. Transport is about 6% of food’s emissions globallySource 3, and for most foods it is under 10%, falling to about 0.5% for beef from beef herdsSource 4. Very little food travels by air: only about 0.16% of food milesSource 4.
The review did find average savings of 0.4 tonnes from regional and local food and 0.2 tonnes from seasonal food, but notes that local production can raise emissions when it relies on heated greenhouses or more fertiliserSource 2. What the food is matters more than how far it travelled.
Waste less food
Food sufficiency and less food waste saved an average of 0.3 tonnes and a median of 0.1 tonnes of CO₂e per person a yearSource 2. Studies separate avoidable and potentially avoidable food waste, which are said to make up 80% of all food wasteSource 2.
- Plan meals and shop with a list.
- Store food properly and use the freezer.
- Cook the right amount, and eat up leftovers.
- Check dates sensibly: “best before” is about quality, so use your senses before throwing food away.
Cooking and organic food
Improved cooking equipment had a mean and median saving of 0.6 tonnes in the reviewSource 2. Organic food averaged 0.5 tonnes, mainly from soil carbon and fewer agrochemicals, but the review warns that lower yields can push emissions up insteadSource 2.
Eating out
Restaurant and café meals carry the emissions of the food plus the kitchen, the premises and the supply chain behind them. Defra’s spend-based multiplier for restaurants and cafes is about 0.68 kg CO₂e per pound spentSource 6. The same rule applies as at home: what you order matters most, so choose plant-based or lower-meat dishes more often.
Next steps
Diet is one of three big areas, with home energy and travel. The things you buy add more; see shopping. When you have made the changes you can, reduce vs offset explains where carbon credits fit.