Eat For Our Future
try a Climate Diet
Make a difference to the planet and Eat for our Future with a Climate Diet! In partnership with Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming’s Food for the Planet campaign, we are raising awareness of the impact our food choices have on climate change, and how we can all take steps to be part of the solution in Cambridge.
Join us in making a Climate Diet pledge through the Cambridge Climate Charter for individuals and households. By making simple changes to our diets and choosing climate-friendly food options, we can all make a difference to the planet from our kitchens.
As a business or organisation you can also play a key role in shaping a food system that is good for people and our planet, through the food you buy, serve and sell. Join businesses already taking action across Cambridge and the UK by signing the Planet Pledge today!
Hear from those already taking action and discover why they Eat for our Future in our video!
Still unsure about Climate Diets? Read below to discover why it’s important to Eat for our Future!
Does what we eat really have an effect on climate change?
Yes. The world’s food system is responsible for between one-quarter to one-third of the planet-warming greenhouse gases that humans generate each year. That includes raising and harvesting all the plants, animals and animal products we eat — beef, chicken, fish, milk, lentils, broccoli, wheat and more — as well as processing, packaging and shipping food to markets all over the world. If you eat food, you’re part of this system.
How does the food we eat contribute to climate change?
In various ways. Here are four of the biggest: When forests are cleared to make room for farms and livestock — this happens on a daily basis in some parts of the world — large stores of carbon are released into the atmosphere, which heats up the planet. When cows, sheep and goats digest their food, they burp up methane, another potent greenhouse gas contributing to climate change. Animal manure and rice paddies are also big methane sources. Finally, fossil fuels are used to operate farming equipment, while making fertilizers and when shipping food around the globe, all of which generate emissions.
Which foods have the biggest impact?
Meat and dairy, particularly from cows, have a larger impact, with livestock accounting for around 14.5 percent of the world’s greenhouse gases each year. That’s roughly the same amount as the emissions from all transport including all the car, lorries, aeroplanes and ships combined in the world today!
In general, beef and lamb have the biggest climate footprint per gram of protein, while plant-based foods tend to have the smallest impact. Pork and chicken are somewhere in the middle. There are many studies which try to calculate the average greenhouse gas emissions associated with different foods, usually based on global averages. It is worth noting that beef raised in the UK generally produces fewer emissions than beef raised in the USA, Brazil or even other parts of Europe, and certain cheeses can have a larger greenhouse gas impact than a lamb chop - because of all the water used to make the cheese. But, in the end most studies agree with this general hierarchy: Plant-based foods usually have a lower impact than meat, and beef and lamb tend to be the worst offenders by a considerable margin.
Is there a simple food choice I can make that would reduce my climate footprint?
Consuming less red meat and dairy will typically have the biggest impact. That doesn’t necessarily mean going fully vegan. You might just eat less of the foods with the biggest climate footprints, like beef, lamb and cheese. If you’re looking for substitutes, pork, chicken, eggs and molluscs have a smaller footprint. But plant-based foods like beans, pulses and grains tend to be the most climate-friendly options of all, especially when sourced from local UK suppliers like the excellent East Anglian Hodmedod’s - while supporting local farmers too.
How much would changing my diet actually help?
It varies from person to person. But a number of studies have concluded that people who currently eat a meat-heavy diet — including much of the population of the UK and Europe — could shrink their food-related footprint by one-third or more by moving to a vegetarian diet.
Giving up dairy would reduce those emissions even further.
If you don’t want to go that far, there are still ways to shrink your individual footprint. Just eating meat as a treat and putting vegetables at the centre of the table can reduce your total emissions!
While food consumption is often only a small fraction of a person’s total carbon footprint, dietary changes are often one of the quickest ways for many people to lighten their impact on the planet.
Studies also show that eating less red meat is much better for your health too!
I am just one person. Can I really make a difference by myself?
It’s true that one person alone can make only a tiny dent in the global climate problem. But all the little decisions can at least begin to move the needle in the right direction- and that’s where our Climate Diet Pledge comes in! Make this the year you go deep on lentils, try composting and stop throwing away the wilted contents of your fridge drawer!
When we start with small goals that don’t feel like a huge shake-up of our existing habits- you may just find this whole saving-the-planet thing isn’t so hard after all- and it can be really delicious too!
Why not pledge to Eat for the Future by adopting a Climate Diet?
