Choosing the products that we will consume is not a trivial gesture in terms of carbon footprint. The transition to more responsible consumption patterns is also being played out on our plates. The average French person emits 10 tonnes of CO2e per year, a quarter of which comes from their food. Let’s do our fruit and vegetable carbon footprint…
The environmentally friendly practices and individual responsibility in the face of climate issues have accelerated in 2021. And this is particularly true in terms of food consumption.
One small step to do your part
According to the annual Ademe barometer : 84% of French people claim to sort their waste,73% make sure to buy seasonal fruits and vegetables 61% wantbuy local products
, 58% to consume less and 53% to limit their meat consumption. Habits are changing! Do these virtuous behaviors towards local and seasonal fruits and vegetables have a strong impact on the carbon footprint of the French? Not necessarily, alas, as we will see later. But all efforts aregood to take
not true ? So I give you three arguments
- to encourage you to continue: One kilo of fruits and vegetables generates about 1 kgof CO2 and
- while a kilo of beef produces between 20 and 60 kg (depending on the origin). 40% of the fruits and vegetables consumed in France are imported from abroad (tomatoes, cucumbers, peaches, grapes…) so eat a local production
- makes a lot of sense… A tomato produced in France in a greenhouse heated with fossil fuels emits seven times more greenhouse gases
than a seasonal tomato.If you want to do your part , it is necessary to continue to buy local and seasonal products. This is the basis. But you can make a real difference by gradually increasing the amount of legumes in your diet toreplace protein in meat . Turn, for example, to lentils, dried beans and chickpeas which, in addition to their protein content, are rich in fiber and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals). France produces a verywide variety of legumes
and cut my personal carbon footprint in half.
The carbon footprint of fruits and vegetables In France, fruits and vegetables are the most popular foodsless energy intensive
. They represent 20% of the average consumer basket but are only responsible for 7% of CO2e emissions related to French food. This means that even following the recommendations to consume local and seasonal products to the letter, it will not have a decisive impact on your carbon footprint. much less in any case that if you decide to replace beef
by pork or chicken or if you choose to completely stop meat products. CO₂ emissions from animal products greatly exceed emissions from plant products. One kilo of fruit and vegetables generates approximately 1 kg of CO2e
while a kilo of beef produces between 20 and 60 kg.
To assess the carbon footprint of fruits and vegetables, you must first know that 40% of those consumed in France are imported from abroad (tomatoes, cucumbers, peaches, grapes, etc.). So eating local produce makes a lot of sense… Furthermore, transporting them to the point of sale represents 30% of total emissions
Ademe Finally, always think about the packaging they require: plastic and cardboard worsen the carbon footprint of the shopping basket. It is therefore best to buy them in bulk, bringing them yourself. her cloth bag
at the market, at the grocery store, at the supermarket or, even better, directly at the local farmer’s…
Eating local is not a guarantee!
When you consume local fruits and vegetables, you encourage short circuits. This is a very good thing because they obviously have less polluting impact on the planet. At the store, your first instinct must therefore be to look the origin of fruits and vegetables.
The closer they were produced to you, the better it is to limit your carbon footprint and the less likely they were grown in a greenhouse. Local food certainly makes it possible to reduce product transport distances. But the origin of the products is notnot always a guarantee of responsible consumption
.
The energy efficiency of the means used to cultivate and harvest them and that of the transport used to deliver them can cloud the tracks of carbon accounting. Some very common products on the stalls even have a catastrophic carbon footprint when consumedout of season
. Take the example of the tomato that does not grow in winter. If we wish to make it available despite the cold and winter darkness, we mustgrow in greenhouse
. It is a method of cultivation that requires a lot of water and energy: the tomato needs light and heat to grow. Second option: import it from abroad and offer him a truck ride to get it to your fridge. Not very green. The carbon footprint of fruits and vegetables marketed out of season is disastrous. Theymust be transported either by air
or by boat (for frozen or canned products) then by truck in conditions allowing their preservation (refrigeration, air conditioning).
All these means of transport are polluting for the planet. In addition, so that the fruits do not ripen too quickly during transport, they are covered with chemical products allowing their preservation.L’ADEME the French agency for ecological transition, estimates that a tomato produced in France in a greenhouse heated with fossil fuels emits seven times more greenhouse gases
than a seasonal tomato and four times more than a tomato imported from Spain. We thus have a small idea of the fruit and vegetable carbon balance of a good third of the plant foods that we consume…
Why consume in season? I prefer to warn you: always consuming seasonal fruits and vegetables will not not a decisive impact
on your carbon footprint because the share of seasonal products is quite low in our diet.
There are still advantages such as less water consumption or less dependence on hydrocarbons (gas and oil) which heat the greenhouses. Also, sold out of season, vegetables lose a lot of their nutrients when they grow above ground. In winter you have to give your preference for real seasonal vegetables
cabbage, carrots, cabbage, potatoes, Jerusalem artichokes, salsify, chicory, onions, leeks, lamb’s lettuce, spinach, etc.). You can find our illustrated calendar of seasonal fruits and vegetables
if you need more inspiration. If you want to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of your food, you are not not under obligation
to follow a strictly vegetarian diet. You can replace three-quarters of your meals containing meat with vegetarian meals or, more simply, you reserve meat dishes for weekends. This is called the flexitarian diet
: all food groups are consumed, but not at the same frequency: cereals, fruits and vegetables, dairy products and fats are consumed every day but meat and fish are occasional. It is a form of flexible vegetarian diet! * Social representations of climate change: 22nd wave of the barometer
Tomatoes in winter, nonsense easy to correct 3
