Choosing the products you will consume is not a trivial gesture when it comes to your carbon footprint. The transition to more responsible consumption patterns also affects 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. And this is particularly true when it comes to food consumption.
One small step to do your part
According to the Ademe annual barometer : 84% of French people say they sort their waste,73% make sure to buy seasonal fruits and vegetables 61% wishbuy 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, unfortunately, as we will see later. But all efforts aregood to take
right? So I give you three arguments
to encourage you to continue:
1. A kilo of fruit and vegetables generates around 1 kg of CO2e while a kilo of beef produces between 20 and 60 kg (depending on the origin).
2. 40% of fruits and vegetables consumed in France are imported from abroad (tomatoes, cucumbers, peaches, grapes, etc.) so eating locally produced products makes a lot of sense…
3. 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 proportion of legumes in your diet toreplace meat proteins . For example, turn 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 verygreat diversity 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 common foodsless energy intensive
. They represent 20% of the average consumer’s basket but are only responsible for 7% of CO2e emissions linked to the diet of the French. This means that even if you strictly follow the recommendations to consume local and seasonal products, it will not have a decisive impact on your carbon footprint. Much less in any case only if you decide to replace beef
with pork or chicken or if you choose to completely stop eating meat products. CO₂ emissions from products of animal origin far exceed emissions from plant products. A 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 locally produced makes a lot of sense… Furthermore, their transport 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. his fabric bag
at the market, the grocery store, the supermarket or, better yet, directly from the local farmer…
Eating local is not a guarantee!
When you eat local fruits and vegetables, you encourage short supply chains. This is a very good thing because they obviously have less polluting impact on the planet. At the store, your first instinct should be to look the origin of fruits and vegetables.
The closer they were produced to your home, the better it is for limiting your carbon footprint and the less likely it is that 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 confuse the issue 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 which does not grow in winter. If we want to make it available despite the cold and darkness of winter, we mustgrow in greenhouse
. It is a growing method that requires a lot of water and energy: tomatoes need light and heat to grow. Second option: import it from abroad and offer him a trip in a truck so that it reaches your fridge. Not very eco-friendly. The carbon footprint of fruits and vegetables sold out of season is disastrous. Theymust be transported either by air
either by boat (for frozen or canned products) then by truck in conditions allowing their conservation (refrigeration, air conditioning).
All these means of transport pollute the planet. In addition, so that the fruits do not ripen too quickly during transport, they are covered with chemicals allowing their preservation.L’ADEME the French ecological transition agency, 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 footprint of a good third of the plant foods we consume…
Why eat seasonally? 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 greenhouses. In addition, sold out of season, vegetables lose many of their nutrients when growing above ground. In winter you have to give your preference for real seasonal vegetables
such as cabbages, carrots, cabbage, potatoes, Jerusalem artichokes, salsify, endives, 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 diet, you are not not obliged
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-based dishes for the 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’s a form of flexible vegetarian diet! * Social representations of climate change: 22nd wave of the barometer
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