An Assessment of Green House Gas Emissions from UK Food System

The food we eat accounts for 30% of the UK's carbon footprint, according to a new report published by WWF-UK and the Food Climate Research Network (FCRN). Land use change, primarily deforestation, is a major source of climate changing emissions. Each year, globally, an area of forest equivalent to half of England is lost, largely as a result of the expansion of the food system as land is cleared to grow crops and rear animals. The research assessed various scenarios that explored what changes are needed to the country's food system to help stop deforestation and reduce the scale of emissions from the food chain. Both technological and behavioural initiatives were tested, including the decarbonisation of the energy used in the food chain, improved efficiencies and changes in consumption of meat and dairy products. The report concludes that no one solution alone can reduce emissions to the extent needed to keep temperature rises below two degrees. WWF-UK and FCRN are urging Government and industry decision-makers to recognise that a sole focus on technology is not enough - food consumption patterns need to change too.
http://assets.wwf.org.uk/downloads/how_low_can_we_go.pdf