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Ways to change your shopping habits to help lower your climate footprint

Your food

Research from the BBC shows that food systems are responsible for around 26% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Of these emissions, 58% come from animal products, and within this, 50% of these come from just beef and lamb.

Changing your diet and food shopping can be a powerful way of tackling climate change. You may choose to become a full-time vegetarian or vegan, or you may adopt these diets part of the year. Even reducing your meat and dairy by one or two servings a week can have a big impact.

Find out the emissions impact of different foods using this BBC tool.

Other things that can help

When you do your food shop, it is also worth considering how the food was grown and the distance it has travelled before reaching the supermarket. Where possible, choose UK products and food that is in season in the UK. This is because food that has been grown in a greenhouse or has travelled across the world will have caused more carbon emissions than food grown naturally closer to home.

Published: 23 June 2022

Last updated: 23 June 2022