The UN Food Summit which takes place on Thursday, September 23^rd, aims to bring about positive change to the world’s food systems. As the summit’s organisers say: “As a people’s summit and a solutions summit, it has recognised that everyone, everywhere must take action and work together to transform the way the world produces, consumes, and thinks about food.” So how should we change the way we think about food?

Earlier this year, researchers in Italy revealed that 34 per cent of all man-made emissions are as a result of food systems, while the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on Climate Change and Land released in 2019 estimated that food generated up to 37 per cent of man-made emissions.

So, while these issues are systemic in nature, there is still much we can do to make a difference. And with an EAT-Lancet Commission report released earlier this year revealing that our food choices could account for almost half of our emissions by 2050, it is vital we start making changes right now. Below are five ways to help the climate by changing how and what you eat.

Buy Local

Around 5 per cent of the of the emissions generated by food are from transport. And with New Zealand apples being eaten in Ireland and Brazilian beef being eaten in Sweden, that is not really a surprise. So, wherever possible, buy local. From honey to apples to meat, there are sure to be plenty of producers from your own country. Get used to looking at labels in order to understand where the food in your supermarket is coming from.

Grow Your Own

The early days of the COVID-19 pandemic saw empty shelves in some cities as panic buying illustrated how fragile some of our food systems really are. That, and the fact that many of us had to spend more time at home, saw an increase in the number of people growing their own vegetables. From tomatoes to carrots to potatoes, runner beans to onions, there’s a huge range of vegetables that can be grown in a relatively small area. And if you have no outside space whatsoever, research community gardens and allotments in your area, or even better, why not start one? Doing this also means there are no emissions from packaging or transport: win-win!

Avoid Excess Packaging

Research has shown that packaging is a big contributor to carbon emissions in terms of food distribution, accounting for 5.4 per cent of emissions. Indeed we have all seen fruit packaged in unnecessary plastic packaging, which only underscores the importance of buying locally – the further our food has to get to us, the more packaging will be involved. Contact your local supermarket and ask them what they are doing to reduce the packaging of the food they sell; and be mindful of choosing shops that use less packaging for fruit and vegetables.

Eat Less Meat

It is no surprise that meat and its consumption is bad for the environment. Not only does livestock generate a huge amount of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, huge amounts of forests are being chopped down to make way for grazing land each year. Forests soak up carbon from the air, so their destruction to make way for emission intensive farming is doubly impactful (or triple impactful, if you consider that trees that have captured CO2 release it again as they die). A diet rich in planet-based foods is therefore vital to ensure emissions from our food are reduced.

Measure What You Eat

The food we eat can account for between 10 to 30 per cent of our emissions, depending on what we eat and where we live. For example, cutting dairy and meat from our diets can reduce our emissions by 66 per cent. There are also a number of calculators that allow you to calculate the impact your diet has on the planet. Check them out here.

The UN Food Systems Summit takes place on September 23^rd during the UN General Assembly High-level week.