Greenhouse Gas Emissions from the Food Sector

The food sector contributes to around two-thirds of total global GHG emissions. Demographic growth and associated economic growth in the future will increase global food demand. This will drive the expansion of food sub-sectors, including crop cultivation and livestock production, as well as product transportation and processing, materials (fertilizer and pesticides), and irrigation. Increased food production may accelerate land-use changes for agriculture, resulting in greater greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, reduced carbon sequestration, and further climate change. Using a uniform unified model-data integration framework, ISAM, this study estimates emissions for three major GHGs (CO2, CH4, and N2O) from the production and consumption of about 171 crops and 16 animal products for the 2010s (2011-2020). The study focuses on the GHG emissions due to the production and consumption of total and individual plant- and animal-based food from all food-related subsectors, such as land-use change and farmland activities, enteric fermentation, and beyond farmgate activities at local, regional, and global scales – which is the overall objective of this study.