When it comes to carbon footprint[1], one tends to associate it to long-distance travelling or direct industrial carbon emissions. However, Food accounts for 10 - 30% of a household’s carbon footprint, typically a higher portion in lower-income households. The production of food accounts for 68% of emissions, while its transportation accounts for 5%.[2] Let’s analyze the gas emissions produced from food:[3]

At first glance is clear that animal products, specially beef and lamb, are the most environmentally-impactful foods.  Producing 100 grams of protein from peas emits just 0.4 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2eq). To get the same amount of protein from beef, emissions would be nearly 90 times higher, at 35 kgCO2eq.^[4] For example, if you are eating 444 calories a day of red meat (the equivalent of about one 8-ounce steak sirloin), your annual meat-related carbon footprint is 0.8 metric tons of carbon dioxide.^[5] Actually, a meat-lover produces two times the carbon footprint of a vegetarian. Pretty impressive, right?

In case you want to know how much is your diet contaminating the planet, I leave you this diet-carbon calculator:  https://www.omnicalculator.com/ecology/meat-footprint