Step 4 of 5
Diet-related greenhouse gas emissions are mainly determined by two factors: personal energy needs and the type of food used to meet these needs.
The personal energy requirement is basically dependent on gender, age and weight. Men generally have a higher calorie requirement than women, whereas the calorie requirement tends to decrease with age. In addition, it is true that exercise is beneficial to health and absolutely recommended. But those who move a lot in their free time or engage in strenuous physical activity consume more energy and thus more food. This is taken into account by specifying the activity level in the CO2 calculator.
Animal foods cause significantly more greenhouse gas emissions compared to plant foods. This statement is true both in terms of weight and calorie content. Accordingly, the CO2 footprint of your diet can be estimated primarily by the amount of animal products consumed. This applies not only to meat, sausage and fish, but also to dairy products. Keep in mind when entering:
- All meals of the day count towards the figures, whether at home or on the road.
- People who eat no or only a few animal products must cover their protein and energy needs via plant sources. This is taken into account in the CO2 calculator. Depending on the quantities of animal products, the required balance of calories to the personal energy requirement is calculated in the background and then "filled up" by means of pulses and nuts and added to the CO2-balance.
Meat, meat products and fish: The average values for women, men and Germany should serve as a guide. On average, women eat significantly less meat than men.
Dairy products: Estimating personal milk consumption is very difficult. On the one hand, many different products are made from milk, which - due to the amount of milk required in each case - also have very different CO2 footprints: e.g. milk is 1.4 kg CO2e/kg, cheese 5.7 kg CO2e/kg and butter 9.0 kg CO2e/kg. On the other hand, dairy products are often "hidden" as ingredients in processed foods (e.g. butter and milk in cakes and pastries). Therefore, round up the data on the consumption of dairy products rather generously. Use both the qualitative assessment in comparison to others (little to much) and the exemplary quantities for better orientation.
Regional products: Products from the region generally cause less greenhouse gases for transport. In any case, transport by plane has a particularly negative impact on the greenhouse gas balance of fruit and vegetables.
Seasonal produce: Seasonal produce grows outdoors without artificial heat. Vegetables and fruit grown out of season in heated greenhouses perform significantly worse in terms of energy and emissions balance.
Food waste: Avoiding food waste through e.g. needs-based shopping or food sharing is an important approach to avoid greenhouse gas emissions in food. However, a simple query with which the emissions of your food waste could be estimated in a statistically robust way is not yet available, which is why we do not yet take this aspect into account when calculating the CO2 balance.
Other greenhouse gases: For the calculation of CO2 emissions, the consideration of CO2 equivalents is particularly important, since apart from CO2, which is produced during the production and transport of food, the greenhouse gases methane and nitrous oxide in particular originate from agriculture.
My carbon scenario
In your carbon scenario you can now look to the future. Answer questions about changes you're planning, new habits and even investments. On the basis of your carbon balance today the projections are carried out, up to what the German average would be in 2050.
Today
Your carbon scenario picks up where you've left off in your carbon balance.
Short-term
Personal changes in the next 5 years are reflected in your short term scenario.Medium-term
A more climate-friendly society and your personal changes then lead to a medium-term scenario covering the next 10 to 15 years.Germany 2050
Your acceptance of long-term climate protection measures and the corresponding policies then lead to a projected German average value for the year 2050.Save the current status of your calculation if you want to edit it later, send it to friends or post it in a social network. The data is available for you to retrieve for a period of 18 months. If you do not retrieve the data during this period, it will be deleted.