Summary/Abstract
Nations increasingly diversify their food supply through global trade. Therefore, the emissions generated by food produced in the country may greatly vary from the emissions generated by the food consumed. Factors such as transportation of food and per capita consumption are important variables in understanding the emissions-intensity of the global food system, and are not captured in production-based estimates. This peer-reviewed study tracks the movement of food commodities through global trade routes to identify factors which inflate the emissions intensity of food. Researchers find that 95% of the growth in global emissions from 2000-2019 based on food consumption was due to a substantial increase in consumption of animal-based products, particularly in wealthy and rapidly developing nations. While wealthy nations tend to have higher per-capita emissions than developing nations, this gap is closing. Developing nations are consuming more food and animal-based products per-capita, while food-based emissions from developed nations have stayed relatively constant. Transportation of food for trade also contributes significantly to embodied carbon emissions of food products, with trade contributing 16% of animal-based and 21% of plant-based carbon emissions. Understanding these contributors can help consumers and policymakers make more energy-efficient decisions. Understanding the global food system can also prevent developing countries from being disproportionately blamed for production-based carbon emissions of food that is ultimately exported to and consumed by developed nations.