RESOLVE seminar: The World on a Plate: Food, Greenhouse Gas Emissions and our Changing Climate

This presentation looks at how and why these emissions arise, considering both the impacts of different life cycle stages (from agriculture through to cooking at home) and of different foods types.   It highlights in particular the considerable contribution made by meat and dairy products and shows that this is an issue not just for the UK and other developed countries but, given current trends in demand, a growing problem on a global scale.

Clearly reductions in food related emissions are vital.  Can technological and managerial measures alone achieve the necessary cuts?  Or are changes in consumption - in what and how we eat – needed too?

 This presentation argues that behaviour change is essential.  It looks at what a less GHG intensive way of eating might look like, highlights the challenges these present to our current patterns and argues that behaviour change initiatives such as carbon labelling can be a distraction.  It also explores the nutritional implications of less GHG intensive diets and considers where there may be synergies or conflicts between the goals of emission reductions and of better dietary health, highlighting the need to distinguish between the developed and developing world contexts.  It argues the need – both at the UK and global levels – for policy approaches that integrate public health and climate change mitigation policies.

 For more information contact Gemma Cook, RESOLVE Co-ordinator, 01483 686689 or g.cook@surrey.ac.uk