Meat products account for double the emissions of plant-based products

Emissions measured in millions of tonnes of CO2 equivalent, which is the amount of CO2 that would generate the same amount of warming for each gas

Meat products

Plant-based products

0

1bn

2bn

3bn

4bn

0

1bn

2bn

3bn

4bn

Beef

Rice

Cow milk

Wheat

Pork

Sugarcane

Maize

Chicken meat

Cassava

Sheep meat

Potato

Buffalo meat

Soybean

Chicken egg

Bean

Buffalo milk

Rape & mustard

Goat meat

Sunflower

Horse meat

Meat products

Plant-based products

0

1bn

2bn

3bn

4bn

0

1bn

2bn

3bn

4bn

Beef

Rice

Cow milk

Wheat

Pork

Sugarcane

Maize

Chicken meat

Cassava

Sheep meat

Potato

Buffalo meat

Soybean

Chicken egg

Bean

Buffalo milk

Rape & mustard

Goat meat

Sunflower

Horse meat

Meat products

Plant-based products

0

1bn

2bn

3bn

4bn

0

1bn

2bn

3bn

4bn

Beef

Rice

Cow milk

Wheat

Pork

Sugarcane

Maize

Chicken meat

Cassava

Sheep meat

Potato

Buffalo meat

Soybean

Chicken egg

Bean

Buffalo milk

Rape & mustard

Goat meat

Sunflower

Horse meat

Meat products

Plant-based products

0

1bn

2bn

3bn

4bn

0

1bn

2bn

3bn

4bn

Beef

Rice

Cow milk

Wheat

Pork

Sugarcane

Maize

Chicken meat

Cassava

Sheep meat

Potato

Buffalo meat

Soybean

Chicken egg

Bean

Buffalo milk

Rape & mustard

Goat meat

Sunflower

Horse meat

Guardian graphic. Source: Xu et al, 2021, “Global greenhouse gas emissions from animal-based foods are twice those of plant-based foods”.