<
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/apr/16/swapping-out-red-meat-and-creamy-pasta-sauce-could-significantly-cut-household-emissions-australian-research-finds>
"Simple grocery hacks – including swapping out red meat for chicken or
plant-based alternatives, opting for dairy-free milk and yoghurt and choosing
fruit toast instead of muffins – could substantially cut household greenhouse
gas emissions, new research has found.
A report by the George Institute for Global Health found switches could reduce
a household’s climate pollution by six tonnes a year, which it said was roughly
equivalent to the emissions from an average household’s grid-based electricity
use.
Researchers estimated the emissions for more than 25,000 everyday grocery items
available at supermarkets including Aldi, Coles, Woolworths, Harris Farm and
IGA.
They found replacing 1kg of beef mince with chicken each week could cut more
than two tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually, while switching to a meat
alternative would save 2.5 tonnes.
Switching one creamy pasta sauce to a tomato-based option each week could
remove 270kg CO₂ over a year.
Prof Simone Pettigrew, the George Institute’s head of health promotion and a
professor at UNSW Sydney, said food was a necessity that contributed to about
30% of global emissions.
“Australians are deeply concerned about the climate, and many people want to do
the right thing. But it’s hard to know which products are more sustainable when
that information is not available on pack.”
While researchers had known for some time that meat was worse in terms of
emissions, and that vegetables were better, Pettigrew said there was a
“mountain of products that sit in the middle, and they tend to be the types of
packaged foods that sit on our supermarket shelves”.
To make it easier for consumers, the institute has translated its findings into
a “planetary health rating” ranging from 0 (worse for the planet) to 5 stars
(better). Individual product ratings are available via a free ecoSwitch app,
which also suggests alternatives with lower emissions.
If consumers found some swaps too challenging – such as cutting coffee or
chocolate – there were plenty of options across other categories such as snack
bars, pasta sauce or salad dressing, Pettigrew said.
“There are quite substantial amounts of difference that people can make through
relatively minor switches as part of their grocery shopping.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
