Greenhouse gas emissions of animal-based and plant-based products in Iran

Abstract

These days, one of the major threats in the world is climate change. It is already proven by a large number of strong evidence that human activities are responsible for these sudden changes. It is expected that in the future mankind will witness more severe consequences of climate change on the amount of precipitation and temperature levels in different regions of the world, and as a result of that, more both physical and economic water scarcity is anticipated to be seen. Each year food production industry produces a considerable amount of greenhouse gases which are the number one factor for global warming. By fluctuations in the groundwater, surface water, CO2 fertilization, and extreme weather conditions such as floods and droughts, a drastic impact on agricultural practices is expected to occur in Iran if the current trends are not slowed down or reversed. Any disturbance in food security and quality could lead to malnutrition, food-borne illnesses, or even death. Crop cultivation and livestock have their own unique impact on the total emitted GHGs. Given this, in this study, we analyzed the food production (both animal-based and plant-based), consumption, and global warming potential (CO₂e) of 11 main dietary categories in the Iranian food industry from 2010 to 2019. Moreover, the population growth in the decade was included in the study. The results of this article revealed that vegetable consumption faced a downward trend in the decade while animal protein sources remained almost intact and animal-based food items produce a considerably higher amount of greenhouse gases than plant-based dietary options.