Analyzing Diets’ Contribution to Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Brasilia, Brazil

Abstract

Given the effort to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, understanding the consumption patterns that facilitate and support changes is essential. In this context, household food consumption constitutes a large part of society’s environmental impacts due to the production and solid waste generation stages. Hence, we focus on applying the Life Cycle Assessment to estimate Brasilia’s GHG emissions associated with household food consumption. We have used microdata from the Personal Food Consumption Analysis to address consumption patterns. The life cycle approach relies on the adaptations for Brasilia’s scenario of the inventories available in the databases of Ecoinvent 3.6 Cutoff and Agribalyse 3.0.1. Individuals’ GHG emissions results were classified according to sociodemographic groups and dietary patterns and analyzed through Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The results indicate that household food consumption contributes 11,062.39 t CO2e daily, averaging 5.05 kg CO2e per capita. Meat consumption accounts for the largest share of emissions (55.27%), followed by beverages (18.78%) and cereals (7.29%). The ANOVA results indicate that individuals living in houses, individuals between 45 and 54 years old, and men have a higher carbon footprint. Therefore, future analyses for potential reduction should incorporate these target groups. Regarding dietary patterns, vegan individuals contribute 3.05 kg CO2e/day, 59.00% fewer emissions than omnivorous people. The no red meat, pescatarian, and vegetarian diets also imply lower food-related GHG emissions.