Carbon footprint of the food industry - situation and perspective

The total amount of greenhouse gas emissions that are produced by a person, product, business, or event are referred to as their carbon footprint. The term carbon footprint includes the monitoring of other greenhouse gases besides carbon dioxide (CO 2), such as water vapor (H2O), methane (CH4), nitrogen suboxide (N2O), chlorofluorocarbons or fluorinated gases (CFCs). Nowadays, a person's choices can affect how much of a pressure they put on the environment, or how much of a future climate change they cause. The increase in the world's population brought to a rise in the demand for food which raw materials had to be created, processed, and then the finished product had to be delivered to the consumer. About 30% of all greenhouse gas emissions in Europe are caused by food production. Taking that into consideration, the meat industry and agriculture will be emphasized as the two main food industry polluters in this thesis. In these two components, it will be discussed how greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere during the manufacturing of food. Additionally, food consumption will be discussed and, in this chapter, the statistical data of countries representing the Mediterranean diet and the Scandinavian diet are compared. The research outcome highlights that regardless of whether individuals follow a Mediterranean or Scandinavian diet, consuming meat in such quantities proves highly detrimental to the environment, as it results in far greater environmental pollution than crop production. In terms of the perspective, this paper will place significant emphasis on biomass, offering valuable insights into how the meat sector and agriculture can substantially reduce their carbon impact while simultaneously harnessing energy resources. It will elaborate on the pivotal role of biomass in reducing pollution and restraining greenhouse gas emissions from food production