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.”
In Australia, there was currently no requirement for companies to include greenhouse gas emissions information on food labelling, something the George Institute would like to see change.
“In the future, we hope that the data and ratings we use in ecoSwitch could inform a national front-of-pack labelling system to provide more information for all consumers, and to incentivise industry and supermarkets to meet the demand for more sustainable foods.”
Research by the Consumer Policy Research Centre previously found nearly half (45%) of Australians considered sustainability “always” or “often” when deciding what to buy.
But the centre’s chief executive, Erin Turner, said “greenwashing”, in the form of unsubstantiated, vague or misleading environmental claims, made it more challenging for people to make better choices.
“We think about the solution to greenwashing in two ways; you’ve got to get rid of the bad information, and get good quality information in front of people,” she said.
Independent, science-backed information – such as the George Institute’s data – was helpful, along with clearer definitions for commonly used terms like compostable, biodegradable and recyclable, she said.
“Consumer action does matter, and the choices you make can reduce your individual emissions. But also, we want to think about ways that our systems can encourage companies to do more and do better.”
