Earth First

Decarbonising Dinner - How To Get Fossil Fuels Out Of Your Food

Our food system—across fields, factories, and supermarket fridges—is tied to fossil fuels at nearly every turn. But with climate pressures mounting, a critical question emerges: can we feed ourselves without overheating the planet?

Imagine the journey of a single loaf of bread. A diesel-powered tractor tills the soil, fossil fuel-based fertilisers nourish the wheat, and natural gas heats the ovens that bake it. The plastic it’s wrapped in? A byproduct of oil, as is the fuel in the lorry that brings it to the supermarket.

Why is decarbonising the food system important?

Today’s food system accounts for over one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions, 70% of the world’s freshwater use, drives 60% of biodiversity loss and is linked to 70-80% of tropical deforestation.^1,2,3,4 Food production has a huge impact on the planet, but it presents a massive opportunity for change.

The Global Alliance for the Future of Food estimates that transforming our food production and consumption patterns could reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by at least 10.3 gigatons a year.⁵ That’s nearly the same as the yearly emissions from China.

When it comes to climate change, every fraction of a degree matters.⁶ The more rapidly we reduce emissions and stabilise our climate, the more lives we can improve and even save. So, how can we get the fossil fuels out of our food?

How can we decarbonise the food system?

Fossil fuels are used at every stage of our food system, from growing crops, to driving them to the supermarket, to the greenhouse emissions produced when food waste goes to landfill. While targeted solutions can help reduce fossil fuel use in specific areas, eliminating carbon emissions from our food chain will require coordinated, system-wide change. If we are going to decarbonise our food system successfully, here are seven key steps we need to take.

1. Reduce fertiliser and pesticide use

Fossil fuel-based agrochemicals, such as synthetic fertilisers and pesticides, are used across the global food system to improve and maintain crop yields. But it takes a lot of energy (mostly from fossil fuels) to produce them and when overapplied, they can release powerful greenhouse emissions. Reducing fertiliser and pesticide use could lessen the need for the fossil fuels used to produce these chemicals, as well as helping reduce our climate-warming emissions.⁵

One way to reduce fertiliser and pesticide use is through regenerative farming practices, like planting nitrogen-fixing legumes such as clover to crop rotations.^7,8 Research shows that adding clover to crop rotations can reduce the amount of nitrogen fertiliser needed by half in some European countries.^9,10

Another way to reduce fossil fuel use from fertilisers is to just use less of them. Farmers worldwide apply around 115 million tonnes of nitrogen annually, yet only 35% is absorbed by crops; the rest leaches into the environment, causing pollution.¹² But research shows it’s possible to reduce synthetic nitrogen use while maintaining yields.¹³

2. Increase renewable energy on farms

Much of the energy powering our farms could shift to renewable sources. This includes the energy behind agricultural machinery, greenhouse heating, fertiliser distribution systems, feed production, animal housing, crop drying and more.¹³ But most countries don’t have enough renewable energy for food production yet. Expanding renewable energy in agriculture will require governments and companies to build more renewable facilities, upgrade grid connections and enhance storage and efficiency.^5,14 Opportunities also exist for renewable projects on arable land, like solar farms on fallow and grazing fields or solar-powered irrigation systems in areas with limited fossil fuel dependence.¹⁵

3. Produce food with less energy

Processing and packaging raw ingredients into food products also takes a lot of energy. One way of reducing fossil fuel consumption in this stage is to decrease the production of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) altogether. UPFs such as instant coffee, fries, crisps and bread are among the most energy-intensive foods to make.¹⁴ Fewer UPFs would mean fewer energy-guzzling processing plants and reduced energy consumption overall. And it would probably make our diets healthier, too.

Alternative protein sources, such as cultivated meat, microbial proteins and insects, are on the rise. In the long term, they could help us produce protein more sustainably, but in some cases, these alternatives require even more energy than conventional proteins. Manufacturers need to find ways to lower the energy demands of alternative proteins.¹⁷

Discover more in our simple guide to Ultra Processed Food

4. Find alternatives to plastic

Packaging—especially plastic packaging—is one of the most challenging areas of the food system to decouple from fossil fuels. Plastic is a versatile, lightweight and waterproof material which helps us to reduce food waste and to produce and transport food more effectively. Plastics are used throughout the food system—such as seed trays and mulch covers on farms, to greenhouse covers and more. However, overly relying on plastic has drawbacks, including pollution to the environment and negative impacts on our health.

One solution is bioplastics, which have similar uses as conventional plastic but are made from more natural materials like vegetable oils or straw. Some forms of bioplastics can degrade naturally under the right conditions, while others would need to be sent to an industrial recycling facility. Bioplastics aren’t perfect. A major criticism of bioplastics is they require crops that could otherwise go to feeding people.^19,26

5. Smarter ways to cool our food

Keeping our food cool helps prevent waste, but it also uses a lot of energy. We should power our cold stores and fridges with renewable energy and make them more energy efficient.⁷ Meanwhile, refrigeration systems produce heat as a byproduct of the cooling process, and this heat can be recovered and reused. In fact, a supermarket in Denmark already meets 95% of its heating needs this way.²¹

6. Eat more plants

A shift towards minimally processed, plant-rich diets—especially in regions with high or rising meat and dairy intake—could significantly reduce diet-related emissions by up to 49%. Governments can support this shift by providing dietary guidelines which consider the climate impact as well as the nutritional makeup of food.⁷

7. Stop wasting food

Reducing food loss and waste is crucial to cutting fossil fuel reliance in the food system. Globally, more than 30% of the food produced yearly is wasted, meaning that the fossil fuels used to produce it are also wasted.^22,23

Discover more about food waste and what we can do about it

What is holding us back?

A common phrase in climate discussions is “just transition”—the idea of making the shift from fossil fuels fair for all countries. This means we stop investing in fossil fuels and instead fund clean, renewable energy while financially supporting countries which are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

We should also consider fairness when approaching the food system. For example, we can focus on reducing meat consumption in wealthier countries that eat more animal products than the global average and minimise fertiliser use in places where they are being overused, rather than treating every region as the same.

Decarbonising the food system will require large-scale global collaboration, as many solutions need wide adoption to be effective. The difficulty is that some methods—for example, agroecological farming and heat capture—are not yet practised on a large scale due to barriers such as regulation, limited financial access, lack of education and low consumer awareness. Addressing these obstacles is essential to scaling solutions that can help decouple the food system from fossil fuels and create a system that works for both people and the planet.²⁵