The eaternity principles

The eaternity principles for climate-friendly food

First priority is the Between different products the global warming potential can differ with a factor 150.

The following factors, ordered by effectivity, are important for climate-friendly food and should be considered when buying food or preparing meals:

factors, ordered by effectivity

  • Vegetable-based rather than animal based products: Choose fruits, vegetables and cereals as they are significantly better for our climate. The raising of animals is particularly high in resource and energy usage. With this decision you will have the highest chance of saving the most CO2.
  • Seasonal Food: Choose seasonal vegetables, avoid vegetables transported by air. In addition, avoid products from greenhouses as they use a lot of energy for lighting, watering and heating.
  • Regional Food: Choose preferably local fresh produce rather than deep-frozen products. Choose food that has had the shortest transport distance possible.

In addition to these principles, eaternity emphasizes a balanced diet and culinary diversity. Our eaternity recipe of the month, gives you suggestions for your own kitchen. Furthermore, with our web-application, the eaternity calculator, everyone can investigate the CO2-emissions of their meals. This calculator was constructed by eaternity on the basis of scientific literature and calculated estimates.

eaternity gives solutions

References

  • Carlsson-Kanyama, A., 1998. Climate change and dietary choices – how can emissions of greenhouse gases from food consumption be reduced? Food Policy 3/4: 277 - 293
  • Fritsche, U., Eberle, U., 2007. Treibhausgasemissionen durch Erzeugung und Verarbeitung von Lebensmitteln – Arbeitspapier. Öko-Institut e.V. Darmstadt/Hamburg, Deutschland, 2007.
  • Harbi, S., Tatti, E., Kaenzig, J., Loerinck, Y., Jolliet, O., 2007. Most important consumption patterns to improve the personal environmental balance. Ecointesys. Lausanne, Schweiz, 2007.
  • Jungbluth, N., 2000. Umweltfolgen des Nahrungsmittelkonsums: Beurteilung von Produktmerkmalen auf Grundlage einer modularen Ökobilanz. Verlag im Internet: www.dissertation.de. Berlin, 2000.
  • Jungbluth, N., Emmenegger, M.F., Frischknecht, R., 2008. Gesamtpotential für die Reduktion von Umweltbelastungen im Bereich Ernährung und Wohnen. Bericht im Auftrag WWF Schweiz. ESU-Services. Uster, Schweiz, 2008.
  • Kaenzig, J., Jolliet, O., 2006. Umweltbewusster Konsum: Schlüsselentscheide, Akteure und Konsummodelle. Umwelt-Wissen Nr. 0616. Bundesamt für Umwelt. Bern, Schweiz, 2006
  • OEKO (Öko-Institut) 2009: Global Emissions Model for Integrated Systems (GEMIS) Version 4.5, Darmstadt www.gemis.de
  • Prozessorientierte Basisdaten für Umweltmanagement-Instrumente (Probas) Datenbank. Aktualisiert 2008. Umweltbundesamt Deutschland (BMU).
  • Tukker, A., Huppes, G., Guinée, J., Heijungs, R., Koning de, A., Oers van, L., Sangwon, S., Geerken, T., Holderbeke van, M., Jansen, B., 2006. Environmental Impact of Products (EIPRO) Analysis of the life cycle environmental impacts related to the final consumption of the EU-25 Main report. European Communities, 2006. Spain.
  • Wiegmann, K., Eberle, U., Fritsche, U., Hünecke, K., 2005. Umweltauswirkungen von Ernährung – Stoffstromanalysen und Szenarien. Ernährungswende. Diskussionspapier Nr. 7. Darmstadt/Hamburg, 2005.