Comparison of Meal Carbon Footprints at a Festival

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Vegan meal
Photo credit: Ella Olsson via Pexels
2024-10-21

Interest in the environmental impact and carbon footprints of food is growing in Finland. At the New Age Building Festival (Uuden ajan rakentamisen festivaali or URF), held in Kerava, Finland, from July 26 to August 7, 2024, D-mat calculated the carbon footprints of all meals sold. Alongside vegetarian dishes, fish dishes were also available. The festival’s food vendors offered a wide variety of meals, ranging from traditional salmon soup to burgers, pizza and various tofu-based dishes.

The results were presented as the carbon intensity of each dish, as portion sizes varied. In addition, we also calculated the share of each meal’s carbon footprint in the daily carbon budget for food (GDA%). 

The carbon intensity of the dishes ranged from 0.01 to 0.19 kg CO2e / 100 g. The dish with the lowest carbon intensity was the Jerusalem artichoke burger meal, while the highest was the pike sausage with baked potatoes. Interestingly, the tofu-based meals spanned the entire carbon intensity scale. It’s important to note that the accompaniments of tofu, for example, can significantly influence the meal’s climate impact. Especially rice has a relatively high carbon footprint.

You can see the results in the attached image (unfortunately, only available in Finnish). We presented three different values per meal because one single figure doesn’t necessarily provide a sufficient picture of the climate impact of a meal.

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food carbonfootprint
D-mat calculated the carbon footprints of all meals soldat the festival (source: d-mat)

 

D-mat