Environmental-friendliness of food choices in Great Britain

Dietary change is a low-cost and scalable strategy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the food system, yet little is known about which house holds emit most, who reduces emissions over time, and how. This paper com bines detailed scanner data from Worldpanel by Numerator’s Take Home data with product-level emissions from the SHARP-ID database to examine the level and evolution of dietary carbon footprints among GB households from 2017 to 2022. We find differences across household types. Higher footprints are associated with older, less-educated, or female main shoppers, as well as larger, predominantly male, or child-rearing households. These differences reflect both quantities purchased and the carbon intensity of food choices. Over time, households with initially high footprints—especially middle-aged, less-educated, and larger households—were most likely to reduce them. In contrast, households with children and predominantly male ones showed little adjustment. Among reducers, nearly all lowered food quantity, and a majority also reduced carbon intensity, often via substitutions within food groups (e.g. beef to chicken). These findings identify the groups driving emissions, those adjusting, and those requiring policy attention. Supporting lower-carbon sub stitutions and targeting high-emission groups could improve the effectiveness and equity of food-related climate policies.