The greenhouse gas emissions from food consumption in Turkey: a regional analysis with developmental parameters

Abstract

Due to the expected growth rate in world energy consumption in the near future, it is critical to estimate future energy consumption and associated environmental problems as precisely as possible. This study aims to describe total greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) linked to different geographical diet profiles in Turkey, to map the environmental impacts that these generate. We used the last Address Based Population Registration System results to identify regions, populations, and some developmental parameters such as population density, the population growth rate, gross domestic product per capita, and socio-economic development scores, and the latest National Nutrition and Health Survey to determine the nutrient composition of Turkey's regional diets. The West Marmara diet had the highest GHGE levels, at 2983.79 g CO₂-eq. per person per day, followed by the Istanbul diet and South-eastern Anatolia diet (2941.73 g CO₂-eq. per person per day and 2935.08 g CO₂-eq. per person per day) whereas the Mediterranean diet had the lowest, at 2623.90 g CO₂-eq. per person per day. The contributions of beef and lamb to total diet weight (both were 0.98%) were lower than their contribution to total GHGE (21.65% and 21.04%). Our findings indicated that dietary changes could significantly help to reduce GHGE. Additionally, GHGE of diets might be associated with developmental parameters, but we did not find statistical differences. If the balance between natural resources and economic growth factors cannot be achieved in developing countries such as Turkey, which is a member of the United Nations, the environment will start to suffer and environmental sustainability will become a distant goal. Therefore, more studies are needed to confirm these results.