STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — New York City has targeted emissions from buildings and cars, and now Mayor Eric Adams will eye the carbon footprint from a new source: Food.
Adams and Rohit Aggarwala, the city’s chief climate officer and commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection, on Monday released the city’s first integrated greenhouse gas inventory, which incorporates emissions from the production and consumption of food.
Food emissions represent one-fifth of the city’s overall emissions and sit behind only buildings and transportation as the largest culprits of greenhouse gases. The inventory was developed by the Mayor’s Office of Climate & Environmental Justice (MOCEJ).
“New York City is leading the world when it comes to combating climate change, because we’re using every option on the menu in our fight — and that includes changing our menus, too,” said Adams. “This new emissions report shows us that plant-powered food isn’t just good for our physical and mental health, but good for the planet as well.”
The Mayor’s Office of Food Policy (MOFP) Executive Director Kate MacKenzie said the data is coupled with a new goal to reduce carbon emissions from food purchases across city agencies by one-third by 2030.
As part of the Planet-Powered Carbon Challenge, Adams also urged private and nonprofit sector leaders to reduce their food-based emissions by 25% during that span.
The household consumption tracker delineates the amount of greenhouse gases released by food consumption, primarily meats, poultry, fish, eggs and dairy products. Food will now be included in the city’s annual inventory of emission sources from a range of sources, from health care to travel.
“We have long known about buildings and transportation’s role in emissions, and this integrated inventory gives us clearer knowledge of food’s role, and the full scope of actions the government can take,” said Aggarwala.
Adams, who has been a vocal proponent of plant-based diets, said he is “living proof” of the importance of a plant-powered diet.
Confronting people about their food choices and aiming for change, he acknowledged, would be a challenge.
“I don’t know if people are really ready for this conversation,” he said.
The city’s plan comes ahead of Earth Day, which will be held on April 22. Adams said New York City has signed onto the “C40 Good Food Cities Declaration” — joining more than a dozen other cities to increase access to plant-based food and lower food waste.
“The relationship between what we eat and its effect on climate change and the environment is known,” said MOCEJ Executive Director Kizzy Charles-Guzman. “With transparency and bold policy to reduce food-related emissions, New York is helping its residents, and the world, understand the power that behavior change can have in achieving our climate goals.”