Not Just Meat - The Reality of "Food CO2" Driven by Milk and Cheese

Reducing meat consumption as a measure against climate change is a widely recognized concept. However, when we delve deeper into the greenhouse gas emissions from our dining tables, dairy products such as milk, yogurt, and cheese emerge as significant contributors. This issue, recently highlighted in Germany, focuses on the environmental impact of dairy products, particularly cheese, which holds a substantial share of emissions among animal-based foods.

Some might find this counterintuitive because dairy products don't carry the same heavy image as beef. In terms of climate impact, beef and lamb still rank among the highest. However, the critical factors here are "how frequently these products are consumed" and "how much raw material is required for their production." Many people consume dairy products daily, and cheese production, in particular, requires a large amount of raw milk. This accumulation significantly raises the overall emissions from food.

According to reports, greenhouse gas emissions from dairy products are substantial among animal-based foods, with about half linked to cheese consumption. Furthermore, it is said that approximately 4 liters of milk are needed for 1 kilogram of fresh cheese, and about 13 liters for 1 kilogram of hard cheese. Although cheese appears to be a food enjoyed in small quantities, its high concentration of raw materials means the environmental burden per kilogram is not light.

This perspective aligns with international research. A comprehensive comparison of the environmental impact of food systems shows that they account for a significant portion of global greenhouse gas emissions, with ruminant-derived foods having a heavy impact on emissions, land use, and water use. Dairy generally has a higher environmental impact than plant-based milk alternatives, and cheese is included in the high-emission food group.

So why do dairy products, especially cheese, tend to have a heavy emission load? The reasons are both simple and complex. Firstly, dairy cows themselves are not free from methane emissions. When you include feed production, fertilizers, land use, processing, refrigeration, and distribution, emissions accumulate across the entire supply chain. Moreover, cheese is a food that reduces the moisture of raw milk to concentrate its nutrients and flavor, requiring a large amount of raw materials to produce 1 kilogram of the finished product. Thus, the result that "cheese has a higher impact than milk" is not unnatural.

However, this discussion does not lead to the simple conclusion that "everyone should eliminate dairy products starting tomorrow." According to the German Nutrition Society, dairy products play a certain role as a source of calcium, iodine, vitamin B12, and riboflavin, while plant-based alternatives generally have a lower environmental impact. Therefore, the issue is not a binary choice of good or bad but rather how to balance nutrition, cost, preference, and environmental impact.

This complexity is precisely why debates on social media are divided. Observing related discussions on social media, the primary reaction is a pragmatic approach: "Reducing beef first is the priority, and expanding to dairy products all at once will lose people's support." This reflects a sense that dietary changes require stages. Even reducing meat is a high hurdle, so if milk and cheese are collectively demonized, resistance will intensify.

The second reaction is the opposite: "Focusing only on meat and overlooking dairy products is an incomplete interpretation of the data." This view considers that dairy products, which are easily consumed daily, have significant room for reevaluation in lifestyle habits. Cheese, in particular, is noted for its strong flavor even in small quantities and high degree of processing, making it a "hidden high-impact food" that deserves attention.

The third reaction is a structural argument: "Don't trivialize this to just individual dining tables." It suggests that without changes in agricultural policy, pricing, procurement in schools and public facilities, food labeling, and accessibility of alternative foods, significant changes cannot be achieved through individual efforts alone. Agora Agriculture's policy document also states that "demand-side policies" are necessary to make sustainable choices more accessible, not just consumer education. There is considerable empathy for this structural approach on social media.

This issue is not irrelevant in Japan either. To promote a diet with a lower climate impact, increasing "easily replaceable options" is more effective than simply "enduring and reducing." For example, it may not be necessary to completely switch all daily milk consumption, but replacing some of the milk used in coffee or cereal with plant-based milk, using cheese as an accent rather than the main feature, or reducing other high-emission foods if you want to maintain the amount of dairy products. Such gradual adjustments are more sustainable in reality.

In fact, signs of such a transition are already visible in the German food market. The 2025 trend report highlights a strong focus on plant-based and flexitarian preferences, and another survey shows that flexitarian eating habits are widely adopted in Germany. This suggests that the direction of "adjusting quantity and frequency" is more likely to gain support than "completely quitting."

On the other hand, dairy products face the realistic barriers of cost and satisfaction. Plant-based cheese and yogurt are often still expensive, and many consumers feel they don't match the taste and texture of dairy products. On public social media, the sentiment "I'll choose alternatives if they taste better" frequently appears, indicating that people are not ignoring the data but are looking for satisfactory alternatives.

When considering this issue, it's crucial not to lose sight of priorities. Reducing foods with extremely high average emission factors, like beef and lamb, still has a significant impact. Beyond that, reevaluating the role of dairy products, particularly cheese, can further reduce food-related emissions. Therefore, it's rational to think in terms of "starting with the heaviest impact, then addressing the often-overlooked areas," rather than choosing between "meat or dairy products."

Moreover, there's another important point in the discussion about dairy products: it's necessary to consider not only the emissions per kilogram of food but also how frequently they are consumed. High-impact foods eaten occasionally and medium-impact foods consumed daily can change the annual total picture. The German nutrition report confirms that many people consume dairy products regularly. Therefore, dairy products, though not symbolically prominent, tend to become "quiet sources of emissions" deeply embedded in household habits.

Ultimately, what makes this topic unsettling for people is that cheese and milk are not "luxuries" but "everyday foods" for many. While reducing meat consumption is understandable, when discussions about climate impact extend to morning lattes or toast with cheese, it feels as if one's entire lifestyle is being evaluated. The simultaneous occurrence of backlash and empathy on social media is due to this psychological proximity.

Nevertheless, the data points in one direction: decarbonizing food requires looking beyond just meat. Dairy products have also become an unavoidable issue. However, the goal should not be to induce guilt but to provide informed choices. Even if you don't change everything every day, slightly reducing frequency, slightly decreasing quantity, or substituting only where possible can quietly shift the CO2 footprint of our dining tables in the long run.

Source URL

Key points of the news that dairy products, especially cheese, increase the CO2 footprint of food
https://www.handelsblatt.com/dpa/co2-im-einkaufswagen-milch-und-kaese-treiben-co2-bilanz-der-ernaehrung-nach-oben/100209035.html

Related reports on the same topic (such as the amount of milk needed for hard cheese, for supplementary confirmation)
https://www.wiwo.de/dpa/co2-im-einkaufswagen-milch-und-kaese-treiben-co2-bilanz-der-ernaehrung-nach-oben/100209036.html

Agora Agriculture's policy page (overview of the need for policies to change food consumption behavior)
https://www.agora-agriculture.org/publications/towards-food-policies-that-support-healthy-and-sustainable-consumption

Agora Agriculture / IDDRI related report PDF (background material on demand-side policies and creating a sustainable food environment)
https://www.iddri.org/sites/default/files/PDF/Publications/Catalogue%20Iddri/Rapport/202505-Agora%20Iddri%20food%20poiicies.pdf

Our World in Data "Environmental Impacts of Food Production" (international comparison of the environmental impact of overall food production)
https://ourworldindata.org/environmental-impacts-of-food

Our World in Data "Dairy vs. plant-based milk" (comparison of environmental impact between milk and plant-based alternatives)
https://ourworldindata.org/environmental-impact-milks

Poore & Nemecek study published in Science (representative primary research on the environmental impact comparison of different foods)
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aaq0216

Position of the German Nutrition Society (DGE) on dairy products and plant-based milk alternatives
https://www.dge.de/wissenschaft/stellungnahmen-und-positionspapiere/positionen/dairy-and-milk-alternatives/

DGE position paper PDF (detailed comparison of the nutritional role and environmental impact of dairy products)
https://www.dge.de/fileadmin/dok/wissenschaft/positionen/DGE_position-statement_dairy_milk_alternatives_EU12_2024_M692_M696_en.pdf

German Government Nutrition Report 2025 (basic data on dairy product consumption frequency in Germany)
https://www.bmleh.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/Broschueren/ernaehrungsreport-2025.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=3

German Federal Agency for Agriculture and Food Trend Report 2025 (confirmation of strong focus on plant-based and flexitarian preferences)
https://www.ble.de/SharedDocs/Pressemitteilungen/DE/2025/250129_Trendreport-Ernaehrung.html

GFI Europe German Plant-Based Food Market Report PDF (spread of flexitarianism, trends in the use of alternative foods)
https://gfieurope.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Germany-Understanding-plant-based-category-dynamics-motivations-and-consumers.pdf

Public Reddit threads used as references for trends in reactions on social media (visualization of pros and cons and points of discussion regarding the environmental impact of dairy products and food)
https://www.reddit.com/r/ZeroWaste/comments/1icgp3e/when_is_meat_and_dairy_truly_bad_for_the/
https://www.reddit.com/r/sustainability/comments/197i134/environmental_impact_of_different_diets/
https://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/1p2gnin/replacing_meat_dairy_and_eggs_with_grains_legumes/
https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/1riwp8j/oc_dairy_vs_plantbased_milk_what_are_the/