Households’ Food Carbon Footprint

Around a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions comes from food systems. Designing policies to reduce food-related emissions requires an adequate representation of the heterogeneity of households’ food demand response to economic shocks (prices, disposable income) and how this response affects food-related emissions. I use detailed household purchase-level data from France to (i) build a unique database systematically bridging food purchases and environmental information, (ii) document differences across food products and households in emissions, (iii) study a counterfactual scenario in which households’ food budget is reduced and evaluate the associated impacts on food carbon footprints. Preliminary results suggest that low-emitting households differ substantially from high-emitting ones, both in terms of socio-characteristics and reactions.