5 things you can do to reduce your food's carbon footprint

Food in wet markets is often more likely to have come from nearby. Food that travels has a higher carbon footprint because of the fuel used to transport it, so buying local is almost always greener. — ZHAFARAN NASIB/The Star

Let me start this month’s column with a question. Do you know the contents of your fridge? And by that I don’t mean what food it contains. I mean the carbon emissions of its content.

Producing a kilo of yoghurt generates one and a half times its weight in carbon emissions. This doesn’t include its pot (usually plastic) nor the emissions of transporting the yoghurt to your fridge. Every item in your fridge emits carbon. Just how much is down to the choices that you make and the knowledge you accrue about food-related carbon emissions.