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August 3: Dairy vs. plant-based milk: what are the environmental impacts?

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August 3: Dairy vs. plant-based milk: what are the environmental impacts?

A growing number of people are interested in switching to plant-based alternatives to dairy. But are they better for the environment, and which is best?

Danny Sheridan
Aug 3, 2022
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August 3: Dairy vs. plant-based milk: what are the environmental impacts?

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Source: Our World in Data
Date: January 2022

Dairy vs. plant-based milk: what are the environmental impacts?

As individuals look to reduce their carbon footprint, they are making different choices in the milk isle. Dairy accounts for just over 25% of the carbon footprint of the typical EU diet (according to a 2018 study).

Cow’s milk has significantly higher impacts than the plant-based alternatives greenhouse gas emissions (3x as much), land use (10x as much), and freshwater (20x as much).

Let’s take a deeper dive looking at the greenhouse gas emissions of dairy milk compared to oat, soy, almond, and rice milk.

Milks- Dairy Milk
Greenhouse emissions
(per liter of milk)- 3.15kg
Change from dairy milk- N/A

Milks- Rice Milk
Greenhouse emissions
(per liter of milk)- 1.18kg
Change from dairy milk- 63% less

Milks- Soy Milk
Greenhouse emissions
(per liter of milk)- 0.98kg
Change from dairy milk- 69% less

Milks- Oat Milk
Greenhouse emissions
(per liter of milk)- 0.90kg
Change from dairy milk- 71% less

Milks- Almond Milk
Greenhouse emissions
(per liter of milk)- 0.70kg
Change from dairy milk- 78% less


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August 3: Dairy vs. plant-based milk: what are the environmental impacts?

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7 Comments
Marv
Aug 4, 2022·edited Aug 4, 2022Liked by Danny Sheridan

Hi @Danny,

very interesting fact of the day 1 ... as always 😁

BUT this time I want to weigh in^^ ... because looking at gas emissions is only one important aspect. Please also look at these different types of ~milk when it comes to how much water each of them needs in the "production" to have 1L of it at the end... because I guess then almond milk is one of the worse alternatives 😥😖

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Thomas "Barney" Ford
Aug 3, 2022Liked by Danny Sheridan

I drink only almond milk.

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