When calculating the life cycle analyses, it becomes clear that the greatest emissions are caused by the production of animal feed, the conversion of land (deforestation) and the methane and nitrous oxide produced during digestion in the animal's stomach, meaning that beef has the largest_{carbon footprint} . Seasonal and regionally produced vegetables have the lowest_{CO2 footprint} in this comparison. When fish is produced in aquacultures, a lot of other fish has to be caught in order to be fed, but here the fish is often taken from the wild, which keeps the footprint relatively low.

We refer here to the following source, as this represents values in Germany. The values in the literature vary greatly in some cases, which is why the information here should be seen more as a guideline:

Reinhardt,G., Gärtner, S., Wagner, T. (2020): Ecological footprints of food and dishes in Germany. Institute for Energy and Environmental Research Heidelberg. https://regional-klimaneutral.info/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Ifeu-Studie-2020-%C3%B6kol.-Fu%C3%9Fabdr%C3%BCcke-Co2.pdf last accessed on 09.05.2023