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CO₂ Food Poster

CO₂ Food Poster displayed in a kitchen setting

The Eaternity CO₂ Food Poster is an educational resource that visualizes the climate impact of over 500 food items, enabling anyone to understand at a glance which foods are climate-friendly and which are not.

Why This Poster Matters​

One-third of all human-made greenhouse gases come from our food. The emissions savings achievable through climate-friendly eating exceed those in transportation and energy sectors combined. This poster empowers people to make informed food choices that benefit the climate.

What the Poster Shows​

The poster displays hundreds of food items organized by their CO₂ impact:

  • Food icons representing specific ingredients and products
  • CO₂ values in grams of CO₂ equivalents per Daily Food Unit (DFU)
  • Star ratings (★★★) indicating climate-friendliness
  • Portion information for fair nutritional comparison
★★★  Climate-friendly (50% better than average)
★★☆  Better than average
★☆☆  Worse than average
☆☆☆  Very high impact (300%+ above average)

The Science Behind It​

Life Cycle Assessment​

CO₂ values are calculated using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology, measuring emissions from:

  • Agricultural production
  • Transportation and distribution
  • Processing and manufacturing
  • Packaging

Daily Food Unit (DFU) Normalization​

To enable fair comparisons between different foods, all values are normalized to the Daily Food Unit — the amount of each food that covers ⅓ of daily nutritional requirements considering:

  • Proteins (50g daily requirement)
  • Fats (66g daily requirement)
  • Energy (2000 kcal)
  • Water (2500g)
  • Dry weight (600g)

This means you can directly compare apples to oranges — or vegetables to meat — in a nutritionally meaningful way.

Learn more about DFU methodology →

Available Formats​

Digital Downloads (Free)​

Digital poster preview

Download the poster in PDF format — free for personal and educational use:

LanguageFormatDownload
German (DE)PDF, B2Download
English (EN)PDF, B2Download
French (FR)PDF, B2Download
Chinese (CN)PDF, B2Download

Physical Posters​

Physical poster mockup

Order printed posters for your kitchen, classroom, or organization:

QuantityPriceOrder
1 posterCHF 5Order
10 postersCHF 20Order
100 postersCHF 100Order

Physical posters are B2 size (50 × 70 cm), printed on high-quality paper.

Where to Use the Poster​

The poster is ideal for:

  • Home kitchens — On refrigerators as a daily reference
  • School classrooms — Environmental education
  • Company canteens — Supporting sustainable food choices
  • Restaurant kitchens — Chef reference for menu planning
  • Retail stores — Customer education at point of purchase

Partner Program​

Organizations distributing the poster to promote climate-friendly eating can become distribution partners. Partners receive:

  • Bulk poster quantities
  • Co-branding opportunities
  • Promotional support

Contact us about partnerships →

Data and Methodology​

CO₂ Values​

The poster's CO₂ values are derived from the Eaternity Database, which contains environmental data for 950+ food items based on 55,000+ data points from 15+ years of research.

Download the Data​

For researchers and developers, the underlying CO₂ values are available:

Food Icons​

500+ food icons used in the poster are available for educational and non-commercial use:

Food Icons Repository →

Credits​

The poster is a collaborative effort:

  • Eaternity — Data, methodology, scientific review
  • AYCE (All You Can Eat for Climate) — Design and distribution
  • Crowdfunding supporters — 485 backers via WeMakeIt
  • Codecheck — Partner for mobile CO₂ scores

License​

The poster and its data are released under permissive open license terms (see the GitHub repository for specific details). You can use, adapt, and redistribute the poster freely. Please refer back to Eaternity as a source when using the data.