Buying locally made, Irish food is an important habit to help stop climate change, a leading expert has said. 

A report for the ERSI found that 47% of Irish people would not eat less meat in order to help the planet. 

Food production is responsible for an estimated 26% of global carbon emissions but certain items in your shopping basket will have a larger carbon footprint than others. 

Speaking to Newstalk Breakfast, UCD Professor of Environmental Policy Cara Augustenborg said many people lack the knowledge to change their way of life in a way that will benefit the planet. 

“25% of people already say they have changed their behaviour in transport and in their diet to try and be more sustainable,” she said. 

“Another 42%... say they want to change their transport or their diet further to be more sustainable. 

“But when you ask them what are they doing or what do they think they need to do? That’s where we see that we really have an education gap and need to help people know what the right things to do are.” 

Farmer in Ireland walking behind a herd of cows on a narrow country road on Valentia Island in County Kerry, Ireland.

Professor Augustenborg urged the many people who have “good intentions” to give up red meat and buy more locally produced produce. 

“People want to change their diet but don’t seem to realise that giving up red meat, for example, is one of the best things they can do,” she said. 

“Instead, the focus seems to be on buying more organic food - which is more expensive - than buying more locally produced food, which actually has far less of an impact on climate change than the type of food people will buy. 

“There’s a misconception there that a low carbon diet is actually more expensive when in fact, as the ERSI shows, a low carbon diet should be saving people money too.” 

A traffic jam during rush hour. 

The study also found that a majority were unwilling or unable to drive less in order to help the planet. 

“In transport, what this study has shown is that the obstacles to moving to more public transport and active transport is really about the availability of that transport,” Professor Augustenborg said. 

“It’s not about trying to convince people they need to change, it’s about giving them the availability.”

Main image: A farmer on a tractor. Picture by: SPK / Alamy Stock Photo.