Climate-friendly diets can make a huge difference – even if you don’t go all-out vegan

Scientists estimate that food production causes 35% of greenhouse gas emissions, and meat is responsible for more than twice the pollution of plants. Composite: The Guardian/Getty Images

Who chooses what you eat? If your answer is “I do,” you’re partly right. You may buy your own groceries and order your own restaurant meals, but it’s the food industry that determines what is stocked on store shelves and listed on menus.

“The institutions all around us affect food choice,” said Matthew Hayek, assistant professor of environmental studies at New York University. Your choices are whittled down by what’s in the supermarket, your workplace or school canteen, the restaurants in the strip mall on your way home, he said.