Climate-friendly pet food
Climate-friendly pet food

Climate-friendly pet food

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"Americans spent more on pets in 2018 than on fresh fruit and vegetables, alcohol, beef, pork and poultry, water and other public services or medicinal drugs." (PetFoodIndustry, 2019)
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We recognize there are many different types of pets, but for this page, we are only discussing dog and cat food.

TL;DR

  • Globally, pet food is associated with 56–151 million tonnes of CO2e per year.
  • The heaviest emissions come from premium pet foods that use human-grade animal sources rather than off-cuts of meat.
  • There are many options to reduce the emissions associated with pet food, but the bottom line is that our dogs and cats do not need to eat the same food as humans.

Pet ownership

38% of European households (88 million) and 67% of American (85 million) own at least one pet.

Source:
Source: GFK 2020

America really loves its pets. In 2019, 85 million American pet owners spent over $97 billion; by 2021, that number was up to $123.6 billion. This spending has been driven by a surge in pet ownership during the pandemic and what has been dubbed “pet humanization,” where pets are seen as (and treated like) family members.

Behind veterinary care, food is the largest spending category for pet owners. One of the biggest trends in pet food is human-grade food for our furry family members. Unfortunately, this desire to have our pets eat as well as we do has contributed to the rise in the environmental impact of pet food.

The impact of pet food

The 163 million or so dogs and cats in the US consume as much “dietary energy” as about 62 million Americans. Yet, their diets are not typically included in national food consumption calculations. Pet food in the US alone is estimated to be responsible for 25-30% of the environmental impact of livestock production, or roughly 64 million tonnes of CO2e annually.

Most commercial pet foods are made of animal by-products that have little or no value in the human food market, but as more pet owners are shifting towards premium products, we see more significant environmental impacts. The trend of humanizing pets has people is increasing the emissions associated with pet food, putting it in direct competition with human food, and could lead to heavier production and further land use change down the line.

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Premium dog and cat foods have 2.3–3.3 (respectively) times higher emissions than market-leading brands.
Source:
Source: Alexander et al., 2020 (ABP = animal by-product)

There are slight differences between different types of pet food. Wet food, for instance, has been found to have a higher environmental footprint than dry.

  • The average 10 kg dog needs 534 kcal per day:
    • Wet food = 6,541 kg CO2e / year
    • Dry food = 828 kg CO2e / year

Climate-friendly pet food options

Please do not take these as recommendations. Do your own research and speak with your veterinarian if you are thinking about making dietary changes for your pets.

Vegan/vegetarian

Vegan and vegetarian diets, like those for humans, produce fewer emissions and pollution and use fewer resources like fresh water. The most common protein in vegan pet food is pea protein. Producing 100 g of pea protein results in 0.4 kg CO2e, while producing 100g of beef protein results in 35 kg CO2e (nearly 90x more).

Vegan/vegetarian food is often marketed for food allergies. Common allergens include beef, dairy, wheat, egg, chicken, lamb, soy, pork, rabbit, and fish.

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The market for vegan pet food was worth $9.3 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach $15.7 billion by 2028.

This is a tricky space with a lot of controversies, especially for cats since they are obligate carnivores. That means they cannot physically get the energy and nutrients they need from vegetation, so they must eat meat to survive. A recent scientific review found no evidence of major negative impacts of feeding vegan diets to dogs and cats. Still, it noted there are too few studies with too few subjects to make any definite recommendations.

Insect-based

Insects are naturally high in protein, vitamins, and amino acids. The digestibility of insect feed for dogs and cats has been found to be similar to that of feeding them chicken.

Insect-based is possibly the best alternative to curb the water intensity of pet food. The water footprint of mealworms, when looking at per unit of nutritional value, is lower than that of pig, chicken, or beef. According to one insect-based producer, switching one dog over to an insect-based diet can save 16.7 million litres of water every year.

Water footprint per unit of nutritional value (litres of water/gram of protein)
Emissions per 100 g of protein (kg CO2e)
Mealworms
23
1.4*
Pea
NA
0.4
Pig
57
7.6
Chicken
34
5.7
Beef
112
50

*Source: Bosch & Swanson, 2020

Upcycled

1.3 billion tonnes of food ends up in landfills every year. Rather than letting food go to waste, one option is to upcycle it into new products like pet food.

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According to PetFoodIndustry, there really isn’t a difference (semantics aside) between by-products and upcycled ingredients. These are safe but unmarketable items like:

  • ugly or damaged produce
  • eggshells
  • cutoffs of meat
  • bits of fruit/veg leftover from juicing

Invasive species

Carp are native to Europe and Asia, but in North America, they are an invasive species causing severe damage to lakes and rivers. Carp have no natural predators and lay hundreds of thousands of eggs at a time, so they are out-competing native fish for food and space. North America spends about $26 billion every year fighting its carp infestation.

Carp is a bony fish, so people don’t want to eat it, but it could be perfect for the pet food market, and several companies are already working on using it as a sustainable ingredient.

Cultivated

When it comes to lab-grown meat, pets are likely easier to please customers than humans are. Since they don’t have the same requirements for taste, texture, and looks, some think the economics of cultivating protein for animal consumption makes more sense than cultivating it for people.

Resources

Last updated: March 2023