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No Cow’s Milk: These are The Best (and Worst) Milk Alternatives

Animal suffering, high water consumption and a bad CO2 balance: More and more people are switching from cow’s milk to plant-based milk. But are the cow’s milk alternatives really that much more sustainable?

Instead of cow’s milk: plant-based milk is trendy

The life cycle assessment for the production of cow’s milk does not come off too well. In addition to factory farming and the general animal suffering, this is another reason for many people to switch to plant-based milk. In addition, a Nobel Prize winner warns of cancer from beef and milk. Babies are particularly at risk.

The move away from animal milk is a general trend – sales of milk alternatives such as almond milk, soy milk or oat milk continue to increase from year to year. But do milk alternatives really do better than conventional cow’s milk in terms of sustainability?

Cow’s milk alternative: rainforest clearing for soy milk?

Soy milk is considered the most common and popular alternative to cow’s milk. However, also as the most controversial. However, the ecological balance also leaves a lot to be desired here. Around 35 million tons of soy are imported into the EU every year, 50 percent of which comes from Brazil. However, the rain forests suffer from the fact that these huge quantities of soya are transported to Europe.

At the expense of the rainforests in South America, huge fields are being planted specifically for soybean cultivation. However, it should be mentioned here that soy is not primarily used for plant-based soy products, but mainly as fodder for animals in Europe. According to the manufacturer Alpro, soy in plant drinks and similar products is made in Europe and Canada.

Oat milk performs best

Probably the most sustainable cow’s milk alternative is oat milk. The grain is mainly sourced from regional farms and, in contrast to the other dairy products and alternatives, uses relatively little water. In addition, due to the regional or at least European cultivation, the transport routes are much shorter than, for example, with almond milk. According to the Albert Schweizer Foundation, oat milk uses only 40 percent of the energy for production compared to semi-skimmed cow’s milk and at the same time requires 80 percent less space.

Almonds from California have a bad ecological balance

Most of the water is definitely used in the production of almond milk. Since about 80 percent of the almonds used come from the Californian desert and therefore extra large areas are cultivated for this, the water consumption is extremely high. In addition, almond trees per se require a relatively large amount of water. Thus, the water consumption of almond milk is about 17 times higher than that of cow’s milk. However, about a tenth fewer greenhouse gases are released in return.

The exotic: coconut milk as an alternative

Very popular, especially in Asian curries and other dishes, but not yet established as a pure milk substitute: coconut milk. According to every second coconut product contains harmful substances such as mineral oil, plasticizers or chlorate. In addition, coconut products have a pretty bad CO2 balance because of the long transport routes. This effect is intensified by the fact that the coconut palm grows quite slowly and is not very productive. Overall, the coconut milk can not score in terms of sustainability.

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Food

These 6 Foods are the Worst for the Climate

What does nutrition have to do with climate protection? Lots: certain foods are bad for the climate because of how they are produced. We present the six most climate-damaging foods and show how you can make your diet more climate-friendly.

1. Butter

Even if it is a vegetarian product, butter is considered the number one climate killer. According to the Öko-Test, around 24 kilograms of CO2 equivalents are emitted for the conventional production of one kilogram of butter. A CO2 equivalent indicates how much a certain mass of a greenhouse gas (e.g. methane) contributes to global warming. To do this, it is compared with the same amount of CO2. Thus, the value of the CO2 equivalent describes the share of a product in the greenhouse effect.

The climate-damaging effect of butter is due in particular to the fact that, according to Öko-Test, around 18 liters of milk are required for one kilogram of butter. This in turn means that many cows have to be kept. A large amount of greenhouse gases are already released during the production of the required animal feed. In addition, cows emit methane gas during digestion, which is even more harmful to the climate than CO2.

2. Beef

Beef is the most climate-damaging type of meat and, with around 13 kilograms of CO2 equivalents, has a CO2 balance four times as high as that of poultry or pork. This is also due to the way the cattle are kept. The value is only lower than that of butter because beef cattle live significantly shorter lives than dairy cows. Another disadvantage: in terms of water consumption, beef ranks third after cocoa and coffee.

3. More from the cow: cheese and cream

Other foods, for the production of which cattle have to be kept, also have a drastic effect on the climate. On average, 8.5 CO2 equivalents are required for the production of cheese and 7.6 for cream. In order to improve these values at least a little, it is advisable to use products with a low fat content. Because the higher the fat content of a dairy product, the more milk is needed to make it.

4. Vegan, but harmful to the climate: frozen fries

With 5.7 kilos of CO2 equivalents, a mostly even vegan product is in fourth place among the most climate-damaging foods. However, the reason for this is not the potatoes themselves, but the complex production of the fries, which have to be dried, deep-fried and frozen. A lot of energy is required for these processes. Incidentally, this also applies to dry powder for mashed potatoes, the production of which requires around 3.8 kilograms of CO2 equivalents.

However, you don’t have to do without fries and mashed potatoes completely, you can easily make both yourself. This is not only more climate-friendly, but also healthier.

5. Chocolate

As a popular sweet, chocolate is good for the soul, but very bad for the climate. 3.5 kilos of CO2 equivalents are caused for one kilogram of chocolate. Their climate-damaging effect is due to these two factors:

Chocolate often contains milk, the production of which is harmful to the climate due to the greenhouse gases released, as described above. More milk in the chocolate means more CO2.
In addition, chocolate products often contain palm oil. In many areas, rainforests are being cleared on a large scale to make way for palm oil plantations. The carbon that the rainforest had stored then escapes into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.
In addition, chocolate consists largely of cocoa, which requires large amounts of water to produce. It takes up to 27,000 liters of water to produce one kilogram of cocoa beans, and there is around 1,700 liters of water in a bar of chocolate. Although this is not directly related to the climate, it is also an environmentally harmful factor.

To make chocolate a little more climate-friendly, you should buy chocolate products that contain little to no palm oil. Chocolate bars usually contain no palm oil, but you should take a closer look at other chocolate products. There are also many vegan chocolates that do not contain milk and therefore have a slightly better CO2 balance.

Another tip: It is advisable to buy chocolate and cocoa with fair trade certification. By doing so, you support fair trade, where farmers and workers in the production chain receive a fair wage.

6. Pork and Poultry

With around 3.4 CO2 equivalents, these meats are significantly more climate-friendly than beef, but they still occupy sixth place on our list. The reason for this is that pigs and chickens also need large areas and a lot of feed.

The feed is often imported, which means that large amounts of CO2 emissions are released during transport. In certain areas (e.g. in Brazil), large areas of rainforest are also cleared for the cultivation of fodder plants.

If you want to do something good for the climate, animals and the environment, you should reconsider your meat consumption and consider how you could reduce it. You don’t have to live vegetarian or vegan overnight if you still find it very difficult at the moment.

But you can slowly approach the topic, for example by having two to three vegetarian or vegan days a week or by preparing certain meals a day exclusively from plant-based products.

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