Maize (corn) vs Tofu: carbon footprint

Maize (corn) or Tofu? Here's what each one costs the climate, measured per kilo over its whole life.

Maize (corn) runs about 1.7 kg CO₂e a kilo. Tofu runs 3.16.

Tofu is the heavier choice, about 1.9× Maize (corn).

Swap Tofu for Maize (corn) and you cut about 1.46 kg a kilo, near 46% off.

Per kilo, that gap is a 9 km drive in a diesel car.

Maize (corn): Modest. Fertiliser, the field itself, and a bit of milling.

Tofu: Tofu and soy milk hand you protein at a fraction of beef's footprint. The swap that actually moves the needle.

Per-kilo numbers skip portion size and how the food was farmed, so take them as the shape of things, not the last word.

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Figures from OWID / Poore & Nemecek 2018, licensed CC-BY 4.0.
How we get these numbers: Methodology.