Soy bean
Soy bean
Soy producers in the EU
Soy producers in the EU
Indirect consumption
Indirect consumption
If you eat
100 g milk
There is an indirect consumption of soy, because the cow is additionally fed with
3 g soy
Only the soy, the cow eats, produces
17 g CO2
Did you know that every time
you eat an animal product, for
example a slice of cheese, you
are indirectly consuming soy?
This is one of the reasons why
your personal carbon footprint is
getting bigger and bigger!
Almost 80% of the annual harvest is used as animal feed. But how much soy does each animal group eat per year?
Soy beans are a legume and are high in protein, especially when cooked. Soy protein contains all the essential amino acids we need for our body's cells, and the beans are also high in unsaturated fatty acids.
Soy is a good source of fibre, and its high vitamin content makes it very healthy. The only thing consumers need to be concerned about is, that it is dangerous to eat raw soybeans, as they contain dangerous substances that are only deactivated after heating.
In Europe, most soy is grown in Serbia, France, Romania and Austria.
Almost 2,7 million tons of soy are grown each year, but this only meets 7% of european demand. More than 33 million tons have to be imported from Brazil and China every year to make up the shortfall, but this is making our carbon footprint worse.
Where in Europe is the most soy cultivated?
Every time we consume animal products, our personal carbon footprint gets worse. Unfortunately, hardly anyone knows this, and our consumption remains unchecked. But what is the reason for this enormous environmental impact?
If you want to know how much soy an animal has eaten for a certain amount of product, select an animal product from the list. This will show you by how many grams your personal carbon footprint is worsened by the consumption of that animal product. Remember that the CO2 emissions are only based on the import of soy.
Soy plants need a temperature between
24 - 34°C to grow best! The climate should be warm and humid and it is very important that the seeds are planted when the soil temperature is above 10°C. As temperatures in central Europe don't usually reach 34°C, some new soy varieties have been developed that can be planted at lower temperatures.
31.000.000 tons
of soy are used for animals
April
Planting bean in the ground
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
1.
From the bean grows a leaf
2.
3.
4
5.
Currently, Europe has to import more
than 90% of its soy from Brazil and China to meet its annual needs.
This results in a huge carbon footprint, which could be reduced by increasing soy cultivation in Europe.
Soy is grown in Brazil and must be imported by Europe
Soy is grown directly in Europe
Brazil
Europe
If we would produce 10%
more soy in Europe, which would
result in 10% less imports, we could save…
This is the same amount as
an aeroplane would circle the earth
Because many tons of soy are imported into Europe every year, there are enormous CO2 emissions.
Every time soy is imported from Brazil, 5,6 kg of CO2 are emitted for every 1 kg of soy transported.
If, for example, a container ship transports
150.000 tons of soy, the CO2 emissions amount to 840.000.000 kg.
soy cultivation
soy import
soy as feed
animal eats soy
animal product
indirect consumption
personal carbon footprint
In order to neutralise these amounts of CO2, we need trees to convert the CO2 into oxygen.
2.694.000 tons
annual crop of soy in Europe
How many trees are needed to bind these 16.320.000 tons of CO2 in one year?
