John Myers
Doesn’t grilling harm the climate, air quality, and animal welfare? It does. The good news: Grilling is also somewhat climate and environmentally friendly.
Grilling is neither climate-neutral nor particularly resource-friendly. And, as you can guess when your eyes start to water near the grill: According to the Federal Environment Agency, charcoal smoke pollutes the air around the grill and in the vicinity with fine dust and soot.
Grilling with charcoal every day is therefore extremely unhealthy. Globally, however, the smoke produced when sizzling is not the main problem. Around ten years ago, TÜV Rheinland drew up an eco-balance for a typical barbecue evening with two families.
The result: With all three types of grills – i.e. electric, charcoal, and gas grills – between 17.5 and 18 kilograms of climate-damaging greenhouse gases were emitted (calculated in so-called CO2 equivalents). That corresponds to a car journey of around 120 kilometers in a mid-size car.
Grilling sustainably: Beef as a climate killer
The type of grill you use only plays a minor role, according to the TÜV inspectors. About 95 percent of the climate-relevant emissions caused by grilling are caused by the food that is produced, transported, and ultimately sold.
Which of the ingredients that are frequently put on the grill produce the most greenhouse gases?
The biggest climate sinner: beef. One main reason: the ruminants emit large amounts of the strong greenhouse gas methane. In addition, cattle consume large amounts of animal feed, often soy, the mass cultivation of which in turn leaves its mark. In this way, 1 kg of beef causes up to 28 kg of greenhouse gases.
After that comes grilled cheese in the TÜV balance sheet because so much milk is processed in it.
The production of pork and poultry for sausages and the like has less of an impact on the climate than beef and cheese – but still many times more than vegetables. 1 kg of vegetables is responsible for less than 1 kg of greenhouse gases, i.e. only for a fraction of the balance of meat products.
So the bad conscience grills with. Also because we know, of course, that the meat on the grill wasn’t born as crispy ribs. It is often a product of conventional factory farming, which only allows animals a short, uncomfortable life before they go to the slaughterhouse.
Grilling ecologically for the environment and animals
Unfortunately, the bad image of chicken, cattle, and pig farming has been confirmed again and again in recent years. Our tests of grilled sausages and grilled meat showed the sad reality of pig farming: docked tails, castrated piglets, lots of antibiotics, no outlet, and hardly any space. A lot still has to happen on the way to real animal welfare.
And now? We think: not barbecuing is not an alternative either. Because: It is up to you to organize your barbecue in such a way that the environment, climate, and animals get away with as little damage as possible. We’ll help with the following tips.
Grilling sustainably: With these tips it works
Contain smoke
The Federal Environment Agency (UBA) recommends using a gas or electric grill instead of a classic charcoal grill in order to pollute the air less.
If it is going to be charcoal, the smoke development can be kept down with a chimney starter (a kind of metal cylinder that accelerates ignition) and a good air supply. This not only benefits the atmosphere, but also the airways of the barbecue participants and neighbors.
You should not grill with charcoal in courtyards and on balconies. In addition to the smoke, flying sparks should not be underestimated. Therefore, the following also applies: do not barbecue under trees or on dry meadows.
Buy better coal
Even if most Germans would now opt for a gas grill when buying a new one (according to a Forsa survey from 2021), the majority still grill with charcoal. So it’s actually a scandal that charcoal from overexploitation in primeval forests is still not banned to this day. If there is no information about the origin or tree species on the packaging, you should be skeptical.
Environmental protection organizations such as WWF and Pro Regenwald recommend charcoal with the seal of the organic association Naturland. Naturland does not set stricter requirements for sustainable forest management than the label of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), but also regulates the processing – for example that the coal is processed in a closed process and the waste heat produced is used sensibly.
In case of doubt, however, products with FSC certification are more trustworthy than those with vague advertising such as “without tropical wood”, “natural product” or “from managed forest stocks”.
Eat less meat
The more vegetables and the fewer animal products that are used on the grill, the better the environmental balance! If it’s meat: Pork and poultry are less harmful to the climate than beef and grilled cheese, see above.
Incidentally, comments about soy steaks along the lines of “the rain forest is cut down for soy cultivation” are completely unfounded. Just two percent of the world’s soy cultivation is processed directly into food for humans. Most of it ends up in the trough of the animals.
Prefer organic meat
Organic animals have it better. Of course, better doesn’t mean good. In the organic sector, too, there are sometimes poor husbandry conditions. But usually the animals have more space and exercise. The EU organic label is the lower standard – the cultivation associations Bioland, Demeter and Naturland are stricter. The meat with the label of the Neuland association also stands for higher animal welfare requirements, but cannot be found in all parts of Germany.
Tip: Organic quality sausages also have the health benefit of being free of phosphate.
Choose fish carefully
If possible, grill non-endangered fish species. These include, for example, carp or organic trout from local farms as well as wild salmon from Alaska with the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) label. Our tips:
- The WWF offers a regularly updated fish guide, which is also available as a free app (Apple Store, Google Play).
- Detailed information from the Thünen Institute on the situation of individual fish species can be found at fischbestaende-online.de.
- Also read: Eat fish sustainably and our fish guide: Which fish can go on the plate?
Use reusable grill pans
If possible, do not use aluminum trays, but rather reusable grill trays made of stainless steel or ceramic. Aluminum bowls are not suitable for acidic or salty dishes anyway, because aluminum can transfer to the food.
Disposable plastic tableware should be taboo if possible. Even “plastic-free” disposable tableware is often not particularly ecological – and bamboo tableware usually contains a mixture of bamboo and plastic.
Solar and electric grills save CO₂
Of course, carbon dioxide can also be saved if you grill steaks and vegetables with the solar or electric grill instead of over the charcoal. The electric grill should ideally be operated with real green electricity and shared with the neighbours: This can reduce emissions even further.
