Some two-thirds of the emissions from global food systems come from the land-based sector, comprising agriculture, land use and land use changes. That figure is higher for developing countries, but also declining significantly in step with decreasing deforestation and increasing downstream activities such as food processing and refrigeration.

In terms of their share of all anthropogenic GHG emissions, food systems of industrialized countries are broadly stable at around 24 percent, while in developing countries it has decreased notably - partly due to very high increases in non-food emissions -  to 39 percent in 2015 from 68 percent in 1990.