Switching between similar food and beverage products may reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGe). Here, using consumer data linked to 23,550 product-specific GHGe values, we estimated annual GHGe attributable to product purchases consumed at home in Australia and calculated reductions from specific switches. Potential changes to mean Health Star Rating, mean energy density and the proportion of ultraprocessed foods purchased were assessed. Approximately 31 million tonnes of GHGe were attributable to products consumed at home in 2019, the three highest contributors of GHGe being ‘meat and meat products’ (49%), ‘dairy’ (17%) and ‘non-alcoholic beverages’ (16%). Switching higher-emission products for ‘very similar’ lower-emission products could reduce total emissions by 26%. Switches to ‘less similar’ lower-emission products could lead to a 71% reduction. Switches had little impact on the average Health Star Rating, energy density of purchases and proportion of ultraprocessed foods purchased. Directing manufacturing and marketing towards lower-environmental-impact products and signposting such options to consumers are key.

更换类似的食品和饮料产品可能会减少温室气体排放 (GHGe)。在此，我们利用与 23,550 个产品特定 GHGe 值相关的消费者数据，估算了澳大利亚家庭消费产品购买产生的年度 GHGe，并计算了特定转换带来的减排量。评估了平均健康星级、平均能量密度和购买的超加工食品比例的潜在变化。 2019 年，家庭消费的产品产生了大约 3100 万吨 GHGe，其中 GHGe 贡献最大的三个是“肉类和肉制品”(49%)、“乳制品”(17%) 和“非酒精饮料”(16 %）。将高排放产品更换为“非常相似”的低排放产品可以将总排放量减少 26%。改用“不太相似”的低排放产品可能会导致排放量减少 71%。转换对平均健康星级、购买的能量密度和购买的超加工食品的比例几乎没有影响。将制造和营销导向对环境影响较低的产品并向消费者展示此类选择是关键。