It makes sense: between a piece of fruit produced in Portugal and another in Brazil, the sustainable choice is clear. After all, how can a banana transported across the Atlantic, on a ship that uses thousands of liters of fuel, have a smaller carbon footprint than a local plum?

But science rarely sympathizes with intuition. Researchers at the University of Lincoln in New Zealand have calculated the greenhouse gas emissions from locally produced lamb and exported to the United Kingdom. Including transportation, they estimated that each ton of lamb carcasses resulted in emissions of 688 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2eq). Then they calculated the emissions of British lamb and consumed in the UK itself – 2,849 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent per ton. In other words, even crossing literally half the world to get to the table, New Zealand beef had a carbon footprint four times lower. This difference is explained by the fact that in New Zealand less fertilizer and energy are required to produce animal feed. The climate in New Zealand allows lambs to feed on grasses (which in turn absorb carbon dioxide as well).